Bose has started a Holiday Deals sale with discounts of up to 43% on headphones, earbuds and speakers, timed ahead of Black Friday. If someone on your list cares about sound, this is the window to act. Bose hasn't said how long the sale runs, so waiting carries some risk.
Here's the thing: a 43% ceiling sounds dramatic, but it's the best discount in the event, not the typical one. Retailers tend to put their steepest cuts on a handful of products, and the rest of the list often sits at more modest reductions. Read the individual prices before you assume everything is on sale at that level. The useful question is whether the product you want is one of the deep discounts, not whether the sale is big in general.
Headphones with the biggest cuts
The headline deal is the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones at $269, down $160 from $429. Noise cancellation, sound quality and fit are where these earn their price. Battery life, at 24 hours, trails the competition, but that's a fair trade for the rest of the package. That said, I'd want to hear the battery claim in real use before calling it fair for every listener. Noise-cancelling headphones usually get judged on how they handle a commute or a loud office, not on spec sheets. If you travel a lot, you'll feel the battery gap more than the price tag suggests.
If you'd rather have the newer model, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 are $359, down from $449. They're comfortable, they look sharp, and the noise cancellation is excellent. The battery improvement over the original is what makes them easier to recommend. The gap between the two sale prices is about $90, and that's the number to weigh. Does the upgrade justify that difference? If the original's battery bothers you, probably yes. If it doesn't, you're paying for refinement rather than a fix.
Earbuds: a jewelry-style pair and a budget option
The Bose x Kendra Scott Ultra Open Earbuds are $199, down from $349, which works out to 43% off. The gold, jewelry-inspired finish is the reason to pick these over the cheaper option. Fashion collaborations like this are a familiar move in audio, since they reach buyers who would never shop an earbud spec sheet. The style is the pitch, and that's fine, but you're paying for the finish as much as the engineering. The open-ear design keeps you aware of your surroundings, and spatial audio support is included. You get up to 27 hours with the charging case, and the fit is flexible enough for long wear. (And this is the part most people overlook: open-ear designs don't seal the ear canal, so they can sound thinner in a noisy room than you'd expect.)
For a lower price, the QuietComfort Bluetooth Earbuds (2024) are $132, down from $179, roughly $47 off. Bose's noise cancellation and sound quality carry over to this mid-range model, which makes it the easiest recommendation for anyone who wants good ANC without paying flagship prices. Here's my take: mid-range earbuds are where most buyers should look first. Flagship features often sit on top of a price that doesn't change how you'll actually use the product day to day. If you're buying a gift for someone who commutes, this is the one I'd put in the cart.
Speakers and soundbars
The SoundLink Flex (Gen 2) drops to $99 from $159 and comes in several colors. It weighs 1.2 pounds, is water and dust resistant, and runs for 12 hours. Portable speakers usually force a trade between size and bass, and that's the first thing I'd check before buying. In our Bose SoundLink Flex gen 2 review, it delivered strong sound for its size. If you want something for the beach, a backyard or a camping trip, it's a sensible pick at this price.
For the TV, the Bose TV Speaker is $199, down from $279. It adds dialogue clarity, so sports commentary and dialogue come through clearly. Built-in TV speakers are thin by necessity, because the set's design comes first and audio gets whatever space is left. That's why an add-on speaker often makes a bigger difference than a new pair of headphones would. It gets considerably louder than most built-in TV speakers, which matters if you watch with other people in the room.
The biggest number in the sale belongs to the Bose Smart Ultra Soundbar, now $649 from $999. That's the lowest price the soundbar has hit. I'd treat that claim with some caution unless you can check the price history yourself, since "lowest price yet" is easy to write. The soundbar uses a 5.1.2 channel setup, which means five main channels, a subwoofer channel and two height channels. That's a lot of hardware for a typical living room. It supports Bose's subwoofers, but they're sold separately, so budget for them if you want real bass. It also connects directly to music streaming apps, which is handy if you don't want to route everything through a TV.
What this sale signals, and what it doesn't
Sales like this one tend to clear a mix of current and older stock, and the pairings in this lineup hint at that. The original QuietComfort Ultra sits next to its Gen 2 successor, and the Kendra Scott earbuds are a styled variant rather than a new engineering story. None of that proves anything about what Bose plans next, and I wouldn't read a single holiday sale as a signal about the company's product roadmap. What it does show is how brands tend to use the holiday window: deep cuts on a few flagships, moderate reductions across the rest, and a deadline that's deliberately vague.
If you're working in this space, whether as a reviewer, a retailer or a buyer on a budget, that vagueness matters. Bose not disclosing the sale's length means you're making a decision without the full picture. What this means for you is simple: decide on the products you actually want, not on the percentage printed on the banner. If a deal sits at $269 for a product you'd buy at full price, that's a good deal. If it's a product you'd only buy because the discount looks big, it isn't.
Where to start
My read: the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones at $269 offer the best combination of value and performance in this sale. If you're shopping for a gift with a fashion angle, the Kendra Scott earbuds are the standout. Either way, the full Bose holiday sale is the place to compare everything before the discounts expire.