I’m reeling from a weekend of “guess that pop.” Was it the endless stream of fireworks this time? Or gun-toting Texans spending their ammunition celebratorily in defiance of rules prohibiting such behavior? Thankfully, the guessing game didn’t last long — I decided to give my noise-canceling earbuds of choice a pretty serious workout. If you need an excellent pair to do the same during public or private disturbances, you should check out the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, which are on sale at Amazon and B&H Photo in black for a record-low price of $169.95 ($110 off).

Although Bose now has a more substantial pair sitting on our list of the best wireless earbuds in the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, the QuietComfort Earbuds II are still excellent. They lack some meaningful quality-of-life features like wireless charging and Bluetooth multipoint that other top options already offered when they launched in 2022. Those oversights made them a tough sell at their original $299.99 price, but Bose’s strong pedigree for great audio quality and impressive noise cancellation are well-represented here, and we can easily recommend them at today’s price.