Bose used to make lots of wired headphones. But it’s been a minute. Specifically, it’s been 11 years. Since then, wired headphones entered 2026 having a serious moment, with sales up for the first time in five years—10 percent in the back half of 2025 and 20 percent at the start of 2026. Young people are driving the trend, including celebrities sporting wired earbuds and literally writing songs about them.
Bose president of consumer audio Raza Haider (among others at the company) noticed. He dropped off his teen at college last year and saw wired earbuds left and right. A return to wired earbuds seems to be a national trend—it’s certainly popular among the Gen Z and Gen A of New York City, and the teenage kids of WIRED staffers too.
The new $99 Bose Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds come to the market just in time to capitalize on this trend. Launching them, from idea to final product, took the company around eight or nine months, said Haider. This is much faster than most audio releases I’m familiar with. Haider explained that Bose has been working toward enabling faster, more efficient production to accelerate new product launches, revisions, and collaborations.
Testing the Bose Wired Earbuds: Are They Any Good?
I was one of a few reviewers to get these earbuds ahead of launch. I’ve had them for only four days, and they’re technically a late-stage prototype, not the final product, so this is more of an impression than a full review. But so far, so good.
As with any wired headphones, the simplicity is a big part of the appeal. There’s no battery to charge, no app to download, no Bluetooth to fiddle with, and no latency to ruin your TV show or video game.
Already, the Bose earbuds leapfrog cheaper wired pairs (like Apple EarPods) in sound quality and active noise canceling (ANC). They have clear detail across lows, mids, and highs, especially for something at this price point. More importantly, the noise canceling is a godsend. I can listen to music at more comfortable levels, even during a commute or café stop.
What I don’t love: The central control panel is a little heavy. It has a volume up and volume down, as well as a play/pause/noise-canceling mode switch button, but it weighs down the cable. It’s pretty flush against my torso, which is nice, but it also weighs down the earbuds in my ears. The cable tension it adds is annoying, especially compared to the tension-free experience of using wireless earbuds. The cable is thick and premium-feeling, but it inevitably ends up tangled inside of the included soft pouch.
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