Bose Ultra Open Earbuds - Bluetooth Open Ear Earbuds with OpenAudio for Awareness, Clip-On Design for Comfort, Water Resistant, Up to 48 Hrs of Playtime, Driftwood Sand - Limited Edition Color

JessBUnited States

With Update: Five Stars So Far (But Don't Plan On Wearing Earrings With Them)

Update, April 3, 2026 - if you plan on using these while on the phone, I would recommend finding different earbuds. Since owning these I have received calls from both my father and a good friend while wearing them. My dad I could tell was having a very hard time hearing me, and my friend said I was cutting in & out so after half an hour I took them off and put him on speaker and then he commented he must have been driving in a bad area cuz suddenly he could hear me so much more clearly. (He didn't know I'd removed my earbuds and was speaking directly into the phone.) No one has ever accused me of being soft-spoken, so it wasn't that I was in an echo-y spot or speaking quietly. Both conversations I was just sitting in my bedroom. I know a lot of people still talk on the phone and use earbuds while doing so; so if you do, I cannot recommend these for you. I see below other reviewers have mentioned this as well. Luckily I rarely talk on the phone so this does not affect me much. I've been using these for four days now, and without having read other reviews which could influence mine, can give my unbiased opinion. Will of course update if I experience issues. Who I am and how I use them: *I wanted earbuds for work and weightlifting at the gym. As people frequently talk to me both places, I was intrigued by the open-ear concept. *I walk outside in nice weather too, and as a female want to be very aware of what's around me. Yes, other earbuds have a transparency/passthrough mode but I've never found that to work well myself. *Earbuds that will not fall out/off are a must. Delivery: Despite the 5-star rating, I was instantly disappointed in the shipping time. I ordered them with a delivery date of the 13th. On that day the package never showed as Out For Delivery and I knew I was in trouble. Sure enough, on the 14th when I checked I then had a delivery date of February 18. I was pretty incensed... what if these would've been a Valentine's Day gift? (It was an Amazon seller, not Amazon as the seller for this Midnight Indigo color...) Surprisingly, they delivered the 16th so it was a good thing I happened to be home. Not sure they'd have been left for me as the UPS driver rang the bell twice before I got to the door, so they seemed determined to physically give them to the recipient. But I did have to go a couple workouts without these due to the unexplainedly-delayed delivery. Unboxing & Setup: *The earbuds had a full charge when I got them; the case had some charge. Could use them immediately. *I felt dubious actually handling them at first. Once I actually figured out how to put them on properly, I downloaded the Bose app and did all the sound selections etc. which I do recommend doing! *The earbuds connected to my iPhone 15 Pro without me having to go through the process of pushing the button on the case to be discoverable-- very nice. *I love that there's a Shortcut to switch between devices and it announces which device you've switched to so you know. I like to preserve my iPhone battery sometimes by connecting my headphones to my work PC, but there are times I need to switch audio between the two and I like that it's quick and easy. Style, Sound & Comfort: *They are very comfortable, and I am absolutely blown away by how good they sound. *They have fabulous battery life too. *They look really cool (immediately told to me by my coworker.) Seeing them on me in the gym mirror this morning I confirmed that to be true when I really looked. *Once you have them on and take a lil time to get used to them, you don't even feel them on your ears. *I will mention that if you wear earrings, especially dangly ones, the magnetic battery-charging part on the back of the barrel WILL magnetize your earring or earring back to it. I was SO seriously disappointed by that. The first day I wore them to work I had to take off my hoop earrings because the magnetizing couldn't be stopped, and it was pulling my earrings (and thus my earlobes) backwards. That was really uncomfortable. Very sad about that!!! *As a 45yo with lifelong tinnitus, I worry about being a deaf old person so I have protected my hearing as best I can for many years, and it makes me feel better that these are open-ear and thus not plugging my ear canal with sound being directed into the enclosed space. I understand you can still damage your hearing if it's too loud, but 99% of the time I listen to things on the absolute lowest level I can hear anyway. *I genetically have very small ear canals and being open-ear, these solved that problem! Even with the smallest ear tips that most earbuds come with, they're too big and don't fit and hurt being crammed into my ear canal (not to mention then the noise cancellation doesn't really work AND the ear tips are constantly squeezing themselves out of my ear canals.) *Also I asked my other half if he could hear the song I was listening to, and he said no from two feet away, so there doesn't appear to be sound leakage to those around you. I'd turned it up significantly before asking, too. Other Thoughts: *When at the gym, when people talk to me it I hear it as clearly as if I wasn't wearing earbuds. That is SO nice. Same at work... I don't have to pull off headphones or pull out an earbud and ask, "Sorry, what??" It's been a game-changer in that respect. I have worn these outside on a walk and could clearly hear people approaching behind me. If you are looking to listen to music, podcasts or audiobooks but want/need to be able to hear your surroundings clearly, these are for you. They also did not budge whatsoever when I laid flat for bench presses, did floor crunches, or walked; yet they do not pinch the ear or cause discomfort. *I suggest getting an earbuds case for easy portability, to prevent losing them, and to protect the Bose case from scratches. *You can download the Bose app and use it without making an account, which was a relief. We all have too damn many needless accounts. Kudos to Bose for that. *In the back of my mind I worry about the uncurling you have to do in order to put the earbuds on your ears. I previously had Beats Fit Pros and LOVED them, but even though I was overly gentle with them, both my wingtips eventually cracked after a couple of years. They still looked & sounded perfect and had amazing battery life too, so I was heartbroken to have to stop using them, but the rubber was flaking around the cracks and falling off into my ear canals. I hope that with these being thicker and less flexible than the wingtips, that these earbuds wouldn't crack or degrade.

Amazon CustomerUnited States

Premium Sound Quality at a Premium Price

I have been an immediate adopter of the open earbud style of earbuds for numerous reasons. With the open earbud design you never get any pinching of your ears or require any extra loops or holders to keep the buds together. With in ear buds there's obviously an inability to hear your surroundings and requires taking out the ear buds and for my personal ears they don't always fit correctly and the fact that they fit in so air tight is something I don't necessarily desire. There's also a bit of an intangible negative with sticking something into your ear where cleanliness is important in order to have a tight fit and not cause ear infections and other issues of the sort. Originally I had begun using open ear buds with a different cheaper brand of open earbuds which were entirely "acceptable" they worked and I would have never questioned the quality. For sake of comparison I originally had the Soundcore C30i open earbuds which I chose to mostly see if I enjoyed the style of buds and man I really do. On top of my previous reasons for enjoying open ear buds the Bose Ultra Open buds I also see as fairly stylish and almost an accessory if I am to wear them out in public. Despite a seeming strange design to view in a picture they really make a lot of sense to wear more so than the alternative that I had tried. They're rubberized around the majority of the construction which makes them feel comfortable in all angles and will never feel scratchy whatsoever on any part of your ear while still feeling 1000% secure. These are not heavy at all and are easily ignorable while wearing, a multi faceted benefit as I'm also not spending the time fiddling with the fit they just work for me no fuss at all while be surprisingly comfortable. Now the real benefit is actually the sound quality. Obviously these are not an inexpensive item these cost quite a bit but if you find this design to be your liking I've found the sound quality to practically be as good as many full size non noise canceling headphones. You are getting the full range of sound you are not missing the bass it's not like the whole low end is missing which I've experienced with several other non in ear buds or earpieces. I still occasionally go back and forth between different earbuds when these run out of batteries and it is shocking how much worse other things will sound in comparison. I literally spent months without hearing an entire range of sound and I quite literally immediately noticed the increase in quality the second I tried these. I'm the kind of person who uses these everyday for hours at a time and I believe if you are someone who might find similar use it is time to invest. I have had very few issues with the Bose Ultra Open buds in general over months of use at this point other than one thing which seems to be by design, the right bud always runs out of battery before the left. Presumably that is the master bud for receiving the signal when both are in use though you can use them individually with no issues whatsoever. I am often connected to both my phone and my PC and have had few issues with that simultaneous uses. Occasionally experiencing media being paused on one because of the other. Occasionally phone calls are not coming through correctly when media is taking over on my PC during a call. Rarely do I have issues with connecting to anything via bluetooth and if I ever have it has never taken anything more than simply placing them back in the case and removing them after a few seconds. The range of these covers what I believe to be a fairly standard bluetooth type range it can make it through some walls and doors maybe somewhere around 40 feet depending on interference with the signal. The battery life also is respectable I would say I can get a somewhat consistent 9 or so hours of fairly constant use per charge before they both are depleted. The charging time is also some short amount of time maybe around 15-20 minutes for a 100% charge. If you enjoy this style and want premium quality this is it.

DeeUnited States

I wanted to like them but the price updated

Usually I say they are good for what it’s worth. In this case, for what I paid for them, they are not worth it. Pro’s: the ear clip/cuff design is different and good, the fit is pretty secure and won’t fall off, comfortable, immersive sound is a plus, turning off the immersive sound and they last longer between charges. When running I hardly noticed I had them on my ears. The sound was good when I was running. I noticed as I was running that the music got louder. I think it was because they settled onto my ear lobes and also I turned the automatic volume control. Cons: too expensive, can’t adjust to being closer to ear canal, left me wanting and expecting more from the ear cuff buds. They seem limited when turning them up to 7 or 8 on the flat setting. Should be priced around the sound core and shokz open fit buds price, maybe even pricing them lower like $125-$150 on the high end. For $300 they should have wireless charging, multi point connectivity. Most of all a larger and louder volume level. I’m returning them. My aftershockz aeropex bone conduction headphones do a better job and lasts my whole 10 hour workday without needing to be charged. Maybe another software update with automatic multipoint switching, adjust the eq curve to have more low end and not cap the bass when playing at a higher volume, and drop the price and they would an awesome product. Update 3/12/2024 So I returned my first pair of ultra earbuds, and got a set of Shokz open fit earbuds. I tried those on for some time and really like how they performed overall. But somehow I started to miss the bose earbuds, and wanted to compare how they went up against the Shokz offering. The price is still steep, but I had an amazon gift card balance of $157 so I went ahead and bought the Bose to do the comparison. The fit was excellent as before, the sound is excellent, I registered them to get the two year nose warranty as I can see these being replaced sometime in September the future. The Shokz are really good and probably rank them as one of the best hook buds in the market. For me and my ears, the Bose and the Shokz are an excellent buy. They both are light and fitment is excellent, the sound is superb, the call quality I give to Shokz, the update happened to both and somehow the call quality on the bose really improved. I still prefer the physical button over the touch sensitive approach that Shokz went with. I still like the Bose ear cuff design vs the earhook. So which do I prefer. Running and exercising-Bose without a doubt, mountain biking and any sport with a lot of wind noise-Shokz hands down. 3/19/2024 I started noticing the Bose ultra open buds starting to lose connection when putting them on. The right ear would get the connected prompts, but the left would not connect and when it does connect, it loses drops connection a couple of time more than connects and syncs up with the right ear. I’m going to request for a replacement pair. Overall, these are excellent buys if you have a gift card balance to buy down these buds. The Shokz were on sale so I returned my black pair and got the white pair. I had some Amazon credits and used those credits to buy the Shokz at much lower price. 3/29/2024 Bose pushed an update to the open ultras (version 1.10.4). The audio sounded clearer, the connection issue seems to have been resolved, I noticed while doing yard work that my Bose lasted approximately 5 hours on the immersion setting. No multipoint connectivity like the Shokz open fits have. Also, I saw that Bose released a wireless charging case on their website for $50. I decided to not get the wireless charging case because I was already used to the usb-c plug approach.

TWMUnited States

If Sound Quality & Comfort Are Most Important, These Are a Best Buy

The headline says the important things. These "ear buds" are not meant to be champion noise cancellers. They cannot be since they do not in any way block your ear canals or pinnae. But if your primary concern is the sound quality you hear from your selected sources and wearing comfort, these are a true bargain. The fact that they can do this without disturbing those nearby with what you are listening to, mussing your hair, sticking into your ear canals, or cutting you off totally from your surrounding environment is a plus in my book. I use them to listen to the sound tracks of movies and TV in my home, so I'm not at all concerned with how effective they are at blocking extraneous sound for phone calls or music listening when out and about. i find that the most natural tonal balance with my ears on most TV and movies is with the EQ set to boost the bass by one or two dB. With that done, the tonal balance, clarity, and freedom from apparent distortion is top notch for the price. No, the deepest bass is not there at the level of headphones which make a great seal with your ear canals or with your head, but the amount of such bass is totally adequate for such listening. These are a better compromise, to my ears, than what I've heard from many far pricier audiophile headphones which don't pretend to make a seal with your ears or head. Many such audiophile products try too hard to give you the bottom bass and in the effort muddy up the entire bass and even midrange through excessive driver excursions. Wearing comfort is high. Rotate the little under-ear cuff until there is minimal pressure or pinching of your pinnae. Once so adjusted, I hardly know they are there. The immersive audio feature works very well indeed to my ears to further dimensionalize the playback and applies to all stereo programs. There is minimal audible "phasey-ness" and maximal solidity and three-dimensionality of the presentation. It gets the presentation out of your head and in front of your eyes and around you in a way you quickly regard and natural an immediately miss when you turn it off. Before you listen seriously to these, much less pass judgment on them, even when bought brand new, be sure to first go into the Settings tab of the Bose Music App and update the software. My new ones bought from Amazon were several generations behind on updates. Updating both improved the overall sound and eliminated some intermittent connectivity problems I had at the first. Do this for any other Bose headphones you have as well. You will be pleased. Over the years I've owned many of the top audiophile headphones out there and have auditioned many more in stores and at audio shows. In addition to these Ultra Open Earbuds, I also own the Bose QC 45 and QC Ultra headphones. I currently also own NAD Viso HP-35, Apple AirPods, Max, and two different vintage Stax electrostatic headphones. Sure, the Stax are better sounding to me than these Bose Ultra Open, but the Stax together with the best amplification for them can cost $10,000, not $300.