Bose Ultra Open Earbuds

I ordered these open earbuds and had it delivered on the same day! This review is written based on the first 24 hours of usage.

Overall, 5 stars for a/ ease of installation and pairing to my Samsung Android and Apple iPad b/ truly lightweight on my ears with seven hours and they stick really well to my ears without pressure c/ sound quality including immersive mode lives up to Bose standard so there is nothing to dispute here. d/ Unnoticeable sound leak: even at higher volume, my folks who stand next to me they say it’s not noticeable at all.

In the updated review, I’d like to share my experience on how it works with apps such as MS Teams.

2/18/24 Update – after two days of usage. My rating still remains at 5 stars.

Pro: in addition to the above, it’s so lightweight and comfortable that I keep forgetting that I’ve been wearing them. Battery life is as advertised. Works well with MS Teams on my phone.

Cons: a/ Hello Bose!!! why no wireless charging!!! the case w/ that capability is sold separately!!! b/ other users complained about flickering sounds at the beginning and it happened to me as well. It turned out that Bose delivered firmware update and it interferes with the operation of the headsets. After firmware updates, everything has been working just fine.

2/28/24 Update – overall, my rating is now 4.9

Pros: after one week of travel airports to airports and outdoor running in warm weather, I keep forgetting that I have the headsets on. Super comfortable.

Cons: there is a one second lag of sound at the beginning of every turn instruction from Google Map app.

I’ve been intrigued by the idea of open buds like these since Sony released the link buds. Unfortunately the link buds were way too uncomfortable for me and it turned me off of the idea.

These new Bose are fantastic. They fit great, are very comfortable, and the sound is great. I’m blown away by the level and clarity of bass that comes from these. Way better than expected.

I’ve seen a lot of comments online from people who can’t understand why people would want these. These are for people who don’t like having buds jammed into our ears. In ear noise canceling buds are too uncomfortable and claustrophobic for me. Plus I tend to use buds when walking outdoors where I appreciate being more aware of my surroundings. These also allow me to keep them on while working to go from listening to music, taking calls, or just having them off and interacting with my surroundings without thinking about them too much.

They are comfortable, but they have two major problems. The first and greatest is the poor noise floor. Every time something starts playing you will hear it as a static. For a 300$ pair of buds in 2024 I find this very unacceptable. My link buds from Sony do not do this. Even a cheap pair of skull candies that I bought in an emergency do not have this. The second problem is the sound quality you get is entirely dependent on where you place these on your ear. You can get acceptable bass or a completely washed-out sound. The saving grace is once you find the sweet spot they stay. For 300$ these are not worth it unless they fix the poor noise floor. I really can’t see a firmware fixing this as it sounds like it’s the fault of the amp. Maybe if these were 150 or 200 then they might be worth considering.

Pros:
1. Weight. It’s so light that I doubted there was anything in the box when it came. The earbuds feel like nothing on my ears. The only worry that I have is the case being a bit too plastic and flimsy.
2. Music quality. Sooooo good!
3. So comfortable to wear and they don’t come off very easily. It’d be perfect to wear when exercising.
Cons:
1. The price. I think in terms of features, it’s an overpriced product tbh.
2. No noise cancellation. I guess that’s expected from open earbuds, but you can’t really hear anything from them in a noisy environment. Avoid if that’s what you need.
3. The button controls on the earbuds are a bit hard to use honestly. You can customize them on your phone app once connected, but still hard to press or hold for just the right amount, especially when adjusting the volume.
4. The size/range. For those that don’t have small ears or earlobes or usually wear huge earrings, this is NOT the right earphone for you!!!

Overall I think it’s a good choice for small-ear people who want comfortable earbuds and normally wear them in quiet environments, and don’t care about this money I guess. ?

I never write reviews but felt compelled to do this one. I absolutely love everything about these ear buds. In ear buds never feel right to me and almost always uncomfortable, not to mention not wanting to damage my hearing. These are a dream. And to the negative reviews on here, they likely have their own agenda. You get what you pay for folks and these deliver. Thank you Bose!

When I first saw a picture of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, I thought a piece was missing and would be included in the packaging once you received it. I thought, surely these don’t fit into your ear, how could they, they don’t come with any additional fittings?! On the contrary, what you see is what you get. Unlike other earbuds you’ve owned, these don’t settle directly into your ear canal. Instead, they sit just outside of it, along your ear lobe. The beauty of them is that not only do you get a deep, rich sound but you are also fully aware of your surroundings at all times.

I am a cancer patient and receive IV therapy treatments three times a week at my local hospital. I own a set of top-of-the-line Bose headphones that I use each and every day but they can be a nuisance, especially when I’m having to talk with my nurses or the staff at the clinic. I have to pause what I’m listening to so I can lift the headphones off my head so I can hear. I had these on all day today and I found that I didn’t have to stop the music I was listening to so I could answer questions being asked of me…this is a huge win!

I was quickly able to get the earbuds paired with my phone and in no time, I was listening to the mellow sound of The Eagles sing many of my favorite tunes. The sound is absolutely perfect. You feel like the music is coming from all around you due to the way they sit in your ear. It’s quite remarkable to get such amazing sound of such a tiny pair of earbuds.
I especially like the controls. I’ll be honest, it took a little getting used to but the fact that a nice diagram is included that shows which buttons to press and how exactly to press them to get the results you want is greatly appreciated.

These earbuds are very comfortable, which is another amazing feature. You can leave them on for many hours without having to take them off to adjust them. Once you get them into position, they stay put! Another thing I really love about them is unlike traditional earbuds, you won’t have to worry about them getting dirty from wax in your ear. Think about it…how many times have you taken your earbuds off and looked at them with a wrinkled-up face because you have to clean them after having them in even for a short period? That is not an issue at all with these earbuds.

I have never seen this concept before and frankly, it was long overdue! Finally, a pair of earbuds that are both comfortable and sanitary

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.

I overall enjoy these and think the concept works well. If you want to listen to music while still hearing the world around you, these are great.

Two annoying problems so far: 1) the bluetooth connectivity is inconsistent. Connected to my iPhone 15 Pro, the audio cuts out once every few minutes or so when the earbuds are less than 3 feet from my phone. 2) when listening in a quiet room, you can hear a fairly loud hissing noise coming from the earbuds. These feel like issues that you should not have to deal with when purchasing $300 earbuds.

I feel like I’ve been waiting for someone to make an earbud like this ever since earbuds became popular 15-odd years ago. I have always found earbuds uncomfortable and never particularly cared for completely shutting out the world while listening to music. If I did want to do that, even today over the ear headphones are vastly superior to any buds regarding noise cancelling (though some buds have gotten really good at it).

These buds feel like MAGIC. Wearing them, it truly feels like there is simply a bubble of high quality music going on around you that, somehow, no one else is able to hear. And while you can feel them on you at first, after a while it becomes easy to forget that you’re wearing earbuds at all. I was in the grocery store wondering why they were suddenly playing Dua Lipa, completely having forgotten for a second that it was MY music I was hearing and only me. You really feel like you’re still in the world. You can have full on conversations just like you would with them off. There is ZERO fishbowl effect. It really feels like your ears are completely unobstructed. And besides all that, I think they look pretty cool too! Though that part is obviously subjective.

Are they perfect? No. Are they by far the best attempt yet at this form factor? Yes. I really hope Bose and other manufacturers keep trying to perfect this form factor because I absolutely love them and find it to be a total game changer. Being able to still interact with the world AND listen to your music at the same time is truly wonderful. Please keep making these, Bose!

I wanted to like these but they won’t stay connected to any device for very long. If they do, they are constantly flickering audio in and out. I’m hoping I just got a bad set.