Review: Bose Ultra Open Earbuds

In an era rife with imitation, innovation of any kind is commendable. Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds hit the bull's-eye there, providing one of the most distinctive new wireless earbud designs on the market. Open-ear headphones are an increasingly popular category that includes everything from crescent-shaped models that blast sound to your ears from above to bone-conduction halos that buzz it through your jawbone, skipping your ear canals altogether. Each of these tries to keep your ears free to let in environmental sounds while still delivering a pleasing sonic experience.

Bose’s snake-like Open Earbuds deliver a fresh spin, designed to cling to your ear’s outer edge via a contractible hinge and to fire sound to your ear canal from a vented speaker housing. It works surprisingly well, delivering long-lasting comfort and clear sound that meets or beats most such options I’ve tried, including Sony’s holey LinkBuds (8/10, WIRED Recommends).

You’ll pay a remarkably high price for that distinction, which puts the Ultra in a tight spot. The $300 price exceeds versatile flagships like Apple’s AirPods Pro, but their inherent struggles in louder environments mean they can’t be your everything earbuds. Like with many new products, I had a few technical glitches out of the gate, but those seem to be solved. The Ultra Open's inviting sound makes them a good choice for anyone seeking high-performance open-ear headphones.

Updated October 22, 2024: This review has been updated and the score has been raised to reflect new features and better connectivity via firmware updates.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The Ultra Open Earbuds’ rounded charging case will look familiar to anyone keeping up with Bose’s ever-expanding Ultra lineup, but that’s where the similarities end. Flipping its top reveals long, enameled clips set on powerful magnetic terminals. A “barrel” at one end holds the battery and lone control key, connected to the serpentine vented headpiece by a silicone-layered curl.

The Ultra are quite small for open-ear buds, but it’s no small feat to unroll the two-piece contraptions and properly clip them to the back of each ear. Luckily, there's a clear guide in Bose’s app. Even so, I admittedly put the two on backward my first time as I hurriedly prepped for my morning dog walk—the dual vents confused me as to which one fired audio. They (obviously) sound much better when properly attached, but even after I got the hang of them, they’re not as simple as inserting regular earbuds, and I usually have to make some micro-adjustments to dial in a balanced stereo field.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The cling-on (not Klingon) design feels odd at first, but the buds nearly fade away over time thanks to their relatively light weight of 6.5 grams each. They feel slightly precarious, but they held on for a variety of activities, from yard work to jogging. The steadfast hold is entirely down to that malleable curling hinge that keeps its grip while still feeling pretty comfy, with only a tinge of pinching after multiple hours.

The Ultra Open Earbuds’ single-key control system is well thought out, letting you play/pause, skip songs, take calls, and even control volume with relative ease through a series of taps and long presses. There’s an assignable shortcut for each side that lets you choose between commands like activating a voice assistant, switching Bluetooth sources, or choosing between stereo mode and Bose’s 3D audio system.

The latter works, for better or worse, in the same way as Bose’s noise-canceling Ultra headphones and the latest QuietComfort earbuds. The system employs digital processing to create a deeper sense of immersion from stereo sources, including the ability to track your head movements to keep the sound centralized as though you’re listening to speakers. As noted in my Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones review, I’m not a big fan—I’d rather the feature be cut and the price dropped—but it can be interesting to play around with. That said, I applaud Bose for added versatility over time, including a new feature that lets you use the buds as personal surround satellites in concert with the Bose Ultra and Smart Soundbars.

Other notable features include a three-band EQ alongside a selection of audio presets, Auto Volume to dynamically adjust the sound based on your environment (though it doesn't seem particularly accurate), and a solid 7.5 hours of playback time per charge. Android users will also get Google's Fast Pair connection and aptX Adaptive for hi-res streaming. I was surprised to find the charging case does not include support for Qi wireless charging—something I expect in this price bracket. Multipoint pairing also wasn't available at launch, but has since been added as of July 2024 via firmware update, letting you seamlessly switch between connected devices like your laptop and phone.

I experienced multiple connection hiccups during my review, including a few where the left earbud disconnected completely, requiring me to put the buds in the case to reset them. I was not alone, as Bose sent out a firmware update (the second during my evaluation) to address several software quirks. It’s not a great look at this price, but after weeks of re-testing, I've not had any notable connection woes since the latest update.

The big pitch for open-ear headphones and adjacent devices like audio sunglasses is their blend of environmental awareness and sonic accompaniment for a wide variety of activities. This translates to options like chatting with your partner while you groove to your Discover Weekly playlist, jogging in traffic without sacrificing spatial awareness, or simply humming along through your daily routine at the office without missing a greeting from the CEO.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

You can do most of this with the majority of regular earbuds thanks to transparency mode (which pipes in sound from exterior microphones) without giving up the option for noise canceling or sound isolation when things get loud. Transparency mode continues to sound more naturalistic, especially in models from Apple, Sony, and Bose’s traditional earbuds. But it has its limitations.

One example is biking or walking in windy weather, where open-ear headphones have a natural advantage. Even with advanced algorithms, the tiny microphones in regular buds tend to get blown out easily by powerful air pressure.

The trade-off is that music or podcasts can get masked easily by loud or chaotic environments, especially with buds that keep your ear canals fully exposed. This was my experience when I brought the Ultra Open Earbuds on a trip to the busy streets of Tulum, Mexico. From street musicians to the cacophony of motorcycles, trucks, and buzzing four-wheelers, the earbuds were essentially useless when things got noisy. I found myself pumping up the volume to the max just to hear, while in isolation I rarely raised it above a third of the way. The Cancun airport was a similarly tough test, as the buds struggled to rise above chaotic travelers, announcements, and piped-in elevator music.

I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Sony’s LinkBuds struggled similarly in chaotic tests, including a walk through the busy streets of Manhattan. Sitting flush in your ears, the LinkBuds pass less environmental audio through their centralized hole, but they still have trouble when things get loud.

Photograph: Ryan Waniata

The Ultra Open Earbuds have an advantage over most rivals when it comes to sound quality. They’re remarkably nuanced for buds you don’t insert in your ears, providing clear and balanced sound that’s rich and warm in the midrange and delightfully tactful in the higher registers.

They’re particularly adept at re-creating sweet acoustic tracks like Nickel Creek’s “Out of the Woods” or Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.” Guitars are rendered with a golden cut to the attack and smooth, woody resonance. Vocals are clear and forward, strings and woodwinds lush, and even rapid-fire details in electronic tracks come through with good definition.

As expected, complex mixes tend to lose a step or two. The Chemical Brothers’ lively anthem “Go” sounds, good but it’s missing some subtlety in effects like the crisply cut hi-hat sample in the right channel. That was particularly notable when I took the Ultra Open Earbuds out of my treated studio space and into the world.

Like every open-ear sound system I’ve tested, the Ultra also have trouble reproducing powerful, low-register bass grooves. It’s very difficult for tiny speakers to reproduce powerful bass without the advantage of being enclosed in your ear canal. The Ultra do better than most, offering some authority and texture in bass hits such as the laser-like groove in Notorious B.I.G.’s classic “Hypnotize.” I’m far from a bass head, but they do enough there to mostly satisfy—especially when compared to most rivals.

Call quality has been generally clear in my tests, though nothing special. Most callers said they could hear me quite well, and I had no real complaints on my end.

Is all that enough to make these buds worth their $300 price? With less flexible bank accounts, that could be a tough sell for a secondary pair. On the other hand, I adore the Bose Frame audio sunglasses for bike rides, and the Ultra are more versatile at the same price (sunglasses not included), especially after adding some new features. If you’ve got the cash to blow and want open headphones with clear sound and a fresh design, the Ultra Open Earbuds deliver.