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, Sunset Iridescent - Limited Edition Color

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 3/12/2024So 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.3/19/2024I 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.3/29/2024Bose 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.

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.

I would like to start this off by saying that I love the fit of these earbuds and think they sound great, I've tried most of the open wireless earbuds on the market and these are by far the most comfortable and convenient to use. That said the quality control and functionality of these 300 DOLLAR wireless earbuds is an absolute embarrassment.They are plagued with connectivity issues and manufacturing defects. I got lucky with my first pair and was able to use them daily for nearly a year and put up with the connectivity issues because when they worked I really enjoyed them, but after about 6 months the batteries started failing sooner and sooner until the right side started dying after 2-3 hours while the left was at 50% charge. Thankfully I had the forethought to buy a 2 year protection plan and was able to replace them, but this new pair I just received was defective straight from the factory.Now as for the features the multipoint connectivity seems to work well enough, though both sources cannot play simultaneously and there is 5-10 seconds of dead air while it switches sources. The spatial audio is neat and works well but it is a pointless gimmick that doesn't add any value. The microphone sounds horrible and is offensive to anyone on the receiving end of your call. The charging case is a nice size and shape and the earbuds snap in nicely but you have to be very careful to make sure the pins are making solid contact or one or both sides might be dead when you go to use them again, and it doesn't support wireless charging unless you buy a separate poorly fitting TPU sleeve that fits over the original case and adds bulk for $30-50.I will be replacing this defective pair and plan to use it until it fails again and I can make an insurance claim but any perspective buyers need to realize these are one of if not the most expensive wireless earbuds on the market and the value you are getting for your money is pathetic. Bose has had this product on the market for over a year and they have released some minor firmware updates that improved the connectivity a decent amount compared to the launch (it was unusably bad) but their quality control has not improved whatsoever. Knowing that Bose is shamelessly selling this poorly manufactured and feature incomplete product for double the price of any of their competition has really soured my view of the company and I won't be using any Bose products going forward. I wish I could recommend these because they are so comfortable and sound so good what you are getting for $300+ is just unacceptable, Bose would have to issue a recall of all existing units and half the price before I could recommend these to anyone.

These are crazy! I rarely buy nice headphones , I’m at home a lot and when I am out in the world , most of my listening is in a car , and I’m not much of a fan of sealing my hearing off in public , makes me feel like my guard is down , that and I can’t understand jack s*** because , you know, my ears are plugged .These I purchased honestly as an impulse buy , I have had Bose over-ear headphones many years ago and they were my first experience with quality headphones , I used them till they fell apart .So when I saw these I thought they seemed neat and different from normal ear buds but I didn’t actually read much into it , and I was pleasantly surprised .The name of the headphones gives it away , they’re “open” earbuds, it’s like earbud headphones version of open back studio headphones that allow outside sound in but also makes audio feel different, kind of like…like you’re listening to speakers in a room rather than having headphones on.These provide kind of a similar experience , they don’t plug your ears , they just clip to the back of them , and they sound just as good (if not better) as fully in ear headphones, but don’t block your ear ways , and they have incredible sound quality , there’s no loss of bass either which I would have assumed to be the case ,They also have this weird sound mode called “stationary” mode or something like that , and it makes it so when you move your head , the sound doesn’t move with you, it sounds exactly like you’re listening to a room speaker, yet no one else hears it , and it’s a trip ! I’m not sure what the benefit of this mode is but it’s cool as hell .They fit a bit weird at first , takes getting used to , but not because it’s uncomfortable, just that it’s holding on to the back of your ear so it feels like they’ll fall off but so far mine haven’t . I haven’t put them through gym testing or anything like that so I can’t say how well they’ll hold but I’d imagine it wouldn’t be a problem .Also the benefit of them being seated the way they are is they don’t get a bunch of ear wax in them — I got waxy ears .. it just is what it is, and these have stayed pretty clean , I’ve cleaned my ears before putting them on so far every time because they’re expensive and I’m babying them a little , but they’ve been completely clean when I take them off.There’s a Bose app that comes with it, it works so-so. You don’t NEED it but it allows you to switch through modes and see battery life and blablabla. It is a bit buggy though , not deal-breaker buggy but a little bit of a nuisance sometimes (doesn’t always detect your headphones , stuff like that ) . It’ll probably get fixed in updates maybe . I connect with an iPhone 16 pro max for reference .

Updated.I dropped these from 5 stars to 3 based on my experience using the Bose App. As soon as I added it to the audio ecosystem, the earbuds had bluetooth issues, multi point connection issues, and audio glitching on my iPhone 15 with current iOS. I performed the steps to do a factory reset (multiple times) but it doesn't really reset them as though they'd never been connected to the app. How do I know? They keep holding their custom earbuds name I gave them through the app despite the "factory reset."Solution: Don't install the Bose App! Ever ever ever ever! Just don't do it. You don't need the customization because it won't make up for all the glitching audio and connection problems. I had similar issues with the Sony WF-1000XM5 app which caused audio glitching and connection problems with multi point connect.To put this another way: without the app these are a legitimate 5 stars. With the app they are mediocre frustrating 3 stars at best.Review from 2 days before the app was introduced_________________I wear bifocals now and contacts are out for me, so my AirPods Max hurt too much because they press on the bows of the frames. Over the ear and on ear headphones are out.I also have a smaller size for ears and the ear to ear measurement across my skull which added a lot of challenges to the search.Here's what I tried:Beats Fit Pro - very good audio, horrible fit. The wings hurt.Apple AirPods Pro - OK audio, delicate, and they fall out of my earsTozo Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds - amazing price but very mid. Keeping them as a backup.Shokz Open Run Pro 2 Mini - even the Mini size is far too big which catches on my clothes and causes pain on the front of my ears over time. Calls sound horrible. Audio is mid at best.Sony WF-1000XM5 Earbuds - best audio of the lineup by far, fit is fair. I'm betwen XS and S eartips. I really really dislike the proprietary app with requirement to let a 3rd party continually siphon data off my phone so they can build a profile on me. I can use them without the app but can't customize the audio, bringing these back to about the quality of the Beats Fit Pro audio.I was so frustrated and thought nothing would work for my high audio expectations, glasses wearing issue, and high end audio expectations.Bose Ultra Open (product on this page) Finally found what I was looking for!!! I didn't install any app, just paired to my iPhone and let the audio rip. They sound really good and they are light and comfortable. They stay in place during activities. I'm so pleased and wish I knew to start here with Bose.#GOLDILOCKS#HIGHLY RECOMMENDEDI absolutely recommend these if you meet the following criteria:* you have the budget for it. Seriously do not overspend on audio.* you wear glasses or sunglasses often while wearing earbuds* if fit is a challenge with other earbuds

I purchased the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds on July 7, 2026, and unfortunately I’m already looking for another pair of earbuds.Within the first few days, one earbud would randomly disconnect from my phone and become completely unresponsive. The only way to get it working again was to put it back in the charging case and leave it there for about five minutes. That’s not something I’d expect from a premium product.The sound is bass-heavy, which I enjoy, and overall audio quality is very good. On flights and in other noisy environments, they sound noticeably better than my Oladance OWS2 and SHOKZ OpenFit. People also hear me more clearly during phone calls.These are very comfortable to wear. They stay securely in place, although I have to find the right position to avoid pressure on my ears during extended listening sessions.Compared with my Apple AirPods Max, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds are much more comfortable for long periods of wear. However, the noise isolation is nowhere near as effective. I understand these are open earbuds and aren’t designed to block outside noise, but I was still hoping for a better listening experience on flights.Overall, these are among the most comfortable earbuds I’ve used, with excellent sound for an open-ear design and good call quality. Unfortunately, the connectivity issues and limited performance in noisy environments mean they don’t fully meet my needs.If your priorities are comfort and staying aware of your surroundings, these are an excellent choice. If, like me, you spend a lot of time flying and want stronger noise reduction, you may want to look elsewhere.

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.

Pros: I actually really like the open ear experience. I always get irritations when using in ear earphones and its bothering. but these sit so they are not inside your ear, but on the edge of your ear, while still playing the music. However, this means these DO NOT have noise cancellation because of this, so it would not be good if thats what you are looking for. Overall, I think the sound quality is pretty nice with all that said. I do like the lightness that the open ear thing brings. I also think these look really cute aesthetically. They are like a second ear accessory. I havent had issues wearing moderately large sized diamond studs with these either. I also like that these are not very prone to falling out as far as I've experienced, as is an issue with in ear earphones I have.Cons: There's a lot of things in this sections. My main grievance with these earphones is the connectivity is really finicky and difficult, especially switching between devices. Usually initial putting on of the earphones is fine connection wise. But when you take them off and put it back on, that's where issues start happening. I have both a Macbook and Iphone for reference. Sometimes when you try to connect to a device, the earphones seem to connect, but there is absolutely no sound coming out. Its genuinely very frustrating when this happens, because the sometimes the only way to get it to work again is by putting them in the case and holding the button on the case for twenty seconds to reset. There have been times that I have had to mess with the connectivity for way too long, and its extremely annoying to deal with. On top of this, the bose app makes the connection problems even worse for some reason. The multi-point connectivity the app tries to facilitate is not good at all, and I find the app causes even more problems with connection, sometimes having to even forget the device from all your devices.Another thing to mention that is pretty frustrating, is that when rewinding a video or things like that, the earphones seem to get a blip on connection loss, and then pops back in. I've rarely have this experience with a pair of wireless headphones before, although I usually stick to apple headphone products. Its genuinely so annoying to deal with and makes the user experience unsatisfying. I deleted the bose app and it seemed to help, but it still happensLastly, something that really bothers me is that these earphones do NOT have wireless charging with the case. I think for a $300 pair of headphones, that is extremely ridiculous to not come with. I had to buy a separate $50 charging case off the bose website to get the ability for wireless charging with the case, which covers up the cool color of the original case. and I dont think the charging case looks very nice either, it looks like a cheap sillicon case, but I suppose it get the job done.......This whole thing was kind of shocking as it feels standard now adays.Overall, I'm pretty disappointed with these headphones. It sucks because I really enjoy the look of the headphones, the sound and the open ear listening experience......when it actually works. I suppose I will try to make them work for what its worth because of this, but I would probably would try to look for another option in retrospect

Très confortable pour le footing, dans le train, déplacements, etc.Tenue extra.Très très confortable.Son excellent.Appel parfait (son & communication)Appli facile à utiliser.Boîtier léger.Gestion des bases, aigus, etc. sur l'application.Pas besoin de gestion du bruit ambiant, c'est très agréable d'avoir la musique et de ne pas être coupé du monde extérieur.Équilibre parfait selon moi.

Ottimo acquisto e regalo apprezzato. Suono pazzesco forse volume un po' basso per chiamate

I never would have guessed how much I’d love open earbuds. But now I do. I still need my regular in the ear earbuds for noisy environments like airplanes. But in most other cases I will wear my open ear ones.

I purchased these wonderful open earbuds for my daughter 5 weeks ago as a gift and I'll paste in below what she has to say about them.Bose Ultra Open Earbuds: A Game-Changer for Comfort and AwarenessAs someone who loves to immerse themselves in music but struggles with ear sensitivity due to Pulsatile Tinnitus, finding comfortable earbuds has been a frustrating journey. That's why the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds have been a revelation. Finally, I can enjoy incredible audio without the discomfort of traditional in-ear designs.These earbuds have seamlessly integrated into my daily routine. Whether I'm unwinding at home with a book, tackling emails, or even whipping up a cake in the kitchen, they provide a delightful audio experience without isolating me from my surroundings. This open design is a major win, allowing me to stay connected to what's happening around me – a crucial feature that doesn't compromise on sound quality.Speaking of sound, the audio from these earbuds is simply mind-blowing. Bose has truly delivered an immersive and rich soundscape that rivals my over-ear headphones. It's hard to believe such incredible audio can come from earbuds that don't even enter your ear canal. In my opinion, this conductive technology feels like the future of audio.Comfort is paramount, and the Ultra Open Earbuds excel here. I can wear them for hours on end without any irritation or discomfort. They feel secure and stay put throughout the day, even during walks. While I can't comment on their suitability for running or jogging, they've been perfect for my everyday activities.I also appreciate the fantastic battery life. For my typical usage – listening in chunks throughout the day – they last incredibly well. The inclusion of Auto Volume, which intelligently adjusts the audio to my environment, is another standout feature that enhances the overall experience.The build quality of the earbuds themselves feels premium and robust, exactly what you'd expect from a Bose product. However, if I had one minor critique, it would be the strength of the magnet on the charging case. While it's not weak enough to cause the earbuds to fall out, a stronger closure would provide a more reassuring feel.While the price point might be a barrier for some, the exceptional audio quality, unparalleled comfort for sensitive ears, and the crucial ability to remain aware of your surroundings make the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds a worthwhile investment for the right person.Who would benefit most from these earbuds? Anyone who loves high-quality audio but struggles with the discomfort of traditional earbuds, or those who need to remain aware of their environment while enjoying their favorite sounds. If you have sensitive ears or simply value situational awareness, I wholeheartedly recommend giving the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds a try – they've been a game-changer for me.

I found them quite comfortable to wear and allowed my ears to not get so humid like normal earbuds. Once I got the position right, the sound quality was really good and I could still hear my surroundings well.At times it felt like it could fall off but never did although I'm not sure I would trust wearing them in situations where if they did fall off it would be very bad.I did experience a very slight delay when using them with videos and games on my mobile, but I think that's normal for all Bluetooth earbuds.I was very pleased with the colour/finish of the anniversary edition set. Overall I'm very happy with this purchase.