Bose Ultra Open Review

The Bose Ultra Open open earbuds are literally unshakable and the most comfortable fit we've ever experienced, thanks to their wrap-around design. Because the Bose Ultra Open don't push into your ears like other buds, they can be worn for hours without discomfort, but this causes the sound quality to degrade slightly. Read on to see how these performed across the board.

Performance Comparison

Sound Quality

While our panel of expert listeners didn't find that the Bose Ultra Open buds sound bad, they aren't among the best. The main factor holding them back is a slight lack of clarity across all frequencies. Still, the sound quality is enjoyable, with a balanced mix. You can crank these buds as loud as you like, and they won't disappoint.

The mid frequencies are warm and layered but not as thick and full as in-ear buds. We were pleasantly surprised by the fullness and development of the treble range for an outside-of-the-ear model—it never sounded keening or sharp. When bass frequencies are present, they are warm and lovely, albeit weak. The chart below displays how our expert listeners rated the bass, mid, and treble ranges.

Listeners with the most critical ears may notice a slightly compressed sound signature that can feel slightly muddy compared to the top-rated earbuds.

Soundstage

The soundstage of earbuds gives the impression of where music is located in space. While it's difficult for compact, in-ear designs to replicate the immersive experience of live music, advancements in surround sound technology are enabling some earbuds to make your music feel as though it's coming from the world around you rather than from inside your head.

The Bose Ultra Open earbuds' lack of noise cancellation and their open design create a unique soundstage. One of our experts stated, “The sound feels like it can bounce around your ears instead of being held in.” Background noises also enter your ears freely, interacting with the music to keep you connected and aware of your surroundings. That's not necessarily a drawback. While these earbuds don't whisk you away or isolate you from the world, they can create lovely and engrossing soundscapes.

For example, in “Foot of Your Bed” by Shakey Graves, these earbuds create plenty of sonic space for each individual texture to reveal itself. The percussive bassline enters at 0:01, becoming the recurring thread in a surreal tapestry of sound created by the twinkly acoustic guitar, mystical-sounding harp, various distortions, and layered vocals. The hints of trepidation all come through clear as daylight since the earbuds create enough room for you to explore the emotional ambiguity of the lyrics and the malleability of sounds.

The frequency response recorded by our Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B and measured by its software, SoundCheck, aligns with what our panel of expert listeners found as it follows our house curve for most of its frequency response. That said, the bass drops off significantly from our GearLab House Curve.

The bass tends to fall off because the speakers are farther from your ear, so if your workout playlist consists of bass-heavy music and top-tier sound quality is important to you, you may look elsewhere.

User Experience

The Bose Ultra Open have the best user experience of any other buds in our lineup. Thanks to their unique design and intuitive features, we were eager to use them for all kinds of activities, from skiing to jogging around the neighborhood.

Comfort

The Bose Ultra Open buds are the most comfortable we have ever worn, to the point where we forgot they were even in our ears. We could wear these for hours on end, and we especially loved wearing them for activities like running and hiking. Best of all, we didn't get that moist feeling in our ears after wearing them for several hours, as they offer some airflow during activity. We tested these on many different ear shapes, and the general consensus is that these are sure to fit perfectly in anyone's ears.

Stability

We did everything to shake these things off, but no matter what, they remained steady. We could do almost any activity, and it would be hard for these to fall out. We were also able to take off clothing layers without launching either bud out of our ears, which easily happens with almost every other pair of earbuds. Meanwhile, these stayed snug thanks to their unique design. “They're almost like clip-on earrings but way more comfortable.” One tester said.

Customization

The Bose Ultra Open buds come with an intuitive app that allows you to adjust the EQ by either dragging the bass, mid, or treble to your preferred level, which allows more discerning listeners to experiment with their sound. Users who value simplicity can also choose one of the auto-adjustment options for bass and treble. Listeners can also view the battery life of the left and right earbuds from the app and turn shortcuts on and off.

While testing with different mobile devices, we found that the Bose Ultra Open buds are best paired with an Android device, as we occasionally ran into connectivity issues on Apple devices. Though we still think that Apple users will enjoy these, there may be some minor hassles while listening.

Connectivity

In line with our experience with other Bose earbuds, we had some minor difficulties pairing the Ultra Open buds with our iPhones but found the process went smoother when connecting to an Android device. To help us get a broader picture of user experience and supplement our own testing, we turned to Amazon's 1-star user reviews to crowdsource information on connectivity. In our analysis, the Ultra Opens did pretty well. They had an issue rate of just 1.09%, which is just below average for the group.

Noise Cancellation

The Bose Ultra Open earbuds do not come with noise cancelling and don't even come with a passively cancelling seal for your ears, but this is intentional.

These earbuds are intended for being able to be hyper-aware of one's surroundings. We highly recommend these for those who like to walk, hike, or run solo or even those who want to listen to music while playing sports with friends. But, for those who demand noise cancelling, we recommend looking elsewhere.

As you can see in the graph above, the Bose Ultra Open earbuds won't block out noise at any frequency, making them the ultimate earbuds for those who want to stay aware of the world around them. In the graph below, you can see how that performance compares to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds, which offer some of the most impressive ANC in the test. If you need the world to quiet down for a while so you can hear yourself think, the Ultra Open earbuds aren't for you.

Battery Life

The Bose Ultra Open lasted an impressive eight hours and 20 minutes in our testing while continually playing music back to back. That's almost an hour over the manufacturer's claimed battery life.

Over eight hours of battery life combined with three charges per case adds up to 25 hours of battery life for the Bose. That makes these great for long-haul flights and road trips. Also, a quick 10 minutes of charging will get you up to two hours of extra battery life.

Call Quality

We can confidently say that we would take calls with the Bose Ultra Open just about anywhere. These buds have some of the best call quality of any others in our lineup. We measured call quality by playing a script of both a man's and a woman's voice in different stress tests and then recorded that script using our Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B head.

We stress-tested these in multiple conditions, on the Subway, at the office, and in a soundless room for good measure.

The Subway noise test is the most demanding for all of our earbuds. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we could have a clear conversation and only heard some faint, muffled background noise. Both voices were clear in this test.

In our office noise stress test, the voices are very clear for both man and woman. Again, you can hear a bit of background noise, but it's very muffled and didn't hinder the conversation.

The audio above demonstrates a call in a quiet room. It's very clear for both male and female voices with zero disturbances, and their voices sound the same with no reverb.

Should You Buy the Bose Ultra Open?

We think the Bose Ultra Open buds are great for active folks who spend a lot of time outdoors or in the gym. The only caveat is that you won't get noise canceling, but this makes these perfect for those who actually want to be aware of their surroundings during an early morning jog or when hiking in the woods. That said, we don't recommend these for those who want the best of the best sound quality or any sort of noise cancelling.

What Other Earbuds Should You Consider?

If you want a great pair of running or exercise earbuds that won't fall out during activity and also have noise cancelling abilities, the Jabra Elite 8 Active buds are a great option. They also have an even better, more crisp sound. That said, the Bose Ultra Open and Jabra Elite 8 buds are pricey, so if you're on a tighter budget but still want a pair of workout buds that don't sacrifice sound quality, we recommend the Jaybird Vista 2. However, we don't recommend the Jaybirds for those with smaller ears, as the fit can be bulky.