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.

Sound Quality

While our panel of expert listeners didn't find that the Bose Ultra Open buds sound bad, they aren't 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.

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 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 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 day 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. 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.

Comfort and Fit

The Bose Ultra Open are the most comfortable buds 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 especially loved wearing them for activities like running and hiking. Best of all, after wearing them for several hours, they didn't create that moist in-ear feeling, 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 for everyone.

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 even pulled hoodies over our heads without launching either bud off our ears most of the time, which easily happens with almost every other pair. Meanwhile, these stayed snug thanks to their unique design. “They're almost like clip-on earrings but way more comfortable,” one other tester said.

Noise Cancellation

The Bose Ultra Open do not come with noise cancelling and doesn't even come with a passively cancelling seal for your ears, but this is an intentional design and should not be viewed as a flaw. If your goal is a cone of silence, these are not designed to do that.

These earbuds are intended to enable hyper-awareness of one's surroundings. We highly recommend them for those who like to walk, hike, run solo, or even those who want to listen to music while hanging with friends.

The Bose Ultra Open 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, you can see how their 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 so you can hear yourself think, the Ultra Open earbuds aren't for you.

Ease of Use

The Bose Ultra Open has the best user experience of any 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.

App Features

The Bose Ultra Open buds come with an intuitive app that allows more discerning listeners to experiment with the EQ by dragging the bass, mid, or treble to preferred levels.

Users who value simplicity can also choose one of the auto-adjustment options for bass and treble. Listeners can view the battery life of the left and right earbuds and turn shortcuts on and off.

Connectivity

While testing with different mobile devices, the Bose Ultra Open buds are best paired with Android devices. We occasionally ran into connectivity issues with Apple devices. Though Apple users will still enjoy these, there could be minor hassles while listening.

To get a broader picture of user experience and supplement our 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.

Battery Life

The Bose Ultra Open lasts an impressive 8 hours and 20 minutes in our testing while continually playing music at 75% volume. That's almost an hour over the manufacturer's claimed battery life.

These also offer three charges per case. If you have the patience to let them charge, they're great for long-haul flights and road trips. Also, a quick 10 minutes of charging will give you up to two hours of extra battery life.

Call Quality

We confidently took calls with the Bose Ultra Open almost anywhere. These buds have some of the best call quality of any competitor. We measured call quality by playing a script of a man's and a woman's voice in different stress tests and recorded that script using our Bruel and Kjaer 5128-B head.

We stress-tested these on the Subway, at the office, and in a quiet room.

The Subway noise test is the most demanding. We were pleasantly surprised that we could have a clear conversation and only heard faint, muffled background noise. Both voices were clear.

In our office stress test, the voices are very clear for men and women. 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. Both voices are very clear 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?