Bose Sport Open Earbuds review
Our Verdict
Innovative in some ways, disappointing in many others, the $199 Bose Sport Open up Earbuds is a tough sell for gorging fitness buffs.
For
- Sleek and sturdy
- Responsive controls
- Stable battery life
- Surprisingly good sound
Against
- Open design is not for everyone
- Extremely express features
- Awkward fit
- Lack of charging case and smart controls
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
Innovative in some means, disappointing in many others, the $199 Bose Sport Open Earbuds is a tough sell for gorging fettle buffs.
Pros
- +
Sleek and sturdy
- +
Responsive controls
- +
Stable bombardment life
- +
Surprisingly good audio
Cons
- -
Open pattern is not for everyone
- -
Extremely limited features
- -
Bad-mannered fit
- -
Lack of charging example and smart controls
Despite launching ii new models last October – the dissonance-cancelling QuietComfort Earbuds and fitness-centric Bose Sport Earbuds. These still are some of the best wireless earbuds and all-time conditioning headphones you can buy, and then it's no surprise the momentum kept going with the new Bose Sport Open Earbuds.
Boasting a singular open-ear design that was made for optimal fit, along with Bose's OpenAudio technology to dish out full audio without roofing your ears, the Sport Open Earbuds seems to accept the makings of something special…on newspaper, that is. Despite the ultramodern await and notably high sound quality, a lot is missing in terms of functionality and performance.
- Encounter the competition with our Beats Powerbeats Pro review
- The all-time cheap wireless earbuds you tin buy
Bose Sport Open Earbuds specs
Colors: Black
Battery life (rated): viii hours
Size: 2.2 10 ane.9 x 0.75 inches (per bud), ane.half dozen x 4.4 ten 2.8 inches (conveying case)
Weight: 0.49 ounces (per bud), ii.4 ounces (carrying case)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.i
Processor: Qualcomm
Fitness fanatics who beloved Bose products, and want something different, might detect some value in the Sport Open up Earbuds. However, you tin get much more than for your dollar from some of the market's best running headphones.
- Bose Sport Open Earbuds for $199.99 at Best Purchase
Bose Sport Open Earbuds cost and availability
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds is currently available for $199 at All-time Buy or directly from Bose. This places them in a lower price subclass than competitors like the Beats Powerbeats Pro ($250), even so college than the Bose Sport Earbuds ($180).
Bose Sport Open up Earbuds review: Design and comfort
The concept backside the Sport Open Earbuds is extraordinary: wireless sport earbuds with a flat enclosure that sit in a higher place the ear canal and are suspended by a plastic loop. This is conspicuously unlike than the standard in-ear pattern that most, if not, all, wireless sport earbuds feature. At the same time, the Sport Open Earbuds is a polarizing cosmos.
Let'due south start with the positives. Build quality is exceptional, with the entire frame composed of durable PC-ABS plastic composite, which fends off scratches and scuffs well, while keeping the internals secure. The buds come with IPX4 water resistance and the open up design allows for higher ambient sensation when exercising exterior.
This is also Bose's most stylish pair of buds in its sport category, with a fashionable and meaty appearance that gives the Powerbeats Pro a run for its money. It's besides a vast upgrade from the bulky and unflattering QuietComfort Earbuds.
Normally, nosotros would reserve this section for the charging example, only at that place is one issue: these buds do non come with one. Aye, Bose released truthful wireless earbuds without a charging case. Instead, nosotros get a protective carrying example that, not for naught, is actually bonny and portable-friendly. It'due south lightweight, displays the buds beautifully, and has a magnetic closure that keeps the buds secured. Rubberized polyurethane wraps the unabridged example and gives it a carbon-fiber-like appearance as well. I only wish it had a USB-C port in the back.
Now, for the negatives. Firstly, at 0.49 ounces apiece, the buds some of the heaviest out there. The looped design is somewhat flawed, affecting both condolement and fit when worn. Trying to clasp the summit flap of your ear through the loop's tiny opening is frustrating and requires numerous tries to hook on properly. Also, if not properly adjusted, the buds volition use unwanted pressure onto the tiptop of your ears. I felt this after 30 minutes of use. This could take been attributed to my ear size, which is pretty thin, meaning that those with thicker ears will definitely feel the loop pinch their antihelix and fossa.
I'm also not sold on the stable fit Bose promises. All it takes is the slightest motility, similar bumping into an object or pressing the multifunctional button, for the buds to lose their grip and slip out. This actually occurred several times when answering calls on runs.
Bose Sport Open Earbuds review: Controls and digital assistant
There are no bear upon controls or on-ear detection on these buds. What you get is a multifunction button at the bottom of each bud to perform basic commands: play/pause, answer/end call, skip track, previous track, vocalization assist, and voice prompts.
While non the most applied input method when exercising, the buttons are responsive and offer smashing tactility to ensure users that their intended commands are being executed. In that location are no on-lath volume controls at the moment, which the Powerbeats Pro has, though a software update is coming in March that adds them, co-ordinate to the Sport Open Earbuds FAQ page. Information technology claims that "slowly tapping on the heart of each earbud" will either increase or subtract volume, suggesting that the buds support touch gestures. So why no touch controls at all?
Siri and Google Assistant are also at your disposal, and they piece of work well for the most part. In that location is some lag when enabling either digital assistant, but once activated, the buds demonstrate solid oral communication recognition and respond to voice commands as quickly as they register them.
Bose Sport Open Earbuds review: Audio quality
Since this is non technically a pair of in-ear headphones, the Sport Open Earbuds uses a dissimilar style of delivering playback, employing Bose'southward OpenAudio technology to burn down "rich, total sound" into the ears from a brusque altitude, while minimizing leakage. It'southward the aforementioned tech used on the Bose Frames, though the Open up Sport Earbuds offers the meliorate listening feel between the two products. It fifty-fifty fares moderately well against most in-ear wireless buds.
Bose'due south warm sound signature remains intact, with the 16mm drivers pumping out punchy bass. Only know that the depression end isn't every bit impactful equally what you go from Bose's ii other wireless offerings. The grumbling bassline on Tame Impala'south "New Person, Same Error" was nowadays enough to keep me energized when putting up some shots in the backyard, simply it also lacked oomph. There was besides some hissing on the vocals, an issue I noticed on other bass-heavy records too.
I really preferred the buds for casual listening, which gave me a ameliorate feel for overall sound quality. Jazz records sounded superb. Classics like Ahmad Jamal'south "Dolphin Trip the light fantastic" held their own, with instruments having an openness that augmented the rail's melodic vibes. I was also surprised with the reverberation produced past the double bass, which had a lasting effect throughout the recording.
The open design is serviceable for outdoor runners who desire to increase their ecology awareness without stopping or muting playback. At the same time, it affects audio quality, every bit mutual street noises (e.one thousand., auto horns, structure tools, wind) make their presence felt on the soundstage and diminish totality. The design also increases leakage, meaning those around you will likely hear what you lot're diggings on the buds.
All in all, you will receive slightly meliorate sound functioning on the Sport Open up Earbuds than most os-conducting models. I just wouldn't consider the Sport Open up Earbuds a suitable replacement for sonic powerhouses like the Jabra Elite Active 75t and Powerbeats Pro.
Bose Sport Open up Earbuds review: App and special features
The QuietComfort Earbuds is the but model in Bose'south truthful wireless lineup with advanced features. This includes active noise counterfoil , Transparency fashion, and Cocky Voice, so you can hear yourself louder on telephone calls. Bose shrunk the features listing downwardly for the Sport Earbuds, excluding all of the same modes and limiting functionality to music and volume controls, how-to guides, and several toggle controls via Bose Music App.
What if I told y'all the features were even more thin on the Sport Open Earbuds? You lot merely go a timer function to enable sleep mode, a volume slider, and the option to assign a shortcut command on the left earbud that only enables vox prompts for battery life. That's all, folks.
Bose Sport Open Earbuds review: Battery life
Bose rates battery life at 8 hours on a single accuse. By comparison, this is longer than the Sport Earbuds (v hours) and the Elite Agile 75t (seven.5 hours), but shorter than the Powerbeats Pro (nine hours) and the JLab Epic Air Sport ANC (11 hours). Some might consider this disappointing, especially with the lack of features, but in practice this is a sufficient corporeality of playtime to go far a handful of workouts during the week.
Using the buds for about 1.5 hours daily, I had enough portable power to stay entertained for 5 days straight before docking them onto the unconventional wired charging base of operations.
At a time where charging cases and wireless charging pads are considered standard and more than user-friendly charging solutions, one can't assist but question Bose's logic. I suppose the one positive is that the accessory does support quick charging; 30 minutes on the dock gets you three hours of playtime. This isn't as fast as the quick-charging engineering on other wireless earbuds, just information technology beats waiting 2 to three hours similar some of the market's best racket-cancelling headphones.
At that place is some inconsistency with discharge times, as the right bud seems to hold more power than the left, indicating that the left houses more than powerful circuitry and requires more juice. This besides means that you'll end upward with 1 bud working when hit the xx% marking.
Bose Sport Open Earbuds review: Call quality and connectivity
The QuietComfort Earbuds is the best set of wireless earbuds for making calls, so my hopes were loftier for the Sport Open Earbuds as a calling headset. Sadly, the results aren't as impressive. The buds practise work well for indoor calls (I got some groovy clarity on Zoom calls), but you lot need to be in a silent setting in social club to enjoy them.
On the correct earbud is a two-mic assortment designed to focus on your voice and reduce background racket. It doesn't work well because many of my friends could hear what was happening around me. Jumping on calls outside was worse, as the air current resistance on these buds was poor and struggled to clear up my voice in drafty weather condition.
Where Bose continues to pace up its game is in wireless performance, blessing all three of its latest models with Bluetooth five.1. Connecting the Sport Open Earbuds to devices was seamless, with the buds immediately entering pairing manner when turned on and showing upwardly on the bachelor devices list right away. Range was steady as well, assuasive for 35 anxiety of wireless listening, which is v feet longer than what Bose advertises. Ideally, I would have loved to see multipoint applied science hither, to connect the buds to two devices simultaneously, but I gave upwards on that dream later examining the near-featureless Bose Music app.
Bose Sport Open Earbuds review: Verdict
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds is both a unique and frustrating pair of running headphones that will likely only appeal to a very tiny audience. If aesthetics and audio mean that much to you lot in a pair of Bose wireless earbuds, then certain, these buds volition fill that need. On the other hand, if comfort and extended functionality agree more value, then I advise checking out category leaders similar the Powerbeats Pro and Elite Active 75t, as well as budget gems like the Epic Air Sport ANC.
To Bose's credit, the Sport Open Earbuds' distinctive sound delivery approach works much amend than you lot might think just from looking at it, rewarding listeners with pleasant bass feedback and well-baked vocals. I too appreciate the Sport Open Earbuds' responsive controls and stable connectivity. I still prefer the fuller results that come from a traditional in-ear model, though.
In that location'south besides a sense that yous should be getting then much more for the sub-luxury price bespeak. That includes a portable charging instance, meliorate phone call quality, enhanced fit, smart controls, and far more features than the Bose Sport Open up Earbuds currently offers.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/bose-sport-open-earbuds
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