The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds That Think They're Tiny Speakers
These high-end “anti-earbuds” are for listeners who don't like the feel of earbud tips
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What do I love most about a great pair of earbuds? The fact that as soon as I pop them in, the din of my dog barking, my phone pinging, and the neighbor’s snow blowing simply disappear, replaced by a more peaceful world where I hear nothing but “Steal Smoked Fish” by the Mountain Goats and the sound of my own thoughts.
But as much as we might like to live in a world scored with nothing but our favorite playlist, that’s not always practical. And that’s where the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds come in. At first glance, they look like yet another pair of high-quality medium-sized earbuds, but they’re actually quite unique.
Most earbuds sit in your ear canal, with a seal made by either silicone or foam ear tips. The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, on the other hand, are essentially tiny speakers that sit near your ear canal. The lofty goal is to allow you to listen to music or podcasts without isolating you from the things happening around you. Think package deliveries, screeching tires, a phone call from your boss.
Do They Work?
If you’re the kind of person who likes the idea of earbuds but hates the feeling of having something plugging your ear, the Bose Ultra Opens may be just the thing for you. In my informal evaluation, I found that after I got them fitted just right (more about that below), I got plenty of volume and very satisfying sound. Indeed, our testers give the Ultra Opens strong marks for sound quality, noting the strong, impactful bass, an even midrange, and a forgiving high-end, along with a nice sense of liveliness.
The effect is a bit like listening to a wireless speaker that’s sitting on a desk in front of you, except that no one else can hear it.
These rather expensive $299 earbuds accomplish this without the kind of sound leakage you get from open-back headphones. The tiny drivers are so close to your ear that they’re barely audible to the outside world, so your Professor Longhair playlist won’t annoy your family members, roommates, or co-workers in an open-plan office.
The other big problem the Ultra Opens are designed to address is that awkward transition when you’re shifting your attention between your music and something looming in the real world, whether it’s a co-worker asking a question or an e-bike coming up behind you on a path.
Many higher-end noise-canceling earbuds, including the Apple AirPods Pro, the top-rated Sony WF1000XM5s, and some Bose models, have transparency or ambient modes that electronically pipe in outside sounds. But you usually have to actively engage and adjust that feature, usually at some cost to the sound quality. And the transition simply isn’t seamless. While these electronic aids have gotten much better in recent years, they’re still far from perfect.
The Bose Ultra Open earbuds, on the other hand, make it sound like you’re hearing the doorbell ring or the cashier’s voice because you are.
The Ultra Opens do fall short of conventional earbuds in one important way. Because of the open design, they lack both passive noise-canceling (ear tips that seal off your ear canal) and active noise-canceling (where the electronics sample the background noise and deliver a mirror-image soundwave that cancels out the din).
Which means the Ultra Opens aren’t ideal in a noisy environment. I tried them briefly on a commuter train and found myself longing to return to my personal reference noise-canceling earbuds. I wouldn’t take them on a long airline flight, either.
The Ultra Opens also feature an immersive audio mode that moves the sound to the front, probably to further the illusion that you’re not listening to headphones. The effect can be applied to any kind of content; no need to hunt down Dolby Atmos tracks. I’m not a fan of the effect with music—it makes my favorite songs sound different but not necessarily better—but it did work well with podcasts because it moves the narrator’s voice from the side toward the front.
The Crucial Fit Factor
At first I found wearing the Ultra Open Earbuds to be, well, a little weird.
The cuff-shaped design is made up of two distinct “units,” a small cylinder—with the battery, charging contacts, and control buttons—that sits behind your outer ear just above your earlobe; and the speakers, which sit near the opening to your ear canal. The two modules are connected with a silicone “clip”—Bose calls it a flex arm—that wraps around the outside of your ear with just a little bit of pressure. The effect seems a bit like an ear cuff earring.
Photo: Bose Photo: Bose
For the first few minutes, I found the Ultra Opens to be distracting and borderline annoying, but then again I’ve never worn earrings or piercings on my rather large ears. I was surprised to learn that after wearing them for maybe 20 minutes, I could pretty much forget them.
When I did think about them, I was kind of worried that they were going to fall off. They never felt like they were particularly secure, but whether I was moving around or just nodding my head, they never ended up on the ground. I got them sweaty while riding my stationary bike and going for a short run, and still they stayed in place. I still don’t think they’d be my first choice for adventure sports like snowboarding or mountain biking, which might test the limits of their retention.
But earbud fit is a very personal thing, which is why we employ testers with ears of different sizes and shapes. Those with larger ears had an experience like mine: The earbuds stayed in place, yet they did put some pressure on the ears. The testers with small and medium-sized ears had a different experience. They found that the Ultras stayed in place during casual and vigorous movement and were often so unobtrusive they forgot they were there.
I also found that the Ultra Opens are hypersensitive to placement. To get even adequate sound quality, the tiny speakers need to be aimed very precisely at your ear canal. If they slide even a few millimeters, there’s a huge swing in volume as well as tonal balance, with the bass on Haim’s “Gasoline” all but disappearing. Those testers with larger ears shared my experience, with some of them simply not able to achieve a fit that delivers optimal sound quality, especially in the bass.
On the positive side, track selection, volume, muting, and even the immersion mode can all be easily activated or adjusted with buttons on the battery pack. I like the fact that instead of touch controls, these are actual buttons with a distinct click, which makes it simpler to execute commands, like track skipping, that require more than one input.
Should You Buy Them?
I think the question really is should you try these new and different Bose buds.
If you just can’t get comfortable with regular earbuds, you’ll probably find that the Ultra Opens deliver very good sound without plugging up your ears. Same if you find yourself frustrated with the transparency mode on noise-canceling buds. On the other hand, the Bose buds are less versatile than regular noise-canceling buds in a noisy environment.
The biggest variable is that the sound quality is very fit-dependent. I found it difficult to maintain the kind of secure fit that delivers the best sound these earbuds are capable of. Testers with smaller ears, on the other hand, had no such problems and enjoyed a comfortable, secure fit and truly fine sound.
For all of those reasons, the Ultra Opens will likely be a pretty divisive product. If they fit you well, and you do most of your listening at a desk or on a trail safely removed from the bustle of everyday life, you might fall in love with the open feel and the seamless way they let you switch between good-sounding music and something in the real world that demands your attention.
At the very least, we suggest buying them from a retailer with a generous return policy in case you don’t like the unique audio experience or can’t get the right fit.
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