Bose Ultra Open Bluetooth Earbuds, True Wireless Earbuds with OpenAudio for Awareness, Clip On Design for Comfort, Immersive Audio, Up to 48 Hrs of Playtime, White Smoke

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.

Let's get the fashion piece out of the way, first. I am *not* one for fashion. Black T-shirt and olive shorts is my daily "uniform". It is interesting, and surprising, that many people thought that these ear buds were a fashion statement. Not me.Now on to the actual good stuff. Compared to the Shokz OpenRun Pro, these Bose ear buds are expensive. Oh, yeah, no denying that. However, at the same time the fit, comfort, and sound quality are also much better, at least for me.I wear glasses, the OpenRun Pro will fit, but there is always the constant adjustment because both the OpenRun Pro and the glasses want to rest on the same place. The Bose Ultra Open does not interfere, at all. The Bose Ultra Open earbuds are more comfortable and convenient.In terms of sound quality, there is no comparison. When I first got the OpenRun Pro, it was a vast improvement over the much older Shokz. The Bose Ultra Open earbuds are something else. One problem that I had with the OpenRun Pro is the placement of the sound emitters. A very slight shift in position caused left-right imbalance. The Ultra Open earbuds do not have this issue, at least on my ears. Also, at higher volumes, the OpenRun Pro had some scratching sounds, probably because the transducers were mechanically rubbing or contacting the casing.In comparison, the *one* thing that the OpenRun Pro is superior is battery life. I can wear it all day, and it does not run out of battery. The Ultra Open earbuds, however, will need a little charging break during the day. However, carrying the case with me makes a quick recharge a breeze.How good is the sound? I am no HiFi aficionado, and definitely not a purist. I can say this: in a quiet office, I now prefer the Ultra Open to a pair of wired IEMs that connect to a dedicated amp. I did not even have to tweak the equalizer in the Bose app.For an open earbud that just hangs on to the ear lobes, the Ultra Open is impressive in terms of sound quality and battery life.