In an era rife with imitation, innovation of any kind is commendable. Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds hit the bull's-eye there, providing one of the most distinctive new wireless earbud designs on the market. Open-ear headphones are an increasingly popular category that includes everything from crescent-shaped models that blast sound to your ears from above to bone-conduction halos that buzz it through your jawbone, skipping your ear canals altogether. Each of these tries to keep your ears free to let in environmental sounds while still delivering a pleasing sonic experience.
Bose’s snake-like Open Earbuds deliver a fresh spin, designed to cling to your ear’s outer edge via a contractible hinge and to fire sound to your ear canal from a vented speaker housing. It works surprisingly well, delivering long-lasting comfort and clear sound that meets or beats most such options I’ve tried, including Sony’s holey LinkBuds (8/10, WIRED Recommends).
You’ll pay a remarkably high price for that distinction, which puts the Ultra in a tight spot. The $300 price exceeds versatile flagships like Apple’s AirPods Pro, but their inherent struggles in louder environments mean they can’t be your everything earbuds. Like with many new products, I've had a few technical glitches out of the gate. Still, the inviting sound makes them worth a look for anyone seeking high-performance open-ear headphones.
The Ultra Open Earbuds’ rounded charging case will look familiar to anyone keeping up with Bose’s ever-expanding Ultra lineup, but that’s where the similarities end. Flipping its top reveals long, enameled clips set on powerful magnetic terminals. A “barrel” at one end holds the battery and lone control key, connected to the serpentine vented headpiece by a silicone-layered curl.
The Ultra are quite small for open-ear buds, but it’s no small feat to unroll the two-piece contraptions and properly clip them to the back of each ear. Luckily, there's a clear guide in Bose’s Music App. Even so, I admittedly put the two on backward my first time as I hurriedly prepped for my morning dog walk—the dual vents confused me as to which one fired audio. They (obviously) sound much better when properly attached, but even after I got the hang of them, they’re not as simple as inserting regular earbuds, and I usually had to make some micro-adjustments to dial in a balanced stereo field.