Bose Ultra Open Earbuds A
Fantastic new earbud technology…
03/07/2024 16:30
What I wanted out of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds was a product I: (1) would not have to take out when I talk to people, (2) could rely on to drown out subway and street noise, and (3) could listen to loudly at times without worrying about significant noise bleed irritating the people around me.
The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds sound fantastic. It took a few hours, but I found a sweet spot for volume that allowed me to listen to music and treat it as "background noise" while I could also talk to people I see throughout the day (e.g., people at the gym check-in, familiar coffee shop faces). But there is just no way to even mildly drown out the street noise without having the volume on its highest, and even then, I could still hear it. And the subway? Phew, even worse.
I had a friend walk around the city with me to see if he could hear my music clearly at different volume levels. Indoors, he could hear at 40% volume. Outdoors, at 60% volume. This is understandably a product that other people will hear, given the "open" part of it, but I was hoping that Bose somehow found a way to push the envelope forward a bit more.
Regarding comfort, I love the first hour every time I put these on. But after an hour, there is pain/fatigue in the cartilage/earlobe area that these are clasped around, and when I eventually take them off, these areas feel very tender/sore.
The biggest issue, though, is a connectivity problem not unique to "open" earbuds. For every song I listen to (~ three minutes each), the earbuds lose audio connection for approximately two seconds at least twice. I often find myself taking them off and putting them away and going back to other headphones I have because of how frustrating it is to experience audio loss that often (~35 instances/hour).
The frequency of the audio drop will likely cause me to return these. $300 earbuds should not experience issues like this, especially when every other Bose product does not. I am not sure why this one is any different, yet here we are.
Overall, this is a fantastic product held back by old issues. The other "issues" I faced represent the consequences of city living. I guess the connection issues will be resolved via software update, but I do not intend to wait around with them to find out.
3.5/5
inFidelis
New York , Spojené státy americké
Age: 32
Gender: Female