Bose - Ultra Open

Hmmm usually Open Style Earbuds like the Opendots generally Average sound quality due to their open nature, i own the Bose Open earbuds and they are good for what they are but it will never be equivalent to an In-Ear. If you dont mind Earhook versions i will recommend either the Cleer Arc 3 Music or Nothing Ear (Open) both a generally pretty good but albeit a bit largen then the Opendots you have.

I have the Bose open earbuds and I was skeptical at first, I love being immersed in music and thought open earbuds wouldn't satisfy my music needs but honestly it's nice listening to music and still being semi aware of surroundings. I will say that if you want deep base these aren't it. I watch concerts on YT while I do cardio and need the deep base and immersion to stay pumped, I can't use these, I revert back to my over ear NC headphones. Every other activity though, they work great!

Agreed! I tried shokz on at the store and was like, if I have sunglasses on and hat on, there is lot going on, on top of my ear. Bose open ear doesn't have that problem!

I have bose open ear whatever's and love them. Big sweater here too, and havent had any issues with them falling out. Plus safe for me to hear my surroundings which I need to pay extra attention as a female.

I have been using [this](https://x.com/xploreproducts/status/1941403958821650858) from bose and it has been working great so far, I would highly recommend you this .I think it will be a solid fit for your use case

I have the Bose ultra open pods. They just kind of clip on your outer ear. Excellent battery life! Great comfort!

Ok I’ve been using both of these buds for 2 months now because I couldn’t decide without a real world case study so I bought pairs of each on eBay for around $150 each. For the record I am NOT an affiliate marketer or anything like that. This is not a paid review or anything. I just had a hard time deciding so I figured I would try them both out. SPOILER: It has been REALLY TOUGH to decide which pair I want to keep because they are so similar and both have good and bad things about them. Background on me and my usage. I am very particular about audio and comfort. Was looking for a lightweight pair of bud style headphones for me to use while working outside, around the house, quick errands, or in the office but wanted to make sure they had good to great audio quality. I listen to a ton of audiobooks as well. Here is what I did: I rated several items on a 0-5 scale based on direct comparison of these 2 models. 0 just means it doesn’t have that feature or requires an additional purchase (wireless charging case for Bose for example). 1 means it is a yes/no answer or something that performed poorly. 5 means it is damn near perfect. Bose Battery - 3 Phone Calls - 3 Multi-Point Pairing - 1 (yes) Audio Quality (Music) - 5 Audio Quality (Podcasts/Books) - 3 Wireless Charging - 0 Smart Wear (Buds automatically detect which ear) - 0 Comfort - 3 Transparency - 3 Volume - 4 Physical Buttons - 1 (yes…I prefer physical buttons) Total Score 26 Shokz Battery - 5 Phone Calls - 2 Multi-Point Pairing - 1 Audio Quality (Music) - 3 Audio Quality (Podcasts/Books) - 4 Wireless Charging - 1 (Yes) Smart Wear (Buds automatically detect which ear) - 1 (Yes and this is a very cool feature that is pretty nice) Comfort - 4 Transparency - 3 Volume - 3 Physical Buttons - 0 Total Score 27 As you can tell, they are VERY VERY CLOSE. I’ve even pulled both pairs out while writing this post to listen to the same song and a passage from a book I am listening to in order to make sure I still feel the ratings are accurate 😂. The battery life is a massive difference. I worked outside and around the house for 10 hours Friday and the Shokz didn’t need to charge. I worked outside yesterday wearing the Bose for 5 hours and at about the 4 hour mark the left bud died and the right one followed suit about 20 minutes later. Both options had the Dolby/Immersive Audio turned on which does create a difference in the battery life but it cuts the Bose battery life in half and didn’t noticeably affect the Shokz’ battery life. I hadn’t noticed a big difference in the comfort of the 2 until yesterday as well. I never needed to mess with the Shokz but had to adjust the Bose a couple times where my ears got a little uncomfortable where they were sitting. The audio of the Bose for Music is noticeably better than the Shokz but the opposite is true on Podcasts and Audiobooks. It’s on par with their other buds and headphones. This is the only part of the headphones’ comparison where the Bose stood out and made me hesitate on selling the pair I’ve been using. Bose requires a wireless charging case that costs $50-$100 if that feature is important to you (it isn’t for me but is nice to slap it on my charging pad on my desk when I’m not using them). Be warned neither are very good for phone calls. Both had people on the other end of my calls telling me they had a hard time hearing me whenever there was any significant background noise. Maybe this will be addressed with a firmware update going forward but both of these are lagging the other headphones made by both of these companies in this regard. I think I’m going to keep the Shokz and sell the Bose because of the comfort and battery factors.

I love the Bose Open Earbuds. Rather than pressing into your ear canal, they clip around the outside of your ear and position the speaker at the entrance of the canal. Makes them very comfortable for extended use, very secure while walking/running, and unparalleled ease of talking to others while your headphones are in. With this design the clear caveat is that there is zero noise cancellation, so depending on whether you value that YMMV. I’d also note they’re surprisingly “private” with this design, others can only really hear the buds if the room is quiet and your volume is high, otherwise it’s not noticeable. I’d note that I’ve had pretty iffy longevity out of my Bose earbuds, generally lasting maybe 1 year before they have some technical failure. This is offset by Bose’ customer service, it’s pretty easy to get them to send you a new pair for free (often upgraded to latest model) even if you’re slightly outside warranty window. I’ve upgraded my earbuds I think 6 times over the years at no cost through that program.

I love these open ear buds. I have one ear that will not hold an in ear bud. Doesn't matter what tip size and I've tried heaps of buds, including those with wings. I also wear glasses and find open ears that hold over the top of the ears are a pain both figuratively and literally. I absolutely love these. They're so comfortable I've forgotten they're on many times. The sound is amazing for how they sit. It's better than in ear buds from a few years ago. The voice announcement volume of the battery charge, call and connection stuff is too low to hear on mine. I'd have liked a volume control for that in the app. The equalizer control in the app should be more granular, The microphone performance is poor and although an attempt was made withe the firmware update I don't see any real improvement. Call quality is not a priority for me and I also have great ANC over ear headphones for when I want to block stuff out or have amazing sound. These earbuds are for the rest of the time and have been the most satisfying purchase I've made in a long time.

I upgraded from Bose Soundsports to the Ultra Open (bone conducting) when my Sports died. I wish they were a hair louder, but otherwise very pleased.

I like the feel of my Bose Open over the Shokz OpenDots. But for the few bucks less, they compare just fine. I do find myself using my Openfit 2s the most. Just easier to put on and not in the way as others.