Transcription
When it comes to Bose products, you're paying for two things: noise cancellation and sound quality. At least, that's what so many of you guys love to tell me anytime I'm critical of a Bose product. Well, now we have a product, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, that don't have noise cancellation. They're an open-style earbud, so we already know they're not going to have top-tier sound quality, and they still want $300. Honestly, I don't get it.
So, we're going to take a look at these, cover the specs, and I'm pretty much just going to give you guys my opinion on what they bring to the table considering their price point.
First things first, let's take a look at the charging case. As you can see, super compact, super minimal. You can see it up against the QuietComfort Ultra case, as well as the AirPods Pro case, and you can easily tell that this is a very pocketable case. There is no wireless charging, but at this point, that's not much of a surprise.
Now, moving over to the earbuds, this is one thing I will definitely give Bose credit for this time around: the design. Design in a world that is completely saturated with earbuds, it's not often that we see a pair that have a design that we have not seen before. I absolutely love the way these look, and some of you guys, you'll probably either love it or hate it, but the fact that it's completely different from anything that we've seen up until this point, I love it.
All right, so it's basically held together by this flexible silicone joint, and you pretty much just kind of wrap it along the outside of your ear, and it stays put. I mean, there's enough tension there within that joint to give you a nice secure fit, and you can position it up, you can position it down. I even got a workout in last night using these earbuds, and I was doing burpees, push-ups, sit-ups, all types of different movements and exercises, and not once did it feel like they were at risk of coming off. So, if you're an athlete and you're potentially considering these, I will say they do give you a very secure fit.
They're also extremely comfortable, which is to be expected for a pair of open-style earbuds. There's nothing actually in your ear, there's no silicone ear tips, you know, closing off your ear or giving you that intrusive feeling or anything like that. So, definitely a pair that you can wear for long extended periods of time.
And then, as far as appearance, again, just like the case, very, very minimal. If you compare these to other open-style earbuds, which generally have the around-the-ear hook, these are much smaller, much more compact, and they just take up a lot less room around the ear. They also have physical button controls that allow you to control everything. So, you can play and pause, you can skip tracks forward and backward, and you can adjust your volume. So, it's always nice to be able to control everything directly from the earbuds themselves.
Now, another thing to mention is that these do not offer multi-point connection, which is a feature that we've seen with a number of other open-style earbuds. As far as an IP rating, these are IPX4, so sweat and light splashes of water should be just fine. I will say if you sweat very, very heavily, you probably want to go with something with a higher rating, especially considering the price point.
So, let's go ahead and talk sound. Like I said in the beginning of the video, when it comes to a pair of open-style earbuds, you're not expecting top-tier sound quality. The main benefits are comfort and the ability to stay in tune with your surroundings. So, it's for people that spend a lot of time outdoors, uh, whether they like to go walking, jogging on trails, things of that nature. They want to be able to listen to music or take a phone call or listen to a podcast and still hear what's going on around them. That's the main benefit of an open-style earbud. Sound is almost, you know, secondary.
And with these, I mean, the sound is okay. I mean, it's what you would expect. Uh, you basically just have a little speaker there right next to your ear playing your audio. Honestly, it's not anything special, which again, is partly to be expected. Now, compared to other open-style earbuds, I wouldn't even put it towards the top. There's definitely better options out there as far as sound quality goes. I feel like you can get more bass, you can get an overall fuller sound from other options out there. So, it's definitely not the sound quality that you're paying for.
Now, similar to The QuietComfort Ultra, these also have the new Immersive Audio feature, which is basically spatial audio. But with these being open-style earbuds, I don't think the average person is looking for spatial audio. It's not even the best setup to experience spatial audio in the first place. Not to mention, Soundcore already has their own version of spatial audio that they introduced on their A30i Pro open-style earbuds a couple months ago. So, the Ultra Open are not even the first to do this.
In addition to the Immersive Audio, you do have access to some EQ controls. So, you can go in there and play around with the bass, the mids, the treble to try and fine-tune the sound to your personal preference.
Now, one thing you always have to consider when it comes to a pair of open-style earbuds is sound leakage. Personally, I don't feel like it's a huge issue when it comes to these earbuds. I generally have the volume around 50%, which for me is plenty to hear my music or my podcast or my conversation, but it's low enough that if someone is standing next to me, they can't really make out any words that are being said. They might hear some audio coming from the earbuds, but again, it's not to the point that they can really tell what's being said. Now, if you turn them all the way up to 100% and you're somewhere that is dead quiet, then yeah, some people will be able to tell what you're listening to. But even at 100%, if you're just out in public, sound leakage isn't really a major issue.
Now, like I said earlier, these are extremely comfortable, so you can wear these for hours at a time. And as far as battery life, you're looking at roughly 7 and a half hours on a single charge, and then the charging case will give you an additional 19 and a half hours, roughly. Now, keep in mind, those numbers are with the Immersive Audio feature turned off. So, you could very well wear these for an entire 8-hour day.
All right, so as you guys can see, we are outdoors taking the Bose Ultra Open for a spin. Relatively decent weather, so I figured I'd come out here just kind of show you guys how they sound in terms of microphone performance. So, it should give you a general idea as to how you would sound if you choose to use these for phone calls or whatever the case may be.
So, who exactly are these earbuds for? Well, number one, they're for somebody that's specifically looking for an open-style earbud. And number two, they're for the person that absolutely loves their design. Super compact, very comfortable, very minimal, and they're different. Like I said, we don't see too many new earbud designs. Does that justify the price point? Depends on who you ask. There's definitely better, more affordable options out there as far as open-style earbuds go.
And let me just say that I am a fan of Bose products. First and foremost, I'm on record multiple times saying they have some of the best, if not the best, noise cancellation out there, and I've recommended Bose products to plenty of people in the comment sections of my videos. But I also believe in accountability, and sometimes I feel like they come up short in terms of what they bring to the table versus the price that they're asking. And if that's the case, I'm always going to say it.
So, long story short, I don't feel like these are worth $300, and I don't see the reason that these are more expensive than the QuietComfort Ultra. But that's just me. Let me know what you guys think down in the comment section below. I appreciate you guys for watching as always, and I'll see you in the next one.
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