Bose enters the brave new world of ‘open’ wireless earbuds
The ‘open’ earbuds category is still in its infancy, but Bose hasn’t wasted any time in getting involved with its very first pair; the Ultra Open Earbuds are ambitious, and not just because of their premium price tag.
At £299 the earbuds are priced at the top end of the market with the likes of Bose’s own flagship noise-cancelling QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. But, if anyone is going to justify a high price tag, there’s a good chance it’s going to be Bose.
Not everyone likes the feeling of isolation you get from a traditional pair of wireless earbuds, nor do they want a silicone tip burrowing into their ear canal. For some users, it can become uncomfortable over time.
The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds design bypasses these potential issues. Each earpiece comprises three main parts: the pill-shaped bud, the battery cylinder, and a silicone band or cuff that connects the two sections. Bose refers to it as the ‘flex joint’, through which all the internal wiring runs.
The earbuds use a mix of physics and proprietary Bose technology called Open Audio, where a high-powered transducer is positioned in a tightly controlled acoustic enclosure and positioned to fire music towards your ear canal. So you don’t need a seal for the Bose buds, but you do still need to be careful about positioning as the direction the bud fires will have an impact on the information that makes it into your ear canal.
Given their design, you might be wondering about sound leakage, but we don’t find it to be a huge problem compared with more traditional designs. At the levels you will probably be listening at, especially if you want to hear the outside world, we wouldn’t be too worried about people hearing any questionable music choices.
A certain technique
Given that they are a brand new type of earbud, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that there is a certain technique to getting the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds in place. It starts with hooking the earbud in the bottom of your concha (the bowl-like section of your outer ear). Then you wrap the band around the back of your ear and allow the battery cylinder to help clamp the earbud in place.
Bose has been careful to stress-test that silicone band, and we have been assured there shouldn’t be any danger of it losing its rigidity over time. During testing, Bose also noted a lot of people actually play with an
