I really prefer in-earbuds to headphones, but even after I got some foam tips for better comfort - my ears still get "swamp ear" and get irritated after long use. I finally decided to see if there was a better solution and stumbled upon these Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, which seemed like they could be the answer.

After about a week or so of using them, I have been pleasantly surprised at how well they perform. They are by far the weirdest pair of earbuds I have ever owned, and I was considering buying the Sony LinkBuds but I was really hoping for something different like bone conduction rather than in the ear (which seem to be my main problem).

I also was hoping that I'd be able to wear them for longer than my in-ear pair, which definitely is the case. Comparatively I'd have to take my in-ears out every so often to clean my ears as with these the only issue is my ear tends to get a tad irritated after long-use but it also could just be my ears getting used to something being there, hard to say right now until I've had them for longer but I just adjust them slightly up or down when I feel discomfort.

I actually got these as my "gaming" earbuds, which after turning off "Immersion Mode" and using "Stereo Mode" I feel it's best unless you're listening to music it's just too bassy for regular stuff in my humble opinion (still sounds great, YMMV). Battery life has been a lot better than my other pair of earbuds which would die after ~4-6 hours, so far the lowest I've gotten these have been around 40%. I'm also not too sure how fast they charge, since they live on my desk and I charge them overnight but when I first charged them it took about half hour to fully charge from ~60%.

It's a bit difficult to figure out what the optimal spot is for these earbuds to perform their best, I believe for me at least when they're at their lowest on/in your ear it seems to be the best. I'll randomly check that they're evenly pushed into my ears and not falling out from time to time, but generally they're pretty snug fit that don't move much once on.

As far as "noise cancellation" or "passive hearing" goes, they do a pretty good job at blocking out sound when turned up I generally have mine around 60% at that's loud enough for me - I can still hear around me, if need be which I like not having to take off my earbuds in between sessions to multitask. There was a recent firmware update that adds auto-volume, which increases the volume in louder environments which is kind of "noise cancellation" in its simplest form. You're also able to control the earbuds pretty well with just the button on either earbud, play, pause, skip track, reverse track, toggle immersive mode or you can customize the shortcut which is nice. I have left as cycle thru still/motion/off immersion, and right as toggle immersion but there's also "switch devices" and "access your voice assistant" as options.

I look forward to future updates and possibly v2 of this product if it performs well, a great niche product for an oversaturated market. I would recommend trying these out if you're at all interested, the price is a bit hard to swallow but they may become your favorite pair of earbuds 🫠

My first impression of these Ultra open earbuds was that their design is different from any other earbuds I've ever used. There is a bit of a learning curve if you are used to plugging up your ear canal with more traditional noise cancelling earbuds as well as the unique cuff design, but once you get used to the feel and fit of how these should be worn, it's a game changer. Even with hours of use, they are so lightweight and comfortable, you'll forget you are wearing them. Battery life seems to be good, and you get a couple/few charges from the case as well. I use headphones or earbuds primarily for listening to music. I don't usually use them for calls, nor do I exercise with them on, although these feel stable enough on your ear that I think they would handle activity well without falling off. As with my Bose QC 35 II over-ear headphones, I would have liked a bit more volume, but the richness and clarity of the sound more than makes up for this. I will opt for sound quality over volume, and I find that I tend not to max out the volume on these anyway to have the best and most enjoyable listening experience. The open ear design and immersive sound makes you feel like the music surrounds you, which you will never have experienced in any other earbuds you have ever used.

While absence of these features is not a deal breaker for me personally, it is worth mentioning that these are not noise cancelling, nor is there a rubber ear piece adapter option to make them fit into your ear canal to make them noise cancelling (which would be contradictory to their open ear design), the case does not have wireless/Qi charging, and the call quality according to the party on the other end was not clear/loud enough. (On my end the call sounded fine). I actually prefer being able to hear what's going on around me and to engage in a conversation if I need to while wearing these earbuds. The only other thing I would like to see improved might be the modes in the Bose Music App settings. I have not really been able to notice any discernible difference between most of the modes offered, but again this is hardly a deal breaker as there is an equalizer and some other settings you can adjust and most music apps also have their own equalizers for additional fine tuning to your listening preferences. I will be interested to see what additional features and/or improvements future updates may bring to these earbuds.

These Ultra Open earbuds have quickly become my favorites in the short time I have been using them, and I know they will be my go-to because nothing compares to the quality you expect from a Bose product, the immersive sound these offer, and the ability to wear them for long periods of time without any discomfort or having to recharge them often. I'd have given these a solid 4.5, but 1/2 stars weren't an option, nothing is perfect and there is always room for improvement. I definitely would recommend to go buy yourself a pair – you won't be disappointed!

I have been using the new Bose Quietcomfort earbuds for the past month - during busy commutes on the train and tube, in and out of London, and when relaxing at home. Regardless of the activity or environment, I could not stop being amazed by the amazing sound quality and comfortable fit of the buds. As I normally struggle to retain sound buds in my ears - most makes just drop out at the least amount of activity - I was not very hopeful at the first use of the Bose buds, but despite sometimes running for a train, or jumping a step or two on a staircase, these buds remained seated, with a good seal, while feeling so comfortable that, at times , I almost forgot I had them in my ears. And the richness of the sound just blew me away - from the deepest of basses that you could almost feel, to the clearest of high notes - true high fidelity as though one was at a live music event. To my mind, the sound is even better than that of high- end, over -ear headphones, and since having started to use the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, I have not once taken my over-ear headphones out of their carry case. The noise cancellation is also the best that I have yet encountered: with noise cancellation on, one cannot even hear someone next to you talking, but it also has a setting for 'aware', which amplifies background sounds, and ,of course, 'off'. All the controls can be managed by tapping the earbuds with the finger, using voice controls as well as via an enhanced app. The app allows the user to customise all the features (including an equaliser setting) ,creating a true personalised control system for the earbuds. The controls for the earbuds are the most extensive that I have yet encountered, including even a facility to take a selfie with a fingertip against one of the buds, bud are very intuitive and easy to master.

I am someone that loves my music, from hard rock to classical and jazz, and do appreciate high quality sound. Having found earbuds that can deliver this in spades and can remain comfortably in your ears while on and off trains and switching between calls and music with the tap of a finger or a simple vocal command, has been a very positive experience. This new offering from Bose has certainly exceeded my expectations and I cannot recommend the new Bose QuietComfort Earbuds highly enough.

The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds are the newest premium set to be released by Bose.

I'll start with the unique thing about these buds, and thats the design. These are "Open-Ear buds", not In-Ear buds, which is what a majority of buds on the market typically are. This means that these buds don't go into the ear canal and actually sit on the ridge of your ear outisde the canal, and the barrel shaped part hooks around your outer ear to hold it in place. This makes them sit and look almost like a futuristic ear ring or piercing which doesn't hurt or pinch you at all, but will feel awakward at first, especially if you have always used in ear style buds. Typical of Bose the sound quality is great, I expected nothing less from them, whether you're listening to music or a podcast or just answering a call, the sound quality will be crisp and clear. This set of buds also has great immersive audio stereo technology, which enhances your listening experience. The coolest mode was the Motion Immersion, which adjusts the audio quality to make it sound like the direction of your audio aligns with the motion of your head, so if you were listenining to a band play live and turned your head to the left you will hear the music more prominently on your right side and viceversa, so you're getting a true 360° audio experience. Connecting these buds was easy, just install the Bose Music app, open the case, and the app detects the buds almost immediately, it took me less than a a minute. Through the app you can adjust your EQ and Immersion settings as well as track the battery life of the buds and case. These buds have an IPX4 rating so they are water resistant to sweat great and light rain. The battery life is 7.5hrs which is great for long uses.

I like these buds but I have a few gripes with them that keep them from being perfect in my eyes (or should I say ears lol). While the sound quality is clear, the bass is underhwleming, even at the highest setting its not as deep as some other premium buds I own, which was a bit of a bummer since I like bass heavy music. Also, since these are open-ear design it means they dont have Active Noise Canceling. The fit will take sometime to get used to and will vary by person, but in my experience when using these buds at work for a 5 day week with over 4hrs of continuous use each of those days, I found myself constantly adjusting them because it felt like they were sliding off, despite them being in place.

The Bose Ultra are a good set of premium buds, if not a bit weird to wear at first. For the sound quality alone I would recommend them.