Best picks for ANC, sound quality and more

If you’re the type of person who’s drawn to the idea of open-ear audio as well as a standout design, then there’s plenty here to catch your eye. The brushed metallic finish and looping clip-around design make these feel more like a fashion accessory than earbuds, and with several colour options to choose from, there’s room to customise them to your look.

Each bud attaches to your earlobe via a silicone-coated flex arm. Because they don’t seal your ear canal at all, you can wear them for hours without any of the fatigue you’d get from a more traditional pair of in-ears. Fitting them is straightforward, and nudging them up or down to find your sweet spot takes no effort at all. You also get IPX4 water resistance for sweat and splashes, which makes them a reasonable companion for outdoor activities.

On the features front, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds run on Bluetooth 5.3 with SBC, AAC and aptX Adaptive codec support. Snapdragon Sound is along for the ride too, and a later update brought Bluetooth multipoint, so you can be paired to two devices at the same time.

Wireless performance held up well during testing, with barely any dropouts to speak of. Bose’s Immersive Audio mode is worth exploring as well but only if you’re in a quiet environment. You can pick between Still and Motion modes depending on whether you’d rather the sound stay fixed or shift with your head movements, though turning it on does eat into battery life.

That battery life is rated at 7.5 hours per charge, beating the original Sony LinkBuds and is decently respectable for day-to-day use. Flipping on Immersive Audio drops that figure to around 4.5 hours. Fast charging means a two-minute top-up is good for two hours of playback. Wireless charging is available, but it requires a separate slip-on accessory, which feels like an odd omission at £299.

Sound quality, as ever with open-ear designs, comes with caveats. In the right setting, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds sound clear and clean in the mids and highs. Bass, predictably, is where the open design works against them, and in louder environments like a packed commute or a busy gym, the volume ceiling becomes noticeable.

Immersive Audio widens the soundstage but softens the overall clarity, so sticking with plain stereo tends to deliver a more satisfying result. Call quality is also a disappointment, as background noise has a habit of creeping back in the moment you start speaking, which muddies your voice for whoever’s on the other end.

If you’re already set on open-ear audio and you want something that’s comfortable, distinctive and capable, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds are well worth considering. Just go in knowing that the bass is thin and call quality isn’t their strong suit, and you won’t be left feeling short-changed.