Judy Dixon
Bose's slogan for their latest entrant into their line of open audio devices, Bose Sport Open Earbuds, is "Hear the Music and the Moment." As far as the music and any other audio coming out of these earbuds is concerned, the sound quality is fantastic. But it's the moment, the sound around you, that really sets these earbuds apart.
As their name suggests, these earbuds are completely open with nothing in or touching your ears. All outside sounds are clearly audible as if you didn't have earbuds on at all.
Each earbud weighs ½ ounce and is 2.2 inches high by 1.9 inches wide by 0.75 inches deep. The back of each earbud is a round, vertical cylinder that goes behind the ear. At the top of the cylinder, the earbud narrows and goes over the top of your ear and then widens to a flattened oval-shaped portion where the sound is produced. This portion is angled out a bit so it stands away from your ear and its inner surface faces the ear. Each earbud has a small button on its underside.
When powering on for the first time, press the button on the left earbud first then press the button on the right earbud. After that, pressing and holding the right button for one second will power both earbuds on and off.
You can connect these earbuds to an Apple or Android device via Bluetooth but if you want to adjust settings or receive future firmware updates, you will need to install the Bose Music app available from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
When you launch the Bose Music app, you will be prompted to sign in or create an account. Once logged in, select Add a Product, then Headphones and Frames. The app will scan for the earbuds. When found, tap the Connect button. The app will conduct a new Bluetooth pairing. Then the app will show you a list of topics where you can learn more about the earbuds. Each time you turn the earbuds on, they will speak their current battery charge level and will tell you if they are connected to a device. At any time, you can check the remaining battery life by briefly tapping the button on the left earbud. The earbuds will give you up to 8 hours of battery life. A 30-minute charge gets you 3 hours of use. 2 hours of charging gets you 8 hours of use.
Included with the earbuds is a charging dock. The earbuds attach to it magnetically. It has a permanently attached 3-foot cable that plugs into a USB port. Also included is a rigid carrying case that protects the earbuds nicely but is not a charging case.
You can control the volume from your phone, but if you have them connected to the Bose Music app then you can also control the volume by tapping the outside of the right earbud for volume up and the outside of the left earbud for volume down.
These earbuds also include a microphone so you can use them for phone calls or to participate in online meetings. To play/pause music or to answer/hang up a call, briefly tap the button on the right earbud. Two taps on this button will skip to the next song and three taps will return to the previous song. You can press and hold the button on the left earbud to access your phone's voice assistant.
The earbuds have an ingress protection rating of IPX4 which means that they are not rated for dust but they can withstand water splashing on them but not water projected from a nozzle. So if you get caught in the rain wearing your Bose Sport Open Earbuds, you don't have to panic if they get a bit wet.
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are $199 and are available from Bose, Amazon, and wherever Bose products are sold.
