Type Earbuds
Enclosure Open-Back
Wireless Truly Wireless
Transducer Dynamic
Noise Cancelling No
Mic Yes
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are open-ear headphones designed for outdoor sports. They have a stable fit and sit outside of your ears soyou can still hear ambient sound around you while running outdoors. However, this design makes them less versatile than other sports-oriented headphones like the Bose Sport Earbuds Truly Wireless. They can't block out any background noise and they leak a lot of audio. They also lack a lot of bass and don't have any customization features. While their 9.5-hour battery life should be enough to last through a commute, their carrying case doesn't offer any additional charges.
Our Verdict
5.5 Neutral Sound
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are mediocre for neutral sound. While they have a flat and balanced mid-range, they lack a lot of low-bass. Unfortunately, they don't have any sound enhancement features to help tweak their sound to your liking. Their design doesn't really produce a wide or natural soundstage, either. That said, they can reproduce bass and treble consistently.
Pros
-
Consistent audio reproduction.
Cons
-
Lacking bass.
See our Neutral Sound Recommendations
5.9 Commute/Travel
The Bose Open Earbuds are sub-par for commute and travel. While they're portable, they won't isolate you from any of the rumble of bus engines or ambient chatter, and they also leak a lot of audio. Even though they're comfortable, you won't be able to wear them while also wearing glasses or a mask. On the upside, their 9.5-hour battery life should last through a long commute.
Pros
-
Great build quality and IPX4 rating for water resistance.
Cons
-
No noise isolation.
-
Leaks a lot of audio.
See our Commute/Travel Recommendations
8.2 Sports/Fitness
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are great for sports and fitness. They have an open-ear fit so you can hear ambient noise around you while running or working out outdoors. They also have a stable fit, although they can put some pressure behind your ears and their design isn't the most malleable. They also have an IPX4 rating for water resistance, although we don't currently test this.
Pros
-
Great build quality and IPX4 rating for water resistance.
-
Open-ear fit is good for running outside.
Cons
-
Lacking bass.
See our Sports/Fitness Recommendations
5.6 Office
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are disappointing for office use. They don't isolate noise by design, so you hear everything that goes on in the office, and they leak a lot of audio. They're decently comfortable but unfortunately, you won't be able to wear them while also wearing glasses or a mask. On the upside, their 9.5-hour battery life should be enough to last you through your 9-5 workday.
Pros
-
Great build quality and IPX4 rating for water resistance.
Cons
-
No noise isolation.
-
Leaks a lot of audio.
See our Office Recommendations
5.5 Wireless Gaming
The Bose Open Earbuds are compatible with Bluetooth-enabled PCs, but their latency is likely too high to be suitable for wireless gaming. They aren't compatible with Xbox One or PS4 consoles.
See our Wireless Gaming Recommendations
5.3 Wired Gaming
The Bose Open Earbuds are wireless-only, so they aren't suitable for wired gaming.
6.1 Phone Calls
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are middling for phone calls. Their integrated mic captures your voice clearly, although it struggles to separate speech from ambient noise around you. Since these headphones don't really cover your ears, they also don't block out any noise around you, so it may be harder to focus on your conversation.
Pros
-
Great build quality and IPX4 rating for water resistance.
Cons
-
No noise isolation.
-
Mediocre noise handling.
- 5.5 Neutral Sound
- 5.9 Commute/Travel
- 8.2 Sports/Fitness
- 5.6 Office
- 5.5 Wireless Gaming
- 5.3 Wired Gaming
- 6.1 Phone Calls
+ Create your own
- Updated Mar 28, 2024: The Comfort of these earbuds has been compared to the newer Bose Ultra Open Earbuds Truly Wireless.
- Updated Aug 11, 2021: Converted to Test Bench 1.5.
- Updated Mar 11, 2021: Review published.
- Updated Mar 08, 2021: Early access published.
- Updated Feb 28, 2021: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Feb 26, 2021: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Feb 17, 2021: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds come in one color variant: 'Triple Black'. You can see our model's label here. If you come across another variant of these headphones, please let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Headphones
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are open-back, open-earheadphones designed for sports and fitness. Unlike the Bose Sport Earbuds Truly Wireless or the Bose SoundSport Free Truly Wireless, they sit slightly outside of your ear to give you better spatial awareness while outdoors. However, due to this design, they may not be comfortable for all users and theylack a bit of low bass. While they have a carrying case, it doesn't hold any extra charges, which can bea little limiting.
Check out our recommendations for the best headphones for running, the best open-back headphones, and the best Bose headphones.
AfterShokz Aeropex Bone Conduction
The AfterShokz Aeropex Bone Conduction and the Bose Sport Open Earbuds are both headphones designed for outdoor use. The AfterShokz have a bone conduction transducer that uses vibrations on your temples to produce audio, and theydon't go into your ear at all, which helps keep you aware of your surroundings. They're more comfortable,have a longer continuous battery life, and support multi-device pairing. However, the Bose sit outside of your ear, also leaving it completely open so that you can hear what's going on around you. They're more comfortable, better-built, stable, and have a more neutral sound profile.
Compare Side-by-Side
SEE OUR REVIEW
Bose Ultra Open Earbuds Truly Wireless
The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds Truly Wireless represent the next generation of the Bose Sport Open Earbuds Truly Wireless. Both have similarly long-lasting batteries and IPX4 ratings. The Ultra Open Earbuds are a completely different fitting design that clips on the bottom of your ears, which is very stable. They sound brighter by default and have a virtual surround sound function in-app. The Sport Open Earbuds use a less comfortable and not quite as stable over-ear hook design. Their sound isn't as piercing in the highs. They lack high-quality aptX Adaptive codecs and virtual surround sound.
Compare Side-by-Side
SEE OUR REVIEW
Sony LinkBuds Truly Wireless
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds Truly Wireless are better for sports than the Sony LinkBuds Truly Wireless. They have a significantly more comfortable, stable fit and better build quality. They reproduce a bit more bass and have longer continuous battery life. On the other hand, the Sony headphones have a smaller design that you may prefer if you can get a good fit. They also come with sound customization features and a case that holds extra charges, unlike the Bose.
Compare Side-by-Side
SEE OUR REVIEW
Apple AirPods (2nd generation) Truly Wireless
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are better for outdoor sports and fitness, while the Apple AirPods (2nd generation) Truly Wireless offer a more versatile overall performance. The Bose are more stable and don't cover your ear, so you canstay aware of your surroundings. They also have more consistent audio reproduction.However, the Apple are more comfortable, have five additional charges in their carrying case, and have an H1 chipso that you can seamlessly pair them with your Apple devices. Their sound profile is better balanced, too.
Compare Side-by-Side
SEE OUR REVIEW
Bose Sport Earbuds Truly Wireless
The Bose Sport Earbuds Truly Wireless are more versatile headphones than the Bose Sport Open Earbuds Truly Wireless. While both headphones are designed for sports, the Sport Earbuds are more comfortable and stable. They have a better-balanced sound profile and their carrying case holds two additional charges, which is nice. However, the Sport Open have a completely open-ear design thatallows you to hear more ambient noise around you, which make them even more suitable for running outdoors.
Compare Side-by-Side
SEE OUR REVIEW
Bose SoundSport Free Truly Wireless
The Bose SoundSport Free Truly Wireless and the Bose Sport Open Earbuds Truly Wireless are both well-suited for sports and depending on your preferences, you may favor one over the other. The SoundSport Free are more comfortable, have a better-balanced sound profile, and leak less audio. Their carrying case also holds two additional charges. However, the Bose Sport Open is designed for outdoor running, which some users may prefer, as they don't go inside your ear. They also have longer-lasting continuous battery life.
Compare Side-by-Side
SEE OUR REVIEW
Sony Float Run Wireless
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds Truly Wireless are better open-ear sports headphones than theSony Float Run Wireless. The Bose are slightly more stable and comfortable for long runs and workouts. They also have a better-performing mic than the Sony headphones and are more portable. However, despite being less stable, the Sony headphones have better frequency response consistency. This means that you won't have to constantly adjust them during your workout to get a consistent level of audio delivery. The Bose headphones have a similar outer-ear build but require more adjustment to get the right fit.
Compare Side-by-Side
SEE OUR REVIEW
+ Show more
Test Results
Design
Type Earbuds
Enclosure Open-Back
Wireless Truly Wireless
Transducer Dynamic
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have an unusual design. They have thick ear-hooks to hold the headphones in place, as the earbud sits just outside of your ear canal. They look a bit bulky, though, and only come in black.
—
7.0 Design
Weight 0.07 lbs
Clamping Force
The Bose Open Earbuds are decently comfortable. Once you've placed them correctly, you don't really feel them, and they don't move around too much. That said, you won't be able to wear them if you wear glasses or have a mask on. They're also quite big, can put pressure behind your ear, and don't have a very malleable design, so people who have bigger earlobes may find them a bit more tricky to wear. The updated Bose Ultra Open Earbuds Truly Wireless take a completely different approach by swapping the large over-ear hooks for a clip-on design that fits on the bottom of your ear instead. This feels more comfortable and stays out of the way of glasses.
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LEARN ABOUT COMFORT
6.9 Design
OS Compatibility
Ease Of Use Great
Feedback Good
Call/Music Control Yes
Volume Control Yes
Microphone Control No
Channel Mixing
Noise Cancelling Control No
Talk-Through
Additional Controls Voice Assistant
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have alright controls. The right earbud has most of the controls. Using the button, you can play or pause audio with one press, skip a track forward with two presses, skip a track backward with three presses, and a long press turns them on, off, or accesses pairing mode. You can also slow tap the touch-sensitive surface to raise the volume. The left bud allows you to check the battery level with one press of its button, activate voice assistant with a long press, and lower the volume by slow tapping the touch surface. Both touch surfaces are responsive and you can also turn them off if it bothers you. The buttons are responsive, and there are voice prompts when connected, as well as a battery level when powered on.
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LEARN ABOUT CONTROLS
10 Design
Avg.Temp.Difference 0 °C
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds aren't very malleable, so we can't properly test them using our rig. However, as their design doesn't really cover the ear, we don't expect them to trap heat and their average temperature difference should be negligible.
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LEARN ABOUT BREATHABILITY
9.0 Design
L 2.5" (6.4 cm)
W 1.9" (4.8 cm)
H 0.8" (2.0 cm)
Volume 3.80 in³ (62.27 cm³)
Transmitter Required No
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds are outstandingly portable. They're a bit bulkier than traditionally designed truly wireless headphones. They should still fit in most pockets, though.
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LEARN ABOUT PORTABILITY
7.5 Design
Type Hard case
L 4.5" (11.4 cm)
W 2.8" (7.1 cm)
H 1.2" (3.0 cm)
Volume 15.00 in³ (245.80 cm³)
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have a good case. It's made of plastic with a fabric inner covering. It has a magnet to keep it closed. However, the case won't turn off or recharge the headphones, so you need to remember to turn them off before putting them in their case.
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LEARN ABOUT CASE
8.0 Design
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have a great build quality. They're made of a plastic composite, which makes them feel sturdy and durable. They're also rated IPX4 for water resistance, although we don't currently test for this.
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LEARN ABOUT BUILD QUALITY
8.0 Design
These headphones are impressively stable. However, it depends a lot on the shape and size of your ears. While they shouldn't fall off during moderate physical exercise, you may experience the feeling that they could fall off.
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LEARN ABOUT STABILITY
Design
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Design
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Design
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Design
- Bose Sport Open Earbuds headphones
- USB-A proprietary charging cradle
- Carrying case
- Manual
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Sound
Bass Amount
Treble Amount
As the Bose Open Earbuds sit outside of the ear canal and they have an open-back design, they really struggle to reproduce low-bass, so genres like EDM and hip-hop lack thump and rumble. That said, they have a neutral mid-range, which helps vocal-centric content sound clear and accurate. Unfortunately, they lack any sound customization features to help tweak their sound.
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LEARN ABOUT SOUND PROFILE
8.5 Sound
Avg. Std. Deviation
These headphones have an excellent frequency response consistency. While there are small deviations in bass and treble delivery, you should be able to achieve a consistent sound if you take the time to adjust them each time you use them.
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LEARN ABOUT FREQUENCY RESPONSE CONSISTENCY
Sound
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LEARN ABOUT RAW FREQUENCY RESPONSE
1.0 Sound
Std. Err.
Low-Frequency Extension
Low-Bass
Mid-Bass
High-Bass
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have bad bass accuracy. They're lacking a lot of low-bass, which is due to their open-back, open-ear design which sits away from your ear canal. Their mid-bass is also underemphasized, so your mixes lack punch and body. However, the high-bass adds boom, although some users may find it a bit muddy.
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LEARN ABOUT BASS ACCURACY
8.9 Sound
Std. Err.
Low-Mid
Mid-Mid
High-Mid
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have excellent mid-accuracy. The response is very flat and neutral, resulting in present, accurate, and detailed vocals and lead instruments.
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LEARN ABOUT MID ACCURACY
8.0 Sound
Std. Err.
Low-Treble
Mid-Treble
High-Treble
These headphones have good treble accuracy. The low-treble is even and slightly overemphasized, resulting in detailed and present vocals and lead instruments. The mid-treble is a little underemphasized, though, so sibilants like cymbals are dull and lispy.
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LEARN ABOUT TREBLE ACCURACY
5.4 Sound
Peaks
Dips
The peaks and dips performance is disappointing. There's a dip in the low-bass, so your mixes lack thump and rumble. The peak in the high-bass adds intense boom, which can muddy your mix. Another peak in the low-treble adds some detail to vocals and lead instruments while a dip in the mid-treble weakens sibilants.
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LEARN ABOUT PEAKS/DIPS
4.7 Sound
Weighted Group Delay
Weighted Phase Mismatch
Weighted Amplitude Mismatch
Weighted Frequency Mismatch
The Bose Open Earbuds have poor imaging. There are a few large peaks in their group delay response, indicating loose bass. The treble range falls under the audibility threshold though, ensuring transparent treble. While the left and right drivers are well-matched in amplitude, they're mismatched in frequency and phase response, so objects like footsteps may not be accurately placed within the stereo image. However, these results are only valid for our unit, and your experience may vary.
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LEARN ABOUT IMAGING
3.4 Sound
PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.)
PRTF Size (Avg.)
PRTF Distance
Openness 9.8
Acoustic Space Excitation 4.9
The headphones have a poor passive soundstage. Since they sit outside of your ear canal, they're somewhat able to interact with your outer ear, which helps their soundstage seem a bit more open. However, it won't sound very natural.
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LEARN ABOUT PASSIVE SOUNDSTAGE
0 Sound
Head Modeling
Speaker Modeling
Room Ambience
Head Tracking
Virtual Surround
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LEARN ABOUT VIRTUAL SOUNDSTAGE
6.9 Sound
WHD @ 90
WHD @ 100
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have an alright weight harmonic distortion performance. There are a few peaks across the range at a normal listening volume, but it's very minor and can be hard to hear with real-life content. At a high volume, the range falls within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction.
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LEARN ABOUT WEIGHTED HARMONIC DISTORTION
Sound
Firmware
Power
Connection
Codec
EQ
ANC
Tip/Pad
Microphone
These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when using them in this configuration.
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LEARN ABOUT TEST SETTINGS
0.6 Isolation
Isolation Audio
Overall Attenuation
Noise Cancelling No
Bass
Mid
Treble
The noise isolation performance is bad, but that's to be expected for open-ear headphones. They don't really cover the ear, as this design allows you to stay aware of your surroundings while you run outdoors. Due to this, you can easily hear the rumble of bus engines, ambient chatter, and the hum of an AC unit.
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LEARN ABOUT NOISE ISOLATION
5.8 Isolation
Leakage Audio
Overall Leakage @ 1ft
The Bose Open Earbuds have a sub-par leakage performance. Since they don't go inside your ears, they leak a lot of audio, especially in the treble range. Although escaping audio sounds thin, if you're listening to audio at a high volume in a somewhat noisy environment like an office, people around you can hear it.
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LEARN ABOUT LEAKAGE
Microphone
Integrated
In-Line
Boom
Detachable Boom
Mic Yes
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LEARN ABOUT MICROPHONE STYLE
7.6 Microphone
Recorded Speech
LFE
FR Std. Dev.
HFE
Weighted THD
Gain
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have a good recording quality. Their integrated mic can capture your voice clearly, although it sounds a little thin and lacking in brightness.
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LEARN ABOUT RECORDING QUALITY
6.5 Microphone
SpNR
Noise Gate
Speech + Pink Noise Handling 6.5
Speech + Pink Noise Audio Sample
Speech + Subway Noise Handling 6.5
Speech + Subway Noise Audio Sample
The Bose Sport Open Earbuds have mediocre noise handling. The integrated mic struggles to separate your voice from even moderately noisy environments like a busy street.
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LEARN ABOUT NOISE HANDLING
7.0 Active Features
Battery Type
Continuous Battery Life
Additional Charges
Total Battery Life
Charge Time
Power-Saving Feature
Audio While Charging
Passive Playback
Charging Port Proprietary
The Bose Open Earbuds have satisfactory battery performance. They're advertised as having 8 hours of playback time with a two-hour charging period. While we measured about 9.5 hours of continuous battery life with a recharge time of just over an hour, battery performance can vary according to usage, so your experience may vary. If you're looking to save battery life, they have an auto-off timer that can be set within their companion app.
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LEARN ABOUT BATTERY
7.0 Active Features
App Name Bose Music
iOS Yes
Android Yes
macOS No
Windows No
Equalizer
ANC Control
Mic Control No
Room Effects
Playback Control
Button Mapping Yes
Surround Support
The Bose Music app is decent. It's pretty basic and it allows you to check the battery level, update the headphones, turn on or off the touch surface volume controls, and adjust the auto-off timer. You can also access a guide on how to use the headphones and see all known devices. However, this app lacks sound enhancement features. If you want more customizable open-ear headphones, try the Sony LinkBuds Truly Wireless.
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LEARN ABOUT APP SUPPORT
6.7 Connectivity
Bluetooth Version
Multi-Device Pairing
NFC Pairing
Line Of Sight Range
PC Latency (SBC)
PC Latency (aptX)
PC Latency (aptX HD)
PC Latency (aptX-LL)
iOS Latency
Android Latency
The Bose Sport Open have alright Bluetooth connectivity. They don't support multi-device or NFC pairing, and their latency on PC is likely too high to be suitable for gaming or streaming video. Their latency on iOS and Android devices is much lower, though. That said, some devices and apps compensate for latency, so your experience may vary.
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LEARN ABOUT BLUETOOTH
0 Connectivity
Non-BT Line Of Sight Range
Non-BT Latency
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LEARN ABOUT NON-BLUETOOTH WIRELESS
0 Connectivity
Analog Audio
USB Audio
Detachable No
Length N/A
Connection
Analog/USB Audio Latency
These Bluetooth-only headphones can't be used wired. They come with a USB-A to proprietary charging cradle to recharge the headphones.
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LEARN ABOUT WIRED
Connectivity
Analog
Wired USB
Non-BT Wireless
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Connectivity
PS4 Analog
PS4 Wired USB
PS4 Non-BT Wireless
PS5 Analog
PS5 Wired USB
PS5 Non-BT Wireless
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LEARN ABOUT PLAYSTATION COMPATIBILITY
Connectivity
Xbox One Analog
Xbox One Wired USB
Xbox One Non-BT Wireless
Xbox Series X|S Analog
Xbox Series X|S Wired USB
Xbox Series X|S Non-BT Wireless
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LEARN ABOUT XBOX COMPATIBILITY
2.2 Connectivity
Type
USB Input
Line In
Line Out
Optical Input
RCA Input
Dock Charging
Power Supply
These headphones come with a proprietary charging cradle, which can be annoying if you forget it somewhere but need to charge them up. It doesn't hold any charges or have any inputs.
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LEARN ABOUT BASE/DOCK
