Open-ear listening has moved well past bone conduction frames and bulky fitness loops. Cuff-style clip earbuds now span the pricing ladder, ranging from EarFun's $79.99 Clip 2 up to the fresh $299 Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (2nd Gen), which arrived on October 1 with upgraded acoustic drivers and a wireless charging case.
The appeal of the form factor is straightforward: the ear canal stays completely unobstructed, letting traffic and street noise filter through naturally. But open speakers struggle with two physics hurdles. Low bass disperses into thin air, and sound spills out to anyone sitting nearby.
Tackling sound leakage and bass
Sony took direct aim at the spillage problem with the Sony LinkBuds Clip, priced at $229. That sits $70 below Bose's flagship. Rather than banking purely on volume limits, Sony built a leakage protection setting into its Sound Connect companion app, alongside standard and voice enhancement modes. The mode alters the acoustic profile to suppress what bystanders hear.
Sony quotes battery life at 9 hours on a single run and 37 hours including the USB-C case. In testing conducted by SoundGuys, the earbuds managed 7 hours and 10 minutes of continuous playback. The buds include dual-device Multipoint pairing, IPX4 splash resistance, and bone-conduction microphones intended to assist regular mics during phone calls. SoundGuys measured an acoustic score of 2.4 out of 5 using its MDAQS listener simulation, noting that deep bass frequencies remain quiet while higher registers sound elevated.
High-end spatial audio versus budget battery life
Bose sits at the opposite end of the ledger with the second-generation Ultra Open Earbuds. Each 6-gram bud relies on an IPX4 shell and connects via Bluetooth 5.4, packing Qualcomm aptX Adaptive support alongside standard SBC and AAC codecs. Bose introduced a Cinema Mode alongside its spatial Immersive Audio system with head tracking, designed to broaden dialogue and media audio.
Bose officially rates the buds for 9 hours of standard playback, dropping to 5 hours when spatial modes are engaged. During battery benchmarks run by SoundGuys, the buds lasted 13 hours and 1 minute. A 10-minute quick top-up in the wireless charging case adds 2 hours of playback. But calling performance drops off sharply in noisy outdoor environments or gusty wind.
Competition gets fiercer below the $100 mark. The CMF Clip Pro packs Bluetooth 5.4, Multipoint, and Sony's high-res LDAC codec alongside SBC and AAC. Its standout hardware quirk is a rotating metal Smart Dial built directly into the charging case, which adjusts volume or pauses tracks. In lab tests by SoundGuys, the buds lasted 9 hours with LDAC enabled, with the USB-C case supplying roughly 32.5 hours total. The buds carry an IP54 dust and splash rating, though the case lacks liquid ingress protection entirely.
Meanwhile, the $79.99 EarFun Clip 2 undercuts the field while keeping wireless charging in the case. SoundGuys recorded 10 hours and 46 minutes of continuous play over SBC, though streaming with LDAC cut that down to about 6 hours per run. The buds feature a flexible nickel-titanium core sheathed in silicone, with an IP55 rating against water jets and grit. Apple users take note: the Clip 2 drops AAC entirely, forcing iPhones to fall back to basic SBC.
GDFiled by The Gadgets Desk
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