- VERDICT
The Bose Sports Earbuds are an excellent training companion that can keep up with you and your workouts in style while providing excellent audio quality.
Bose Sports Earbuds are built to be used on the move, in the gym, in the park and on the road so they can handle the sweat and are secure enough to stay in your ears and all while delivering superb sound.
Listening to music or audiobooks or podcasts while walking, running and exercising is a now a reflex action for most people – including me.
I can’t hit the gym or hit the road on a run or walk without earphones and the right content to listen to.
Thankfully Bose has created a pair of wire-free earphones that fits the bill nicely.
The Bose Sports Earbuds have an IPX4 rating which means they can handle splashing water and sweat.
Even if you get caught in the rain on a run or walk – the Bose Sports Earbuds can handle it.
Design-wise, the Bose Sports Earbuds have a similar shape to the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds with active noise cancellation.
The earbud itself is oval-shaped and sits mostly outside your ear with a larger area to access the capacitive touch interface.
On the right earbud you can swipe up and down for volume control and a double tap to play and pause your music and to answer a call.
With the left earbud you can create a shortcut function from the Bose Music companion app to either hear the battery level or skip forward to the next track.
The Bose Music app offers playback controls and can also provide software updates to the earbuds.
The silicon umbrella-shaped ear tips are soft and fit comfortable in your ear with the small wing holding them securely in place.
They have a nice balance to them so they don’t feel like they need to be shoved deeper into your ear canal to support the entire weight.
In terms of comfort, they earn a big tick.
OK, now let’s talk about audio quality.
Just seeing the Bose name on the Sports Earbuds allows you to rightly assume they sound great.
This is courtesy of the high-efficiency drivers and patented acoustic port design while the volume optimised Active EQ provides the right balance with boosts for the highs and lows.
The audio is signature Bose with nice clarity and just the right amount of bass.
There is no active noise cancellation onboard but that’s a good thing for a couple of reasons.
First, you’re able to hear your surroundings when you’re training and running and walking and stay safe.
Second, they’re also a lot cheaper than the active noise cancellation earphones from Bose and other brands.
The Bose Sports Earbuds are also crisp and clear for your phone calls as well thanks to the beamforming microphone array that can distinguish your voice and separate it from background noise.
People who we spoke to through the earphones – including a radio interview – thought we were talking directly into our phone. If other people can’t hear the difference – mission accomplished.
On the battery side, you’ve got five hours of listening time per charge with two more charges provided by a fully charged case.
It would have been good to get more battery life from a single charge with other brands offering up to nine hours.
The case shows at a glance the charge level with five LED lights.
Once again Bose has not held back with the size of its case and it is again much larger than competitor charging cases including Apple’s AirPods.
But that’s our only complaint about the Bose Sports Earbuds – and that’s far from a deal breaker.
The Bose Sports Earbuds are available now in three colours – Baltic Blue, Glacier White and Triple Black – and are priced at $299.
VERDICT
The Bose Sports Earbuds are an excellent training companion that can keep up with you and your workouts in style while providing excellent audio quality.
