3 clip-on earbuds I would buy instead of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (2nd Gen)

The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds (2nd Gen) are great clip-on earbuds, but even still, I probably wouldn’t buy them. Bose fixed most of what held the originals back: the bass is stronger, the battery lasted over 13 hours in our testing, and the charging case now supports wireless charging. But the price is still a whopping $299, and clip-on earbuds, which hook around the edge of your ear instead of sitting inside it, have gotten a lot cheaper and a lot better over the past few years. Open earbuds sound their best at low volume, and that’s exactly where pairs under $100 come close enough for most people’s use cases.

If you want clip-on earbuds without paying Bose’s premium, here are three I’d buy instead. Each costs less, and each beats the Bose at something you’ll notice every day.

Sony LinkBuds Clip

If you are planning to spend over $200, the clip-on earbuds I would recommend most people buy are the Sony LinkBuds Clip. At $229.99, they cost about $70 less than Bose and fix the biggest annoyance with open earbuds: everyone around you hearing your music. The Sony Sound Connect app has a leakage-protection mode that changes how the earbuds sound, so people next to you can’t hear what you’re playing. You also get Multipoint (staying connected to your phone and laptop at once), an IPX4 rating for sweat and splashes, and an app that walks you through custom EQ tuning to suit your taste.

There is a small trade-off in sound and battery. In our MDAQS test, which simulates a panel of listeners, the LinkBuds Clip scored 2.4 out of 5 compared to 2.9 for the Bose, and the deepest bass notes are much quieter than they are on earbuds that seal your ear. Sony rates the battery at 9 hours, and we measured 7 hours and 10 minutes, well short of the Bose’s 13 hours. Still, I’d take the features and the $70 over a slightly better sound

CMF Clip Pro

If you’d rather not spend hundreds of dollars on earbuds you might lose, the CMF Clip Pro costs less than a third of the Bose. My favorite thing about them is the Smart Dial, a metal wheel on the charging case that works as a remote control: spin it to change the volume, click it to pause, and double-click it to skip tracks. Each earbud also has textured physical buttons that are easy to find by feel. They lasted 9 hours with LDAC, bringing the total to about 32.5 hours. A 10-minute charge gives you 4 hours of listening, twice what Bose gets from the same top-up.

The catches are sound and calls. The sound is light on bass, and I found that the bass enhancement feature only adds distortion, and the anti-leakage mode muffles the sound. The microphones also struggle with background noise, which is something a lot of earbuds, especially open ones, do as well. The glossy finish also got slippery with sweat when I ran in them, and the IP54 rating covers the earbuds but not the case. Still, at $79 they’re the pair I’d hand to a friend who just wants clip-ons that are fun to use.

Soundcore AeroClip 2

If you spend a big part of your day on calls, the Soundcore AeroClip 2 are the ones I’d get, since calls are where the Bose let me down most. At $169.99, they’re our pick for the best clip-on earbuds for calls in our best clip-on earbuds list. Anker’s AI chip works with four microphones and two sensors that pick up the vibrations of your voice, so the earbuds focus on what you’re saying instead of just filtering out the noise around you. A Whisper mode keeps you clear to the person on the other end, even when you’re speaking softly. The case charges wirelessly, the earbuds have an IP57 rating (dust and water, including a dunk), and Multipoint connects your work laptop and your phone at once.

The catches are small. There’s no auto-pause, so your music keeps playing when you take them off, and the volume control is laggy. Anker rates the battery at 8 hours per charge and 32 hours with the case, so don’t expect the Bose’s 13. For $130 less, I can live with that.

Honorable mentions

If you want to stay with Bose for less, the Bose Sport Open Earbuds cost $199 at Amazon and come in a sweat- and dust-resistant silicone design that’s easy to wear at the gym. They lasted 8 hours and 5 minutes in our testing, but we found the sound limited on bass, and wind made calls hard to hear, so I’d wait for a sale. For serious workouts, the Shokz OpenDots 2 ($199.95 at Amazon) have an IP57 rating and a secure fit. And if battery life is your priority, the EarFun Clip 2 ($79.99 at EarFun) ran for 10 hours and 46 minutes in our testing.