Bose’s Sports Open wireless earphones were released in early 2021, and the firm has opted to discontinue them less than two years later. The earbuds are labeled “last sale” and are heavily reduced on Bose’s website, and Bose representative Joanne Berthiaume confirmed to The Verge that this is the product’s end of life.
When they were first released, the $199.99 earbuds were billed as “a genuinely distinct sort of athletic headset.” They are currently available for $119.99 while supplies last. They do not enter your ear canals or even obstruct them in any way. Instead, the distinctive open-style design enables them to rest over your ears and provide complete situational awareness while listening to music.
Unlike Shokz’s bone conduction earbuds, which cover a similar niche, Bose’s buds used more conventional drivers and were meant to focus sounds into your ears while minimizing noise leakage to people around you. Bose even went so far as to establish a website outlining the differences between this method and bone conduction.
But, with its audio sunglasses portfolio, including the Frames Tempo and the closed-style Sport Earbuds, it seems Bose doesn’t see much incentive to keep the Sport Open Earbuds around much longer. The Frames glasses target the same demographic of those looking for an open-ear device for personal audio. Our brief examination of the Sport Open Earbuds revealed several concerns with fit stability and challenges for those who wear glasses.
So the Sport Open Earbuds may be added to the list of creative Bose products that had a rather limited life on retail shelves, alongside the SoundWear Companion neck speaker. However, when compared to Shokz and Bose’s own options, the Sport Open Earbuds ended up being the odd one out.
