The Bose Sport Earbuds are a great pair of earbuds in their own right, but when comparing specs with the Quiet Comfort, you begin to spot the limitations. This is unfair, but also a sign of their quality: with a little more battery life, and an ANC option, these could have been truly fantastic. As it stands, they will do the job nicely – as long as you don’t plan to jog alongside any busy freeways.
A bass sound that far outweighs its price
These buds feel great and don't get uncomfortable
Easy pairing, no issues moving from one device to another
Could have featured ANC
A better water rating could have been good
The trebles begin to sound shill when at top volume
More battery life, please
The idea of sports earbuds, as opposed to other ‘regular’ buds, seems to be largely centred around a rugged design, and the ability to sweat all over them without short circuiting.
The ‘sport’ branding on the Bose Wireless Sports Earbuds appears to be just that – aside from a solid charging case, a rugged plastic feel to the earbuds themselves, and the sweat and weather resistance of an IP4 rating, these are basically a cut-price version of Bose’s more pricey Quiet Comfort earbuds.
Luckily, the features carried over from their more expensive siblings are the most important ones – although some are unfortunately left behind in the name of affordability.
The major downside is the lack of active noise cancellation, which is only an issue for you if this is a feature you are actively seeking out. As more and more earbuds include ANC for a reasonable price, it seems shortsighted of Bose not to at least offer this feature in these $300 buds. Then again, the whole point of a lower-budget option is to shave off those ‘extra’ features as a money-saving device.
If you don’t care about ANC, or are one of those who finds the lack of awareness they bring to be disorienting, then all this means for you is that you’ll get Bose’s thick, bassy sound for even less money. If you live for ANC, the $100 between the QC’s $399 price tag and the $299 for the ‘Sport’ might not be savings enough.
More importantly, however, these earbuds sound great, and feel even better.
Overwhelmingly, the Bose Sport Earbuds offer up rich, bright audio with pulsing bass tones that don’t ‘smudge’ or rumble when pushed, and higher frequencies that only slightly suffer when cranking a treble-heavy mix to the maximum volume.
I tested Tame Impala’s four-album catalogue on these buds, and the bassier mixes, as heard on Currents (2015) and The Slow Rush (2020) sound far superior to Lonerism (2012) which has a mix that favours ‘highs’ such as whooshing cymbal sounds and trebley guitars – these verged on tinny when cranking the Bose earbuds to maximum.
Having such a pronounced bass sound was such a happy surprise that it was honestly a little disappointing, and rather baffling, that the top-end suffered in comparison. Still, this is nit picking, and only really an issue because the rest of the audio performance surpasses expectations.
Despite having quite a large form, the Bose Sport Earbuds fit like a charm, sitting snugly in the ear, with three sizes of silicone ear tips fashioned in “umbrella-shaped” domes that offer a much better fit than the more rounded bulbs that often pass for eartips.
This design really works with the ‘sport’ theme (despite my earlier comments) allowing the movement that comes with exercise without the fear of an earbud expulsion. They look rather cumbersome until you put them in and realise they sit quite nicely. The buds are also comfortable, and remain so over a number of hours of wear; they don’t seem to hurt after extended use – a rare treat for earbuds.
The only other notable downside is the battery life. At five hours, with another 15 in the case, you’ll need to bring the case along any time you wanna take the buds with you for a full day. When eight hours is the norm for competing buds, and with no ANC chewing up the battery, this seems like a major oversight.
Luckily a 15-minute fast charge gives two hours battery over USB-C; unluckily there is no wireless charging option.
Verdict
The Bose Sport Earbuds are a great pair of earbuds in their own right, but when comparing specs with the Quiet Comfort, you begin to spot the limitations. This is unfair, but also a sign of their quality: with a little more battery life, and an ANC option, these could have been truly fantastic. As it stands, they will do the job nicely – as long as you don’t plan to jog alongside any busy freeways.
The Bose Sport Earbuds are a great pair of earbuds in their own right, but when comparing specs with the Quiet Comfort, you begin to spot the limitations. This is unfair, but also a sign of their quality: with a little more battery life, and an ANC option, these could have been truly fantastic. As it stands, they will do the job nicely – as long as you don’t plan to jog alongside any busy freeways.
A bass sound that far outweighs its price
These buds feel great and don't get uncomfortable
Easy pairing, no issues moving from one device to another
Could have featured ANC
A better water rating could have been good
The trebles begin to sound shill when at top volume
More battery life, please