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Bose Ultra Open Earbuds are fashion-first clip-on buds

Bose has confirmed the Ultra Open Earbuds, the unique clip-on true wireless earbuds, which leaked out during CES last week.

The new, limited Ultra Open Earbuds cost $300 (around £236) have been announced in collaboration with the fashion brand Kith.

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Bose calls the product “a breakthrough audio wearable” that will “allow you to enjoy your music uninterrupted while still hearing the world around you.”

Bose’s press release is light on technical details, but the company says the buds will provide comfort for all-day wear. There’s a matte black finish, while the Kith branding is somewhat unfortunately (depending on your persuasion) very prominent.

Kith’s own post reveals a little more: “The Ultra Open Earbuds have a light-as-air grip with a flexible joint for easy on and off, making for effortless all-day wear. Notable features include advanced Bluetooth, 7.5 hours of playtime, Bose Immersive Audio for music spatialisation, and an additional suite of state-of-the-art technologies. Included is a co-branded charging case.”

We don’t know whether there’ll be active noise cancelling – or any noise cancelling – available to wearers, but the open design suggests that won’t be a priority, or even possible.

The price tag and Bose branding does suggest they’ll have some high quality audio components and Bose’s previous instalments in the Open range have managed to maintain quality despite the open-ear design.

The Ultra Open Earbuds are on sale in the United States and Europe exclusively via the fashion brand from January 22, so it is somewhat surprising the full specs aren’t yet known.

They’ll only be available in “extremely limited qualities” so you have to wonder whether a version of this product would be available in a more mainstream format. The development of this unique design can’t have been cheap.

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