I swapped my Bose Ultra Open for these $80 open earbuds — here’s what happened

Open headphones have become my go-to option for runs and other workouts, offering a good balance between the sound quality you get from in-ear buds and the awareness you get from the best bone conduction headphones.

My favorite running headphones are the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, which offer the best sound quality I’ve come across from open buds, and a comfortable, secure clip-on fit.

No-one would say the Bose buds are cheap, however, so I was keen to see how the Nank Ultra open headphones compared, given they cost less than half the price.

I tried the Nank Ultra clip-on headphones for a few weeks of workouts and general use and found they have a great fit and good sound quality for the price. They're a solid, affordable option for those who want open workout headphones in particular.

Nank Ultra headphones review: price and availability

Although the Nank Ultra open headphones have an MSRP of $129.99 / £97.31 they seem to always be reduced on the Nank website to $79.99 / £59.88, which puts them amongst the cheapest open headphones I’ve tested.

Nank Ultra headphones review: design and comfort

• Comfortable and secure fit
• IPX5 rating
• Annoying controls

The Nank Ultra buds are lightweight buds you clip on the middle of your ear so that a speaker rests near the ear canal without blocking it.

There is only one color available — shiny grey. The buds don’t look bad, but a strength of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds in particular is the range of 10 colors to pick from. Given that clip-on buds resemble jewelry, a wider range of styles is always going to be better.

A flexible band between the two pods on the headphones allows them to stretch and accommodate most ear types, and the fit was secure for me for a variety of workouts, including runs, bike rides and strength sessions.

The buds also didn’t place too much pressure on my ear, so they were comfortable to wear for several hours at a time.

With an IPX5 rating the Nank Ultra buds are not fully waterproof, but will withstand sweat and rain during workouts, and I did several runs in wet conditions while wearing them.

There are touch panel controls on each bud on the section that sits behind your ear. You can’t customize these and I found that the controls were hard to use during workouts in particular, as some functions require you to hit the panel several times in a row. A button would be a lot simpler to use.

Nank Ultra headphones review: sound quality

• Clear and more powerful than expected
• Not as impressive as top-end open buds
• Can be drowned out
• Tinny sound on calls

For the most part I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality of the Nank Ultra headphones. The sound is not only clear and crisp in the upper ranges, but there’s a good level of bass too, especially for open headphones.

On busier tracks I noticed that the lower end did sound a little compressed at higher volumes, and I lost a lot of the drums when listening to Hole’s "Celebrity Skin", for example, but for the price I don’t have substantial complaints about sound quality.

You don’t get the noise cancellation of in-ear buds of course, and I found that the Nank buds can be drowned out when using them on trains or running by busy roads, but the volume is loud enough for most scenarios including when using the buds in a half marathon race with loud crowds on the sidelines.

I also confirmed with those around me that they don’t leak much sound even when playing music at high volumes.

The call quality isn’t great, however. Even in quiet environments I found that other people’s voices sounded tinny and a little crackly, and they reported the same for my voice.

Nank Ultra headphones review: battery life

• 40 hours total with case
• USB-C charging

Given the relatively small case and buds, the listed battery life of the Nank Ultra headphones is impressive at eight hours on the buds and 40 in total with the case. The case is charged via a USB-C cable.

The buds lived up to their claimed battery life during my testing, and they outlast the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, which offer 27 hours of battery in total.

Should you buy the Nank Ultra headphones?

The Nank Ultra offer better sound quality than you’d expect for their price, and a comfortable and reliable fit for workouts.

They aren’t as good as the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, but cost far less, and are also cheaper than most earhook open buds I’ve tested like the Shokz OpenFit 2.

I could see them being a good purchase for people who want open buds to use on occasion, such as when running outside or in an office where they want to hear others, but mainly use more expensive in-ear buds when travelling or when they want superior sound quality.

In this situation spending hundreds of dollars on the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds doesn’t make a whole load of sense, and the Nank Ultra are much more affordable.

If you’re going to use open headphones are your main buds all the time, however, spending the extra on more impressive-sounding buds might be worth it.