Bose SoundSport Free review: The best is yet to come

Setup

In terms of set-up, there’s little distinguishing the SoundSport Free earbuds from the other true wireless offerings out there apart from the usual Bose permissions prompt whenever you connect to the earbuds.

Credit: Bose

You don’t have to install the official Bose Connect app to use the SoundSport buds. However, if you do, you can use it to track and (hopefully) find any lost earbuds and also toggle the usual Bose voice prompts. Unfortunately, there’s no real equalizer settings or support for built-in voice assistants or anything like that.

Performance

The performance here is (unsurprisingly) quite good. Audio sounded clear. Bass carried that little bit of extra grit you’d expect outta something with the Bose brand attached. Still, overall, it doesn’t sound hugely different from the majority of true wireless earbuds out there.

Unfortunately, the design and fit of the SoundSport Free buds does detract from the quality of listening experiences. Firstly, they don’t do a particularly great job of isolating you from outside noise. It’s easy to see the potential utility of this to fitness-heavy users. However, there was little to like about my listening experiences where I was often interrupted or overwhelmed by ambient noise during my time with the SoundSport Free buds.

Credit: Bose

In addition, the mushroom-esque design also made running with these earbuds a bit of a hassle. To their credit, they never fell out of my ears. However, it constantly felt like they were pulling down on my ears just enough that I worried they might be about to. Again, your mileage may vary here but, for me, this was a really distracting quirk that set the SoundSport Free apart from its competition in a very unfavorable light.

The Bottom Line

Bose are known for making good, reliable products that sound good. The Bose SoundSport Free true wireless earbuds hit all those boxes. What’s more, as a first effort in the true wireless category - it’s without any of the usual caveats.

Unfortunately, it felt like any positive experience here has to be balanced against the slightly iffy form-factor and high price. At $399, these are some of the most expensive true wireless earbuds that you can buy. However, there’s nothing here that quite manages to justify that premium. If you’re a diehard for the brand, go ahead. If you’re willing to look, it won’t take you long to find something with better audio, battery or value.

Credit: Bose