Bose already sells one of the best-known open-ear earbuds on the market. Now an Indian consumer electronics company in which Bose owns a minority stake has unveiled a premium clip-on alternative developed in collaboration with Bose.
That makes the new Noise Master Buds Open, unveiled at IFA Berlin 2026, considerably more interesting than another pair of wireless earbuds joining an increasingly crowded open-ear category. The earbuds use a clip-on design that leaves the ear canal unobstructed and feature Sound by Bose technology, although Noise has not yet disclosed pricing or most of the final commercial specifications.
The official announcement is rather thin on those details, but public pre-launch documentation associated with the product’s FCC certification fills in some of the blanks. It lists 10mm drivers, Bluetooth 5.4, IPX5 water resistance, six-hour battery life and a weight of just 4 grams per earbud, along with Spatial Audio, Audio Boost and compatibility with the Noise Audio app.
Noise plans to start selling Master Buds Open in late September 2026, with pricing and individual market availability still to come.
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Who Is Noise?
North American readers can be forgiven for asking.
Noise was founded in India in 2014 by Amit Khatri and Gaurav Khatri, initially selling smartphone cases before expanding into wireless headphones, earbuds, smartwatches and other connected devices. It has since become one of India’s largest wearable brands, with Counterpoint Research reporting that Noise maintained its leadership of India’s smartwatch market in 2024 while also ranking among the country’s largest TWS brands.
So this is not a tiny startup ordering generic Bluetooth earbuds from a catalog and hoping Instagram handles the rest. Noise has built a substantial consumer electronics business in India and has been working to expand internationally.
The relationship that matters most here began in December 2023, when Bose acquired a minority stake in Noise as part of the Indian company’s first outside funding round. The companies said they planned to collaborate on audio products and research, a partnership that subsequently produced the premium Master Series, including Master Buds, Master Buds 2 and the over-ear Master Buds Max.
Master Buds Open extend that collaboration into another rapidly expanding part of personal audio.
Not Actually Noise’s First Open-Ear Earbuds
There is one detail in the announcement that deserves clarification. Noise says Master Buds Open mark its entry into open-ear audio, but the company’s existing catalog already includes products such as ALT Buds Open ($99), Pure Pods ($55) and ALT Clip ($99) models using open-ear or clip-on configurations.
A more precise description is that Master Buds Open represent the Master Series’ first open-ear model and the first Noise open-ear product featuring Sound by Bose technology. That’s arguably more interesting anyway because Noise already knows how to compete at the affordable end of open-ear audio; this is its attempt to move the concept farther upmarket.
What Makes Master Buds Open Different?
The obvious differentiator is the Bose relationship, but we need to be careful about what that actually means. Noise says Master Buds Open were developed in collaboration with Bose and feature Sound by Bose technology, but it does not say they use Bose OpenAudio technology, Bose drivers or the acoustic hardware found inside Bose Ultra Open Earbuds.
Existing Noise Master products describe Sound by Bose primarily in terms of acoustic tuning and collaboration. Until either company publishes more technical information about Master Buds Open, there is no reason to assume Bose supplied specific hardware. A logo is not a teardown.
What we can confirm is an unusually lightweight design. The pre-launch manual lists each clip at only 4 grams, which is notably lighter than many current clip-on rivals and could matter more in everyday use than another page of Bluetooth features.
Open-ear earbuds are frequently worn for hours during work, exercise or commuting, so reducing the amount of hardware hanging from the ear has obvious ergonomic benefits. The harder problem is acoustic: an open design has to produce convincing bass and intelligible vocals without the physical seal of an in-ear monitor while also controlling sound leakage.
That is where Bose’s involvement becomes particularly interesting.
FCC Documentation Fills In the Blanks
Noise says complete specifications will arrive closer to launch, but the user manual associated with FCC ID 2BKRS-BUDSOPEN01 already provides a useful preview.
Each Master Buds Open uses a 10mm driver and connects over Bluetooth 5.4, with a stated wireless range of 10 meters. The earbuds carry an IPX5 rating, making them resistant to sweat and water jets but not suitable for submersion, while charging is handled through a USB-C case weighing 52 grams.
Battery life is listed at six hours per charge and 22 hours total with the case, although those should be treated as pre-launch figures until Noise publishes its final specifications. The same manual also says the case can recharge the earbuds five times, which does not mathematically reconcile with the stated six-hour runtime and 22-hour total.
Rather than invent a sixth form of arithmetic, we’ll wait for Noise to clarify it.
The manual also identifies Spatial Audio and Audio Boost modes, along with support for the Noise Audio app. Still missing are final details about Bluetooth codecs, microphone configuration, multipoint connectivity and exactly how the spatial processing works.
Those are more useful questions than counting how many times the word “premium” appears in the press release.
Open-Ear Audio Is Getting Much Bigger
Noise is entering the premium end of a category with significant momentum. Omdia reported that global Open Wireless Stereo (OWS) shipments exceeded 10 million units during Q3 2025, up 69% year over year, while open-ear shipments also expanded rapidly in India during 2025.
The attraction isn’t difficult to understand. Open-ear earbuds allow listeners to hear their surroundings, avoid the plugged-ear sensation of conventional IEMs and can be more comfortable during long listening sessions.
The compromise has traditionally been sound quality, particularly bass extension and isolation. Every manufacturer now claims to have solved that problem, so our ears will ultimately have to settle the argument.
Two Main Competitors
Bose Ultra Open Earbuds — $299 MSRP
Yes, Bose is effectively competing with a product developed by a company in which Bose itself owns a minority stake. Audio remains a wonderfully uncomplicated business.
The Bose Ultra Open Earbuds use a cuff-style design and proprietary OpenAudio technology to position sound near the ear without blocking the canal. They offer Immersive Audio, Bluetooth multipoint, IPX4 water resistance and up to seven hours of standard stereo playback.
Bose launched them at $299, although promotional pricing can be substantially lower. Until Noise announces pricing, we cannot know whether Master Buds Open will compete directly on cost, but based on the rest of the Master Series it would be surprising to see them priced at Bose levels.
Sony LinkBuds Clip — $229.99 MSRP
Sony’s LinkBuds Clip attacks the same problem from another direction. The $229.99 clip-on earbuds use a 0.39-inch driver and include Bluetooth 5.3, multipoint connectivity, DSEE processing, 360 Reality Audio and IPX4 water resistance, with battery life rated at up to nine hours per charge.
Sony also includes a Sound Leakage Reduction mode, addressing one of the less charming aspects of open-ear audio: occasionally sharing your playlist with people who did not request it.
Sony has an established app, mature global distribution and years of wireless-audio experience. Noise may have a very different weapon if it can get the pricing right.
Noise Master Buds Open Specifications
The following combines Noise’s IFA announcement with information contained in pre-launch documentation associated with the product’s FCC certification.
Specification Noise Master Buds Open Design Clip-on open-ear Driver 10mm Weight 4g per earbud Bluetooth 5.4 Bluetooth Range 10 meters Water Resistance IPX5 Battery Life 6 hours per charge* Total Battery Life 22 hours with case* Earbud Charging Time 1 hour* Case Charging USB-C Case Weight 52g* Spatial Audio Yes* Audio Boost Yes* Companion App Noise Audio* Bose Collaboration Sound by Bose technology Price To be announced Availability Late September 2026
*Listed in pre-launch product documentation and subject to confirmation when final commercial specifications are released.
Price & Availability
Noise says Master Buds Open will become available in late September 2026 through retail stores, major e-commerce platforms and gonoise.com. Pricing and specific regional availability have not been announced.
The product has already received FCC certification in the United States, and Noise operates a U.S. online storefront. That makes a U.S. launch plausible, but FCC approval should not be confused with confirmation that the product will actually be sold here.
We will update the story when Noise provides final U.S. pricing, availability and commercial specifications.
The Bottom Line
Noise is considerably more important in the global wearable market than many North American consumers probably realize, and its relationship with Bose gives Master Buds Open a hook most inexpensive open-ear products cannot claim.
The lightweight clip design is promising, the preliminary specifications are competitive, and Noise already has experience selling aggressively priced wireless products. The unanswered question is whether Sound by Bose can help close the sonic gap between affordable OWS products and premium competitors from Bose, Sennheiser and Sony.
Final pricing will matter enormously. If Noise can deliver genuinely good open-ear sound at the kind of pricing we’ve seen from the rest of its Master Series, Bose may have helped create a surprisingly dangerous competitor.
Corporate family gatherings could get awkward.
For more information: us.gonoise.com
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