If you are looking for earplugs that do not go into your hearing canal, then you should really try these. They don't go into your hearing channel. Your channel itself remains completely free/open. It's as if there are loudspeakers very close to your ears. The sound is what you would expect from Bose, just good. Just like with tips that enter the hearing canal, you can move the tips deeper into your canal, or in the case of these tips, bring the tips closer to your ear canal. Then you will notice the difference of these caps is very good. When you use them “without hands” the sound is simply very good.
Obviously safer than in-ear headphones, because you can continue to hear the environment faithfully.
You can feel the earphones, but the feeling remains the same throughout the hours. They won't irritate anything. They fit well and stay in place. In the beginning it feels like you can shake them out, but good luck, you won't be able to do that...
Sound, especially immersive audio, is very good. Volume can be more than loud enough. In the softest setting, the sound is still very present, but this is more due to the phone or device than to the earphones. I would personally like the sound to be even quieter, to place the sound even more into the background.
Operating the earphones is easy. Reading the instructions for use and installing the app on your device is recommended to take advantage of all the possibilities of the earphones. There is a setting to adjust to ambient noise. Using this option remains personal. Works fine, perhaps a bit too fast. (harder/softer).
In the app you can see the status/charging level of your earphones. Charge level of the case is not visible in the app. Based on the LED color on the case, you can only see when the case needs to be charged again (amber).
Connecting the Airbuds is fast, but especially in the beginning I had some issues with the Bluetooth. I had to reset the buds for this. After this things went well.
I do expect Bose to make some updates in the near future. Bluetooth is not 100% stable. This manifests itself in earphones that randomly restart once in a while. Or sound that suddenly stops and can only be solved by putting the earphones back in from the case. I haven't been using them for long, so this will resolve itself over time.