To paraphrase The Most Interesting Man in the World, I don’t often review headphones, but when I do, they have to be pretty special. That’s indeed the case for Cleer Audio’s new Arc II Sport “Smart Open-Ear True Wireless Earbuds,” which offer a flexible “earhook” hinge design that allows each earbud to fit gently over each ear, providing clear, rich audio performance in a non-intrusive way.
Given the “sport” designation, the primary benefit of the open-ear design of the Arc II Sport models is to provide audio performance to active people without blocking ambient sounds and important peripheral aural cues (bird tweeting, sirens, the engine of an approaching bus just as you’re about to step off the curb…) while you’re running, cycling, or taking long walks. The side benefit of this design is that the Arc IIs also don’t break my grandfather’s rule of never sticking anything into my ear that is bigger than my elbow.
Spoiler alert: I kind of loved the Arc II Sport earbuds as soon as I unboxed them, hung them on my ears, and fired up a podcast. Yes, I use podcasts rather than music to gauge sound quality, because that’s what I’m most used to listening to while I walk or exercise wearing earbuds, so I know how they usually sound to me. Instantly, I was pleasantly surprised that earbuds that are designed “float” over the outside of your ear canal could sound nearly as good as earbuds with a tight seal inside the ear, without discomfort of jamming something into my ear canal. Voices had an extra richness of bass that I did not expect and dialogue clarity was great from the get go.
The design of the Arc II Sports is especially appealing to my wife, a long-time suffer of tinnitus, who has been reluctant to wear any type of intrusive earbuds that might trigger that exhausting ringing in her ears.
When I did try out music, I noted the benefits of what I assume are the Arc II Sport’s integration of aptX Lossless technology and Snapdragon Sound, as well as their 16.2mm neodymium drivers. Music had a more ambient quality more akin to listening to speakers in a room, than from a pair of isolating headphones. I took some phones calls, too, and appreciated the lack of ear fatigue from a one-hour call with a favorite family member.
So Cleer Audio’s Arc II Sport earbuds passed the listening test, but what about the fit, feel, and style? At first, I truly preferred the feeling of earbuds that did not have to stick into my ears. However, I eventually had to adjust to the sensation of a device hooking over the tops of my ears. There’s a slight bit of weight to Arc II Sports, and this feeling becomes more noticeable when I also put on my sunglasses to walk my dog on a hot summer morning; the two ear pieces (Arc IIs and the glasses) had to jockey a bit for position and the extra surface area on the skin felt a little “sweaty.” There’s definitely room for both earpieces but, it takes a little bit of adjusting to get comfortable.
Throughout my time living with the Cleer Audio Arc II Sport earbuds, I generally have preferred their open-ear design. I’m much more in tune with my surrounding and feel less ear fatigue, in general, than other earbud designs that I’ve tried. On the negative side, although air does circulate fairly well around the Arc II Sports, you have to make sure that they’re properly hinged out away from the surface of your ear or you may eventually experience a little ear cartilage discomfort. The key is finding that sweet spot where the earbud truly floats over the outside of your ear, rather than resting on it.
I’ve never been a big fan of head gesture controls on earbuds, so I mostly avoided that particular feature, but I did find the touch pad control on the outside of each Arc II Sport earbud to be impressively reactive. I suppose a pet peeve of my previous earbuds is how hard one has to tap to play, pause, or answer a phone call. It always feels like even a light tap on the outside of the earbud becomes a popping cap gun inside the ear. With the Arc II Sport, fortunately, you need only to lightly “graze” the exterior of the earbud to pause a track or answer a call.
When it comes to battery performance, the Arc IIs include LE Audio compatibility, which I learned provides proper audio performance while maximizing battery life. I have yet to deplete the batteries on the earbuds, but that probably has more to do with me always placing them back in their convenient charging case when in use, combined with their actual capacity. The specs state that the earbuds offer 35 hours of total battery life (8 hours, plus 27 hours with the smart charging case), which is a lot better than any other wireless earphones that I’ve owned.
Speaking of the charging case, it features a built-in UV-C light to reduce bacteria during the powered charging cycle, and it’s also a very elegant exterior and interior design to match the aesthetics of the stylish earbuds that it’s housing.
Other cool features include anti-loss detection (if you drop an earbud, it will beep to make it easier to locate and a Cleer+ app for customizable sound performance) battery monitor, and a step counter (again, they’re a “Sport” model). The Arc II Sport also benefits from its IPX5 waterproof rating, which is a major step up from the more common IPX4 and provides protection against low pressure water contact and a significantly lower risk of damage caused by water exposure. The Cleer+ app adds customizable performance by adjusting the EQ and customizing music playback, as well as easily downloading future firmware updates. New to the app is a battery monitor (Left/Right/Case).
Arc II Sport are available in Black and Red finishes at an MSRP $189.99 U.S. I would highly recommend Arc II Sport earbuds for anyone looking for a safer way to run, cycle, or even walk in public spaces where you don’t want to block the sounds around you. The Arc II Sport earbuds sound great and offer features that I have not experienced in other competitive designs.
Related: My Attempt to Avoid Airpods with Cleer Audio and 1More Wireless Earbuds
