06 Feb Bose Frames Audio Sunglasses Review

I don’t talk about it often but I’m a big fan of wearable tech. I am the CTO after all. It’s interesting to think about what the future holds when it comes to making life better for people with increasingly ergonomic and seamless takes on technology.  One of the bigger challenges to that statement is the seamless part; for every good advancement, there are x-number of features that don’t deliver on its promise. 

The Bose Frames Audio Sunglasses are a good example of advancement; they are better than what I currently have and therefore, are worth talking about. 

In short, they are a pair of sunglasses with directional speakers in the temples of the frame. They give the wearer immersive, high-quality sound without earbuds or headphones while making outside observers barely aware that you’re listening to something else. This also benefits the wearer, as they are still able to hear the outside environment. 

If there is a situation where a person needs sunglasses and audio at the same time, this is an ideal solution. As someone with eyes that are sensitive to light and who enjoy listening to music during my working hours, I was excited to test this product’s features, functionality, and quality. 

My current situation has me wearing one pair of non-corrective lenses and another pair of Bluetooth headphones that wrap around the back of my head and sits above my ears and glasses. The headphones are synced to multiple inputs and devices. I only listen out of the right earbud on the daily.  

The Bose glasses handle both of these needs elegantly in one device; it’s lighter weight and less intrusive for the wearer while being more discreet for the observer. The audio range is the same but the sound quality is higher, succeeding Bose’s reputation. In addition, the glasses are compatible with both the odd way I transmit Bluetooth and with my mixer, giving me stereo or right-ear-only on command. 

I’ve only had them about a week but I don’t want to give them up.  It’s a quality-of-life upgrade and I highly recommend them. 

Things to think about for the future:

• I wear the glasses indoors and It would be nice to have a lighter tint. I’m going to see if I can replace the current lenses with yellow-tinted lenses. 
• The battery life is good for its original purpose but not for the 10+ hours I plan to use them. I will need to get into the habit of charging them during my lunch break to get through the day. 
• Bose promises “audio AR” capabilities in the future but nothing has been released yet. Once the SDK is released I will reevaluate. 
• There are similarities between these glasses and the Snapchat specs in terms of application and form. It would be interesting to have the functionality of both in one device. 
• With an added accelerometer these would also do very well with spacial binaural audio. Using stereo 8d audio provides a small example of what they can be like.