Bose Frames Audio Sunglasses, Alto (S/M), Black

Product Information

Crank them up beyond 85% volume and you start to hear distortion, but they pretty loud by that point. For those people, I can absolutely see the appeal of the Bose Frames Tempo, which have speakers built right into their frame and will stay planted on their face no matter how strenuous outdoor activity gets. But this style wouldn’t really work for that, nor is it what the Tempos are meant to be at the end of the day. The smart bit of the Frames is support for the firm’s audio augmented reality platform, Bose AR, which is also available on the Bose’s popular QC35 II headphones, and on the upcoming Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. You swipe across the right temple to raise or lower the volume, and on the underside of that temple is a small circular button that you can press to play / pause, double-tap to skip tracks, or triple-tap to go back.

Bose Frames 2020 review: These audio sunglasses rock - CNET Bose Frames 2020 review: These audio sunglasses rock - CNET

Mixing classic frames with Bose sound technology, Bose Alto frames have a super lightweight built-in Bluetooth speaker pointed towards your ears allowing you to listen to music, podcasts or audiobooks without the need for headphones. Clearly this is a massive advantage for cyclists or pedestrians, but it also means you’re subjected to the noise of the world around you. We offer all types of sunglasses lenses including polarised, transition, tinted and photochromatic options. The Frames no longer sound like someone’s playing a song on their phone speaker two rooms away, and we were surprised by both the clarity and quality of the sound playing. They don’t suit city use, and they’re not all that suitable for public transport either, but if you’re looking for a fun device that’s different to anything else out there then these may be exactly what you're after.

The Bose Frames look like a regular set of sunglasses, with nylon frames and user-replaceable lenses, but hides sensors and speakers in the arms. Both the squarer Tenor (above) and Soprano (below) get slightly smaller 16mm drivers, but Bose claims that bass response has been noticeably improved compared to the original Frames. Performance can be affected by obstacles such as walls or metal, interference from Wi-Fi or other wireless devices and device manufacturers’ Bluetooth implementations. The Bose Frames were unveiled in early 2019, and we don’t currently expect to see any new designs or generations of the sunglasses any time soon.

Bose Frames review | TechRadar

Bose Tempo sunglasses are the ultimate high-performance sports sunglasses, with Bose’s cutting edge Open Ear Audio.There are currently only six AR apps to choose from, and most of these focus on navigation and entertainment. They’re nothing like headphones or earbuds since these are essentially down-firing speakers pointed at your ears. Tempo, Tenor, and Soprano all use what Bose describes as “volume-optimized EQ,” bringing out the whole frequency range at lower volumes while preventing distortion when you crank things up.