Analysis of Bose Frames Tempo: the specifications to be beat

It is still fair to call audio sunglasses a niche category, but with Bose offering several models, Amazon in the game and counting the recent ads from Razer and JLab, it is certainly a growing category. There are people out there who just don’t like headphones very much – often because they don’t like the feel of silicon tips covering their ears. Open-style products like standard AirPods and Galaxy Buds Live are an alternative, but you still face the possibility of losing them. If you are running on a trail or on an intense bike ride, it is not an insignificant risk.

For these people, I can absolutely see the appeal of Bose Frames Tempo, which has speakers built into its frame and will remain planted in your face, no matter how strenuous the outdoor activity becomes. Tempo glasses are the most sporty model in the Bose’s Frames family, clearly aimed at walkers, runners, cyclists and anyone who spends a great deal of time outdoors. Bose says that they also have the best sound performance in the group.

From the front, they look like your typical Oakley, Nike or Under Armor sunglasses. Bose is clearly going after that same market with the $ 250 Times. If you are more trendy or looking for a pair of audio sunglasses that don’t give the impression that you are in the middle of a triathlon, you will wanting to stick with the Tenor or Soprano styles of frames. They come with black mirrored lenses in the box, but Bose also sells a few other pairs of $ 40 lenses that you can exchange to allow different amounts of light to pass through. The big temples are where it becomes most obvious that they are audio sunglasses.

But there is an advantage to this robust design: unlike the Tenor and Soprano frames, which use a proprietary charger, the Tempo model has a regular USB-C connector on the left temple. Bose says the structure is made of “TR-90 nylon”. It doesn’t give much, but they look sturdy to me, and they have an IPX4 rating for water and sweat resistance, so if you are caught running or cycling in the rain, they will survive.

During the first few days using Tempos, I felt a slight squeeze on the sides of my head that made me uncomfortable. Now, I have an extremely large dome – they used to have to bring a special-sized helmet in the Children’s League, friends – but, fortunately, the fit has eased a bit because that pressure has gone away at the end of the first week. The sunglasses didn’t come loose enough to start bobbing in my head or something; they still felt good and safe. (My friend Theresa, who has a normal-sized head, never mentioned any tightness that would cause a headache.) Bose includes three sizes of nose tips in the box, and I thought the big one was the right combination. Even though my face was covered in sweat from a long run, the tips of my nose helped to ensure that the sunglasses did not slip.

The controls that Bose created are wonderfully fail-safe, which is crucial when you’re trying to stay focused on other things. You slide the right temple to increase or decrease the volume and, at the bottom of that temple, there is a small circular button that you can press to play / pause, double-tap to skip tracks or tap three to go back. At no time did these controls look so natural and easy. Turning off the Time Frames takes just a few seconds by pressing the button. Or you can flip them over and place them with the top of the frame on a surface. After two seconds in this orientation, they hung up. (You can disable this in the settings, but I found it very convenient and, again, natural.) The battery life is listed as eight hours, and this is in line with my experience so far. Sunglasses take about an hour to charge 100%. The Bose mobile app allows you to update the sunglasses’ firmware, but there is no equalization control or other options to adjust their performance.

Describing the sound quality of sunglasses with audio can be tricky. They don’t look like headphones at all, as they are basically speakers that shoot down and point at your ears. But Bose has improved its game compared to the first generation frames, which I have occasionally tried. They have more life in the entire EQ range.

There is an amazing separation between vocals and instrumentation, and Frames Tempo has a good clarity and balanced balance. There are more bass than before, but I think this is where it’s most important to set reasonable expectations: the bass you get from any decent pair of headphones will blow you away. No reply. That said, Bose has at least reached a point where the bass no longer sounds anemic or flat, which is a legitimate improvement over the first generation frames. It is there and it is noticeable.

Bleeding from the sound is easily canceled out by the daily noise from the street, but if you are indoors at a high volume, people nearby will know that you are listening to music. After all, they are sunglasses, so I imagine that these situations will be rare. The Bluetooth connection has remained stable for the vast majority of my time with Frames Tempo until now. There are no complaints.

Voice calls while using Tempos were also a joy. Callers say that I sound almost as good as when I speak directly on the phone, and something about taking calls with your ears wide open is really cool.

Even after a relatively short time using Frames Tempo, I get this thing with audio glasses. me truth take it. It’s like Dieter wrote recently: “Not having to put on or take off headphones changes your relationship with audio – it’s always available, always available when you want it.” Would I like to be able to put clear lenses on them and use them anywhere? In theory, you bet. But that style would not work well for that, nor is it what the Times should ultimately be. Therefore, I cannot criticize Bose for the disappointment I feel when I return to my normal glasses, which now look very primitive.

Bose Frames Tempo lets you hear the world around you unobstructed – with a soundtrack playing on everything, while giving your ears a break compared to normal headphones. For $ 250, they will be difficult to sell to some. But I realized that audio sunglasses are the exact kind of thing that you’ll never realize you need. Until you put them on – and suddenly, you do.

Photograph by Chris Welch / The Verge