How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want an open-ear, situational-awareness headphone for fishing and gaming, choose Cleer ARC II Gaming; if you need a work headset with a boom mic, busylight and a charging dock for long call days, choose Yukigefe Headset. Both use aptX Adaptive, but they are built for completely different jobs — one keeps your ears open to the water, the other keeps your voice clear on a call.
• Cleer ARC II Gaming — biggest strength: open-ear ear-hook design with aptX Lossless and Snapdragon Sound, plus a USB-C dongle for PS4, PC and Switch and a rated 35 hours total playback.
• Cleer ARC II Gaming — biggest trade-off: no active noise cancelling and no microphone boom — the open design is meant to let outside sound in, and controls are touch-based, which some people dislike with wet or gloved hands.
• Yukigefe Headset — biggest strength: a proper boom mic with a 99.9% noise-reduction claim, a busylight and mute indicator, Bluetooth 5.4 plus a Qualcomm 5.3 aptX Adaptive adapter, and a charging dock that doubles as a USB hub.
• Yukigefe Headset — biggest trade-off: it is an on-ear, closed-style work headset with a rated 22 hours of battery, a 33 ft Bluetooth range, and a dongle that does not work with office desk phones.
• Pick Cleer ARC II Gaming if you want ambient awareness on the water, in traffic or around the house while gaming or listening.
• Pick Yukigefe Headset if you spend your day in Zoom, Teams, Skype or Webex calls and want your voice to arrive clean.
The Cleer ARC II Gaming is an open-ear true wireless earbud built around ear hooks, a dynamic driver covering 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, and a plastic-and-silicone body in white and purple. Nothing about the design blocks your ear canal. That is the entire point. For fishing, this is the feature that matters most: you hear the reel, the water, a boat horn, someone calling from the bank — and your audio sits on top of that instead of replacing it. In my opinion, this is exactly why open-ear earbuds have become the default pick for anglers who want music or a podcast without going deaf to their surroundings.
On the tech side it is unusually well-stocked for an open-ear model. Snapdragon Sound with aptX Lossless handles playback quality, Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio and aptX Adaptive handles the connection, and multipoint pairing lets it stay synced to two devices — a phone and a laptop, say — without re-pairing every time. The included USB-C dongle is the part gamers care about: it gives you a low-latency path to PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch, with latency rated under 67 ms. Battery is rated at 8 hours in the buds and 35 hours total with the case, and the case itself charges in about 2 hours from a 1200 mAh cell. IPX5 sweat resistance covers splash and sweat, which is a reasonable match for a boat or a bank.
Who should skip it? Anyone who needs a boom microphone for professional calls, anyone who wants active noise cancelling, and anyone who prefers physical buttons over touch controls. There is no noise control on this model at all, and the mic relies on Qualcomm cVc echo cancelling and noise suppression rather than a mic arm near your mouth. It is also worth checking the current price on Amazon before you commit, because the feature set sits well above a basic pair of earbuds.
The Yukigefe Headset is a work headset, and it does not pretend otherwise. It is an on-ear design with a 40 mm dynamic driver, 32 ohm impedance, a black plastic frame and a cushioned, adjustable headband with rotating, floating earcups. The boom mic rotates so you can wear it on either side, which is a small detail that matters if you take calls for six hours a day. The metal frame is described as flexible and durable rather than brittle, and the fit is engineered to avoid the pinching and pressure headaches that cheap on-ear headsets are famous for.
The connectivity story is the real selling point. You get Bluetooth 5.4 for pairing and anti-interference, plus a Qualcomm 5.3 adapter that carries aptX Adaptive for lower latency and clearer audio. Plug-and-play, no drivers. Dual-device connectivity means you can be on a phone call while music plays from your laptop, or hop into a Zoom meeting without reconnecting anything. The 33 ft Bluetooth range is plenty for moving around a home office. Battery is rated at 22 hours with a 2-hour charge time.
Then there is the dock. It stores and charges the headset, and it doubles as a hub with two USB-A and two USB-C ports — so it earns its desk space instead of just sitting there. The busylight turns on automatically during calls to stop people walking up to you mid-sentence, and there is a dedicated mute button with a visible mute indicator. Noise reduction is claimed at 99.9%, which is a manufacturer figure for background noise, not a rating of overall audio quality.
Two limitations are worth knowing up front. The dongle works with PC and laptop only — not office desk phones, which need Bluetooth instead. And the multi-function button only handles mobile phone calls; it cannot answer or reject calls coming through computer apps. If you want a headset for fishing, this is not it: it is a closed on-ear design that reduces outside sound rather than preserving it, and there is no IP rating listed.
• Best open-ear earbuds for fishing → Cleer ARC II Gaming. Ear hooks, IPX5, and an open design that keeps you aware of your surroundings.
• Best on-ear headphones for fishing → neither, honestly. If you must have a headband-style set on the water, the Yukigefe is the wrong tool because it blocks ambient sound instead of preserving it.
• Best touch control headphone for fishing → Cleer ARC II Gaming. It is the only one of the two with touch controls, though gloves and wet hands are a real friction point.
• Best for calls and meetings → Yukigefe Headset. Boom mic, busylight, mute indicator, and 99.9% background-noise reduction claim.
• Best for gaming on PS4, PC or Switch → Cleer ARC II Gaming. The USB-C dongle and sub-67 ms latency rating are built for it.
• Best battery life → Cleer ARC II Gaming. A rated 35 hours total versus 22 hours.
• Best for multitasking across two devices → a tie. Both do dual-device pairing; the Cleer uses Bluetooth 5.3 multipoint, the Yukigefe pairs Bluetooth plus adapter or two Bluetooth devices.
• Best for a tidy desk setup → Yukigefe Headset. The charging dock doubles as a four-port USB hub.
• Best for light weight and all-day open comfort → Cleer ARC II Gaming. Soft adjustable ear hooks versus a headband.
For fishing, I would buy the Cleer ARC II Gaming. The open-ear design is the whole reason it works on the water — you keep your ears on the environment while aptX Adaptive and the dongle handle the audio, and 35 hours of rated total playback covers a long day out. The Yukigefe Headset is the better product for its own job: calls, meetings and desk work, where the boom mic, busylight and hub dock earn their place. If you split your time between fishing and calls, buy the Cleer for the water and the Yukigefe for the desk — they are complements, not competitors. Check the current price on Amazon for each before deciding, since both sit in very different feature brackets.
what is aptx adaptive headphones
aptX Adaptive is a Bluetooth audio codec from Qualcomm that adjusts bitrate and latency depending on what you are doing — higher quality for music, lower latency for video and gaming. Both products here support it: the Cleer ARC II Gaming via Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio and Snapdragon Sound, and the Yukigefe Headset via its Qualcomm 5.3 adapter.
Are open ear earbuds better than on ear headphones for fishing?
Not through its dongle. The adapter is for PC and laptop only. For office desk phones you connect over Bluetooth instead, and the multi-function button only handles mobile phone calls — it cannot answer or reject calls from computer meeting apps.
The Cleer ARC II Gaming is rated at up to 35 hours total, with 8 hours in the earbuds and 27 more from the case, charging in about 2 hours. The Yukigefe Headset is rated at 22 hours on a 2-hour charge, though its dock keeps it topped up between calls.
• Luckvan Universal Ear Fins vs Generic Silicone Ear Hooks
• TuneFlux Headphones Over Ear vs LC-dolida Sleep Mask
• AILIHEN I35 vs CN-Outlet Kids Headphones: Small on Ear
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
When you buy through links on this page, we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon or its affiliates. This site is an independent third-party review and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon or the product brands mentioned.