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If you want a single pair of over-ear headphones that can pull double duty as a wired or wireless set for TV watching, choose Gabba Goods Over Ear; if you need lightweight clip-on earbuds that keep you aware of everything around you, choose Bose Open Earbuds. One is a foldable, ear-covering headset built for home and desk use; the other is an open-ear wearable designed to sit lightly on your ear while you stay tuned into the room.
• Gabba Goods Over Ear — biggest strength: full over-ear coverage with cushioned oval earcups, a 40mm dynamic driver, noise reduction/isolation, and three ways to listen (Bluetooth 5.3, wired 3.5mm, or Micro SD card).
• Gabba Goods Over Ear — biggest trade-off: it's a full-size headset, so it's bulkier than earbuds and it blocks out your surroundings rather than letting them in.
• Bose Open Earbuds — biggest strength: an open-ear clip-on design with OpenAudio, Immersive Audio, Bluetooth multipoint, IPX4 water resistance, and a charging case that extends total playtime dramatically.
• Bose Open Earbuds — biggest trade-off: open-ear means no noise isolation at all, and playtime drops from up to 7 hours to about 4 hours when you switch Immersive Audio on.
• Pick Gabba Goods Over Ear if you mostly listen at home, at a desk, or in front of a TV and want a foldable headset with a wired backup.
• Pick Bose Open Earbuds if you want something light you can wear while moving around, and you'd rather hear traffic, coworkers, or family than shut them out.
The Gabba Goods Over Ear is, at its core, a conventional over-ear Bluetooth headset that happens to be unusually flexible about how it gets its audio. It uses Bluetooth 5.3 with a 10-meter range, but it also accepts a 3.5mm cable, and it can play straight from a Micro SD card. That last part matters more than it sounds. If you keep a card loaded with albums, audiobooks or podcasts, you can listen without pairing anything at all.
The sound end is handled by a 40mm dynamic driver covering a 20Hz–20,000Hz range at 35 ohm impedance, and Gabba Goods pairs that with noise reduction technology and sound isolation. In practice that means the cushioned artificial-leather earcups are meant to soften the noise around you so you can hear your content at lower volumes. The earcups are oval and over-ear, the frame folds for storage, and the package includes an AUX cable. Controls are touch-based for media and volume, and there's a built-in microphone for hands-free calls.
So who is this for? In my opinion, it's for the person who wants one headset that lives in one place — the living room, the home office, a dorm desk — and works with almost anything: a TV, a PC, a laptop, a phone, a tablet, an MP3 player. The foldable build and hard-shell-style carry material make it reasonable to toss in a bag too. It's also a genuinely practical pick for kids, teens and adults alike, since it doesn't rely on a phone app to function.
Who should skip it? If you want to stay aware of your surroundings, this is the wrong tool — it's built to isolate you from the room, not open you up to it. And if you want the smallest possible thing on your head, a full over-ear headset will always feel like more hardware than a pair of earbuds.
The Bose Open Earbuds take the opposite approach entirely. These are open-ear earbuds with a clip-on design: a flexible joint and a light grip hook gently around the back of your ear so the bud sits outside your ear canal. Nothing plugs you in. OpenAudio technology is what delivers the actual sound, and the whole point of the form factor is that you hear your music privately while still hearing the world — the data sheet literally frames the design as saying "I can still hear you."
The feature set is clearly built for movement and multitasking. Bose Immersive Audio adds a spatialized sound mode, and simple button controls let you jump between stereo and immersive modes or take a call. Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint is the standout for anyone juggling devices: you can move between your phone and your laptop without re-pairing. IPX4 water resistance means splashes, sweat and light rain aren't a problem, and an acoustic mesh keeps moisture and debris out.
Battery is where the case earns its keep. You get up to 7 hours of playtime per charge — dropping to about 4 hours with Immersive Audio on — plus up to 48 hours of standby, and the included charging case holds roughly 2.5 extra full charges. A full charge takes about 1 hour, and everything runs over the included USB-C cable. Setup and control go through the Bose app, which also handles firmware updates.
This is for the walker, the runner, the cyclist, the commuter, the person working in a shared space who can't afford to be deaf to a doorbell or a colleague. It is not for someone who wants to block out a noisy room. With noise control listed as none, these earbuds will not isolate you from anything — that's the trade you're making for awareness.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for TV watching at home → Gabba Goods Over Ear. Over-ear cups plus a 3.5mm jack and Micro SD playback make it the more natural fit for a TV, PC or console setup where you want immersion rather than awareness.
• Best for battery flexibility → Bose Open Earbuds. Up to 7 hours per charge plus 48 hours standby and roughly 2.5 extra charges in the case beats a single-charge headset for all-day out-of-home use.
• Best for wired reliability → Gabba Goods Over Ear. It's the only one of the two with an actual 3.5mm jack, so you can keep listening even when you'd rather not deal with Bluetooth at all.
• Best for switching between devices → Bose Open Earbuds. Bluetooth multipoint lets it hop between phone, laptop and tablet without a re-pairing ritual.
• Best for sweat and light rain → Bose Open Earbuds. IPX4 water resistance is on the spec sheet; the Gabba Goods headset makes no such claim.
• Best for immersive spatial sound → Bose Open Earbuds. Immersive Audio is a distinct listening mode, though it costs you playtime.
• Best for comfort over long sessions at a desk → Gabba Goods Over Ear. Cushioned artificial-leather over-ear muffs and a foldable frame are designed for extended wear in one spot.
If your main goal is a headset for TV watching — one that folds away, works wirelessly or over a cable, and can even play from a Micro SD card — I would buy the Gabba Goods Over Ear. It's the more versatile home companion, and the over-ear isolation is exactly what you want when you're trying to follow dialogue instead of the room.
If instead you want earbuds you can wear while moving and still hear the world, I'd take the Bose Open Earbuds, accepting that awareness is the whole point and noise isolation is off the table. In my opinion, the decision comes down to one question: do you want to shut the room out, or stay part of it?
how to headphones work
Both of these send audio over Bluetooth 5.3 from a phone, computer or tablet to a driver inside the earpiece. The Gabba Goods Over Ear uses a 40mm dynamic driver and can also run from a 3.5mm cable or a Micro SD card, while the Bose Open Earbuds use a dynamic driver and push sound through an open-ear design rather than sealing your ear canal.
how to headphones on iphone
On iPhone, you pair either one through the standard Bluetooth menu. The Gabba Goods headset also works with a 3.5mm cable if you have the right adapter, and the Bose earbuds are set up and controlled through the Bose app, which handles pairing and firmware updates.
"Headphone mode" usually refers to a device routing audio to headphones instead of its speakers. On the Gabba Goods Over Ear, slide the power switch off or unplug the 3.5mm cable to hand audio back to your device. On the Bose Open Earbuds, you'd disconnect them in your device's Bluetooth settings or clear the pairing list by holding the Bluetooth button for 10 seconds.
how to headphones
To use either pair, charge it first — the Bose case tops up over USB-C in about an hour, and the Gabba Goods headset charges as a standard wireless headset. Then power on, put them on, and connect over Bluetooth. For the Gabba Goods, just slide the on/off switch to enter pairing mode; for the Bose, open the case and hold the button on the back until the light blinks blue.
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