My parents always used to say, “You get what you pay for,” and at the ripe old age of 33, I’ve often found that to be true. If you buy a knockoff, that’s usually what you’re going to get: an imitation of something that’s cheaper, but probably not quite as good as the real deal. Usually, that’s what you’re going to get. But not always.

Sometimes, if Soundpeats’ new Clip1 wireless earbuds are any indication, what you actually get (for a lot less money) is your favorite new pair of open-style wireless earbuds for the price.

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Sorry, Bose

I’ve used a few pairs of open wireless earbuds in my day, and there was always one pair that stood as my favorite: Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds. I personally love Bose’s clip-on design, which is comfortable and (at least in my opinion) looks pretty good—more like a piece of jewelry than a pair of wireless earbuds. Also, Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds shouldn’t work, but they do. The wireless earbuds actually tuck the speaker behind your ear, while a solid plastic lip rests inside and holds the whole thing in place. Despite that strange, very indirect method of delivering audio, they sound great. There’s just one problem, and that’s that they’re kind of wildly expensive.

Coming up on nearly two years since their release date, the Ultra Open Earbuds are still $300. That’s a steep price to pay for wireless earbuds that you’re probably not going to want to use all the time, every single day. But $70? Now we’re talking.

Unlike Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, Soundpeats’ Clip1 start at less than half the price. While you might be raising your eyebrows, wondering what kind of sacrifices you’re making in the sound department, I’m here to tell you that the Clip1 might be a lot less of a compromise than you’d expect. Immediately upon sliding the Clip1 onto my ears and loading up Spotify, I noticed that Soundpeats paid special attention to fidelity.

I started off with some jazz, Wes Montgomery’s “While We’re Young,” and noticed ample low end and very little distortion even with the volume turned up past 75% on my phone. Guitar tones sounded natural and nuanced, like I was in the room. I could hear subtle string buzzes and even the soft fuzz of the recording process from 1961, an artifact of how the tune was recorded back then. More than a solid start.

Other genres translated equally as well. I listened to some rock songs with a lot more going on instrument-wise and in the production department, and the Clip1 crushed it. In “Castleman” by Floatie, I was able to hear all of the guitar tracks clearly and separately, with very little distortion. Vocals stood apart from the mix but weren’t too pronounced, and the low end was present but not overwhelming. Similarly, with electronic music, the Clip1 continued to impress. I listened to Todd Terje’s “Delorean Dynamite,” and the driving arpeggiated synths sounded perfectly gritty, with shakers and other reverberated percussion came across as atmospheric but well-accounted for.

If this all sounds like I’m gushing, well, I kind of am. The Clip1 exceeded my expectations in the sound department, and it’s clear that Soundpeats made the effort on a hardware level to deliver. Inside the Clip1, there are 12mm drivers, which are backed up by dual magnets. The use of two magnets, according to Soundpeats, is meant to decrease distortion and deliver a more precise, uniform sound, since the two magnets equate to less variability in the way the wireless earbuds’ diaphragm moves. The results are clear—literally. These are some of the best-sounding open wireless earbuds I’ve used to date, and I’ve used quite a few now from Sony, Nothing, and Bose.

On top of sounding great, I also find them to be equally as listenable in louder volume scenarios as Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, if not a little more so. Because of the design of open wireless earbuds, no pair will ever be ideal in high-volume situations where you’d want a more traditional pair of wireless earbuds with tips and active noise cancelation (ANC). There’s a middle ground to be struck where you can still hear your audio well while also being able to hear your surroundings, though. In my humble opinion, Soundpeats strikes that balance well.

On the crucial subway test, I was able to hear my post-work Buffalo Bills sports talk podcast while still keeping one foot in the environmental sound. That’s more than I could say for other entrants in the open-ear audio game, which have a bad habit of being drowned out in loud environments.

Which clip gets the comfort crown

Outside of being able to hear your surroundings more, another reason why people buy open-style wireless earbuds is that they’re just a lot more comfortable than using something that gets put inside your ear, even if it’s only a little bit.

While both the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and Soundpeats’ Clip1 have a similar design (a clip that you wrap around your ear), there are subtle differences between the two you should know. As I mentioned, Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds have a plastic knob that goes inside your ear, while the speaker, a round little drum, actually gets tucked behind your ear. The indirect approach to delivering audio somehow produces solid, well-balanced sound.

Similarly, the Clip1 also tucks around your ear like a clip, but instead of tucking the speaker behind your ear like Bose, the speaker rests in your outer ear in the Clip1, while the battery and magnets actually located behind. I’ve already covered how that design seems to deliver sound, and as satisfied as I am with that end, I’m equally as satisfied with the comfort. The Clip1, like Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds are great to wear over long periods and feel sturdy and comfortable while wrapped around my ears. If you’re the type of person who hates the feeling of shoving silicone tips into your ears like you would with wireless earbuds that have ANC, the Clip1 will feel like a massive relief. The Clip1 might even have a slight edge over Bose, since Soundpeats manages to get the weight of each of its earbuds down to 5g as opposed to Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, which weigh 6.3g per earbud.

Like Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, the Clip1 also allows for a good amount of ambient noise bleed, which, in this case, is exactly what’s supposed to happen. While wearing the Clip1, I was still able to hear colleagues and respond to people in my office, while they were unable to hear what I was listening to; in this case, that happened to be a podcast at about 75% volume. While I didn’t test the Clip1 on a bike, I would be more than comfortable wearing these open wireless earbuds in a situation where I needed to hear my surroundings. I

f you’re in need of hands-free controls, the Clip1 also have touch inputs which allow you to double and triple-tap the piece that rests behind your ear on either earbuds to play and pause, and skip tracks respectively. It’s a little awkward at first, tapping behind your ear like that, but once you get the hang of it, they work just fine.

As long as we’re talking about design, it’s worth mentioning one area that I actually don’t think the Clip1 takes the crown over Bose in, and that’s looks. There’s nothing particularly offensive about the Clip1 design, but it’s not my cup of tea if Bose is the comparison. The Clip1 is a little bit lower profile compared to the Ultra Open Earbuds, which is nice, but I actually appreciate the almost cyberpunk look, even if they’re more noticeable when they’re clipped onto your ears. Similarly, the charging case of the Clip1 is fine but very cheap-feeling, thanks to the shiny, smooth plastic as opposed to Bose’s almost matte plastic.

That’s a minor gripe, all things considered, and even more forgivable when you keep in mind that the Clip1 is $70 compared to Bose’s current $300 price tag on the Ultra Open Earbuds.

Battery life and features

Open wireless earbuds may not have the benefit of canceling noise like other wireless earbuds, but that lack of ANC is actually a blessing in some ways, mostly when it comes to battery life. According to Soundpeats, the Clip1 should get 8 hours on a single charge when being played at 60% volume. That battery life tracks in my testing; after more than two hours of listening, I was at about 80%, though I wasn’t listening to audio the entire time (I took some short breaks intermittently).

I wouldn’t call 8 hours impressive by wireless earbuds standards, but it does notably beat the Bose Ultra Open, which get about 7.5 hours on a single charge. For context, some wireless earbuds that I’ve tested this year, like the Technics EAH-AZ100, get 10 hours on a single charge with ANC activated. Again, though, those wireless earbuds are also $300 compared to the Clip1’s $70 price tag, so maybe that comparison is a little unfair. For me, I have no major complaints in the battery life department when it comes to the Clip1; I think they’ll last long enough to satisfy most people.

As for features, there are quite a few things to take advantage of in the Soundpeats app, including the ability to toggle on Dolby audio for “movie mode” and “music mode,” which are meant to provide “immersive 3D sound.” I tested both, and while I could do without movie mode (sorry, I know it’s supposed to give in-movie audio a sense of space, but I think it just makes everything sound worse), music mode actually sounds pretty good. I don’t need music mode toggled on to enjoy how the Clip1 sound, but I do think using it provides a heightened sense of space and atmosphere in most songs.

There are also additional EQ options in the Soundpeats app, including preset EQ for genres like rock and electronic, and even one for enhancing treble, and also a granular 10-band EQ if you’re that kind of person. There is an option to custom-tune the EQ with a hearing test so that the wireless earbuds conform to your specific hearing, but when I tried to take the test, I noticed that lots of the tones being played for me were hard to hear. Picking them up is a lot harder when you’re wearing a pair of open earbuds, where ambient noise is a factor. For that reason, I’m going to go ahead and assume that while you can take the hearing test for personalized EQ on the Clip1, you should make sure you’re in a very silent location when you do so.

As an added bonus, the SoundPeats app also has free, playable white noise for when you just want to zone out (think rain sounds and airplane noises) as well as something called “EQ space” where people can share their custom EQs for things that they like to listen to. Let’s be honest, most people are never going to take advantage of that sort of thing, but having the option is always nice.

This clip wins the championship

As I mentioned previously, there are a lot of open-style wireless earbuds on the market nowadays, so making a decision can be tough. Ultimately, though, the equation is simple. Most people, when it comes to open audio, just want something that sounds good, is audible in a range of settings, and is comfortable and practical in terms of battery life and features.

For the Clip1, all of those boxes are checked, and while the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds still have the edge in terms of design, that only matters if you really care about that sort of thing. For most, the $70 price tag and great fit and sound should be enough to give Soundpeats a shot at being their go-to open-ear wireless buds.