A touch-screen case, Dolby Atmos and a posture test: I spent a month with Cleer's open earbuds that have it all (except top-tier audio)

Date:
Sat, 27 Jun 2026 04:30:00 +0000

Description:
The Cleer Arc 5 have loads of features, but they're expensive and don't sound amazing.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Cleer Arc 5: Two-minute review Almost every one of the best open earbuds Ive
tested, has been designed for sports users. They let you hear your surroundings at the gym, remain aware when running in a busy area, and keep alert when cycling on a road. I dont think Cleer missed this memo the brands intentionally going for something completely different.

The Cleer Arc 5 are open earbuds designed not for sports, but for the rest of us. I was skeptical when I first saw them, but theyve surprised me in both good and bad ways. The presence of Dolby Atmos and THX Spatial Audio means these are suited for watching a TV show or movie on your commute, and their support for a range of better Bluetooth codecs, including LDAC and aptX Adaptive, shows Cleer is aiming for audiophile-quality earbuds here. Those
are some exceptional features for a form factor that naturally competes with loads of extraneous background sounds. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

Cleers app hides loads of other features too, including a posture test which uses the buds positional tools, and the ability to set sedentary reminders if youre too often stuck in one spot.

The design department makes it clear that these arent sports buds. Though surprisingly sturdy during a run, the buds are much bulkier than your average svelte runners wear. And the presence of an on-case display, full of controls and settings, clearly signposts this as not for active users. When I go to
the gym or for a run, the case is always left at home.

Unfortunately, despite the impressive specs and clear focus on listening quality, the Achilles Heel of these earbuds is the sound quality. Theres a real lack of expansie through the soundstage, and both treble and bass feel poorly defined. The open-ear form factor doesnt help here, especially with a max volume thats simple not loud enough, but many similar earbuds Ive tested sound a lot better.

Its a shame that these dont sound fantastic, and is surprising too when you see the price tag. For some users, I see the feature set trumping the sound quality. The fantastic battery life, health features and spatial audio might trump below-average sound. But it begs the question who these are designed for, if not audiophiles or fitness fans. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Cleer Arc 5 review: Price and release date (Image credit: Future) Released in March 2026 Made their debut at $219 (about 170 / AU$340) Some of the priciest within their category The Cleer Arc 5 were announced on March 16, 2026, only four months after their predecessors. That was a quick turnaround!

You can buy the Arc 5 for $219.99 (about 170, AU$340 no word on a release outside the US, as with the Arc 4). So these are some of the most expensive open earbuds out there.

To my mind only the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and Shokz OpenFit Pro cost more, but theyre both explicitly designed for sports, while the Cleer is aimed at
an audiophile market. Cleer Arc 5 review: Specs Swipe to scroll horizontally

Drivers

16.2mm

Active noise cancellation

No

Battery life

12 hours (bud), 60 hours (case)

Weight

11.5g (bud), 145g (case)

Connectivity

Bluetooth 6.0

Frequency response

65Hz to 40kHz

Waterproofing

IPX7 Cleer Arc 5 review: Features (Image credit: Future) 12-hour battery
life, 60 with case 8-band EQ, plus presets Loads of features including
posture test If theres an area where the Cleer Arc 5 stand out, its in the feature set it seems that this is what the buds were designed to do.

It starts with the basics: the battery life here is great for open earbuds. Youre getting 12 hours of listening per charge, with 60 hours once you factor in the charging case itself. Beyond a few endurance-focused earbuds, those figures are at the top of their class.

Boot up the Cleer+ app on your phone, and youre getting a smorgasbord of
tools admittedly in a pretty confusing lay-out. You can use the app to
toggle spatial audio, change between EQ modes and create custom ones, change what the touch and gesture controls do, change the case wallpaper, edit what tools are available via the case, and more.

The equalizer is an 8-band one, giving you some control over your sound, though in this day and age Id say that 10-bands were more common. I preferred using this over the presets, which didnt have a noticeable impact on a songs sound. (Image credit: Future) The and more features I alluded to earlier are pretty out-there, hence needing a whole extra paragraph. Theyre health ones: you can set up sedentary reminders to get you to move about, add volume
limits to protect your hearing, and do a posture test which uses the gesture controls of the buds to evaluate whether youre sitting straight.

For office workers, this latter is a genuinely useful feature, and I used it to ensure my seat and chair were level when working at my desk. However, for it to work properly, your phone needs to be at eye level too I messed it up by leaving my mobile o,n my desk, and when I bent over to look at it, the
test was ruined.

One feature youre not getting in the Arc 5 is any kind of noise cancellation. Its admittedly very rare in the open-ear space, but not unheard of (if youll pardon the pun). Features score: 4.5/5 Cleer Arc 5 review: Design (Image credit: Future) Giant case has a touch screen Earbuds are on the large side, but fit solidly Only IPX7 protected Lets start with the Cleer Arc 5s big new feature: its charging case. Big literally: it weighs 97g all on its own, and measures 8.3 x 6 x 2cm, making it one of the biggest earbud cases Ive seen in years.

This size isnt just to house some pretty big earbuds, but it does that with a few extra twists. It has built-in UV charging for the buds, and a mirror inside the case for some reason. For some reason, the left earbud is housed
on the right, and vice versa, which was confusing for a while until I learnt to switch.

But no, the big selling point here is a screen build into the charging case. You can use it to flick between a few menus: battery, music controls, spatial audio settings, general settings, equalizer and remote camera shutter. The interface feels akin to a smartwatches: very basic.

For changing quick settings like EQ or skipping songs, the case was quite handy: I didnt need to dig my phone out of my pocket and get distracted by
the 120 notifications from that group chat I forgot to mute. But you cant use the case to change playlists, create an EQ or dig deep into settings, so it wont replace your phone completely. (Image credit: Future) The earbuds also have touch controls too, which were quite easy to trigger with a tap anywhere on their body, yet never accidentally picked up an unintentional touch.

I suppose that brings us onto the earbuds. These are pretty huge, and heavy too, weighing roughly 24g each. I havent seen an open earbud quite this big, and was expecting them to fit pretty awfully; thankfully, I was totally
wrong. I went on many runs with the Arc 5, and not once did they threaten to dislodge, or wobble more than the average open-ear does.

Id put this down to some smart balancing of the bud and counterweight. They were always comfortable to wear, even if the weight didnt exactly make them easy to forget.

The Cleer Arc 5 comes in black or white, and I tested the latter. They have
an IPX7 rating, which makes them sweatproof but not suited to swimming. I would avoid taking them out in heavier rainfall too, just to be safe. Design score: 4/5 Cleer Arc 5 review: Sound quality (Image credit: Future) Large 16.2mm driver Blunt and indistinct sound Max volume is too low for open
format I was expecting the Cleer Arc 5s sound to be its outstanding feature. Between its 16.2mm drivers, support for LDAC, aptX Adaptive and aptX
Lossless, and high price, it seems like these could be some of the best open earbuds yet.

Im quite surprised to report that I was wrong, and I didnt really love listening to tunes on the Arc. The quality isn't terrible, but it's not on
par with the expectations you'd have from those aforementioned specs.

Music sounds compressed, with neither the high-end nor low-end differentiated in a way that gives any sense of sound stage or distinction. Snare drums lack bite, distorted-guitar walls turn into crunchy puddles, bass wobbles over plenty of other low- or mid- instruments. The buds would perhaps sound better if they were in-ears, but hovering a few mm over your ears, it doesn't fly. (Image credit: Future) Low-end is poorly defined yet too prominent in the
mix: The Human Race by BYRNE starts with a harmony that sounded more like a glitching speaker than a bass singer. This lines meant to repeat in the
chorus with a bass guitar, and it completely overrides the harmony. In 311s Good Feeling , the bass trips over all the other instruments, replacing the usually-energetic, fun chorus with the sonic equivalent of a stubbed toe.

Also affected is the treble, as vocals and higher lines lose prominence and energy. Take, for example, Morningsiders Thinking it Over : a string motif is dropped in the mix in the introduction, and completely lost in the
pre-chorus.

Ill concede that if you listen to acoustic or folky music, you may not notice this issue as much. In songs like Caamps 26 , the reduced instrumentation meant I could still basically hear everything.

Well, I could hear it until I stepped outside. The Arc 5 falls into a common trap with open earbuds: their maximum volume isnt high enough to compete with noisy surroundings. When I was running near a main road, I could barely hear my songs. Sound quality: 3/5 Cleer Arc 5 review: Value (Image credit: Future) Features may go some way to justify price... ... but audio quality doesn't
The Cleer has quite a few neat features. I really like what the case display achieves, and the fit is solid. Plus, the movie listening features offer
tools that many other earbuds dont.

However thats a really high price for any earbuds, let alone open-style ones and especially not for ones that, frankly, dont sound amazing.

Theres no way that these buds offer you value for money; you can get better audio quality for a lot less, especially if youre happy to buy non-open-style buds. Value: 3/5 Should I buy the Cleer Arc 5? Swipe to scroll horizontally Cleer Arc 5 score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

There are loads of features available here, and most of them work flawlessly.

4.5/5

Design

They're bulky, as is the case, but it all somehow manages to work together well.

4/5

Sound quality

These don't have the quality, sound stage or vibrancy you'd expect for the price.

3/5

Value

Elsewhere, you can easily get more for your money.

3/5 Buy them if You need office earbuds The open-ear form factor, easy case controls and health features might make these buds suitable for office
workers who need to be attentive to their surroundings, but still want to listen to music. You love case controls Earbuds charging case controls seem
to be surging in popularity if youre sold on this kind of tool, the Cleer
are a fine example of the art. You watch movies on your phone The presence of Dolby Atmos and THX Spatial Audio are almost unheard of in open earbuds, possibly because its a weird marriage, but still some might appreciate it. Dont buy them if Youre an audiophile I didnt love the music quality here, and if you want great-sounding open earbuds, youll find plenty of better-sounding options. Youre on a budget Most open earbuds Ive seen cost a good $100 / 100
/ AU$200 less than the Cleer Arc 5. Theyre a premium options, and you can easily find cheaper. Cleer Arc 5review: Also consider Swipe to scroll horizontally Header Cell - Column 0

Cleer Arc 5

Huawei FreeArc

Shokz OpenDots

Drivers

16.2mm

17mm x 12mm

2x11.8mm

Active noise cancellation

No

No

No

Battery life (ANC on)

12 hours (earbuds), 60 hours (total)

7 hours (earbuds), 23 hours (total)

10 hours (earbuds), 40 hours (total)

Weight

11.5g (each bud), 145g (case)

8.9g (each bud), 67g (case)

5.6g (each bud), 52g (case)

Connectivity

Bluetooth 6.0

Bluetooth 5.2

Bluetooth 5.4

Waterproofing

IPX7

IP57

IP54 Huawei FreeArc If you want comfortable, understated earbuds that sound fantastic, the Huawei FreeArc remain some of my favorites. Theyre also much cheaper than the Cleer, especially because theyre a little older. Read our full Huawei FreeArc review Shokz OpenDots One If you want any open earbuds, and dont mind jumping to the slightly-different clip-on style, these Shokz will appeal to you. They cost slightly less than the Cleer, and feel much lighter. The clip-style format also lets you hear your songs a lot better. Read our full Shokz OpenDots One review How I tested the Cleer Arc 5 Tested for one month Tested in a range of indoor and outdoor settings Used for
music, gaming, calls movies and TV I used the Cleer Arc 5 for roughly a month before writing this review of them. In that time, they were paired to a succession of Android smartphones, mostly the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Moto Edge 70 Fusion.

I listened to the Arc 5 on runs, walks around my neighborhood, office sessions, long trips on public transport and at home. I mostly streamed music via Spotify Lossless, and Apple Music, but also watched movies on a variety
of streaming services, played games, and tested a few other music streamers.

Ive been reviewing gadgets for TechRadar for over seven years now, including testing audio kit for nearly as long. In that time Ive handled other Cleer gadgets as well as many, many other open-ear buds. First reviewed in May 2026 Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee Cleer Arc 5: Price Comparison No price information Check Amazon We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices powered by



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