Baseus is known for its value earbuds, power banks and charging products. While its Bowie MC1 aren’t in the same league as Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds, they cost around a sixth of the price and sound pretty decent for this style of clip-on earbuds, particularly with less demanding tracks that don’t feature heavy bass and a lot of instruments playing at the same time. On Amazon, you’ll find clip-on buds with a similar design, including the Tozo OpenEarRing ($30) and Amazfit Up ($50), so they’re a little generic. But I found the sound quality to be slightly better many competing clip-on value buds. I also liked that they have a single physical control button on each bud for controlling playback and adjusting volume levels.

Battery life is rated for up to 9 hours at moderate volume levels, which is good, but expect to get les than that because you do tend to have to listen to open earbuds at higher volumes, especially in noisier environments. With an IP57 certification, the buds are splash-proof and dust-proof, making them suitable for runners and bikers. Voice-calling capabilities are also decent but don’t expect business-class performance.

Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds may be the best-sounding and most comfortable clip-on earbuds. But they list for $299. In contrast, Edifier’s new LolliClip buds cost $130 and their sound is pretty close to what you get with the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds — and they’re almost as comfortable to wear while fitting my ears securely. They also have some features the Bose buds don’t have, including active noise canceling (it’s not all that effective but you do sense it muffling some noise in the lower frequencies), a heart-rate monitor, blood oxygen sensor and spatial audio with head-tracking. There’s also a low-latency mode for gaming and they support the LDAC audio codec for Android users.

The buds have a battery life rating of up to 6 hours with noise canceling on and 9 hours with it off at moderate volume levels. As for water-resistance, their IP56 rating means they can withstand a sustained spray of water and they’re also dust-resistant. Overall, I was impressed with the sound quality. It’s not going to be quite as good as what you get with noise-isolating earbuds with silicone ear tips that you jam in your ears, but for open buds it’s quite good. With these type of buds, which allow you to hear the outside world for safety reasons, the bass tends to be a little weak. But the LolliClip buds output ample bass (you have a few EQ settings to choose from, including a bass boost mode) and offer decent clarity. Note that you will have to play around with the fit of the buds on your ears to optimize the sound quality — a little adjustment can make a significant difference. Voice-calling performance was good but not exceptionally so.

My only gripe is with the touch controls. They’re a little finicky (you have to figure out just what is the touch zone), but you do get several customization options in the Edifier ConneX companion app.

In early 2024, Anker released its Soundcore C30i clip-on buds. Not only didn’t they sound all that good (they distorted at higher volumes and were a little bass shy), but they weren’t all that comfortable to wear. The C40i, which came out in October of 2024, are a different story. Equipped with a flexible joint (the C30i didn’t have that), they’re significantly better in terms of fit and sound quality, though the step-up Soundcore AeroClip sounds fuller and more open. They also come with attachable ear grips, although I didn’t use them because they fit my ears securely without adding them.

I liked the C40i’s design and appreciated that they’re equipped with physical control buttons, which makes skipping tracks forward or taking calls easier when you’re running with the buds (they’re suitable for running and biking). While they’re not waterproof or dust-resistant, they’re IPX4 splash-proof and their charging case is reasonably compact. While they don’t sound as good or offer as good voice-calling performance as Anker’s step-up Soundcore AeroClip buds, they’re among the best-sounding clip-on earbuds that cost less than $100. Their voice-calling performance is pretty decent but not exceptionally good.