Execs
- Inexpensive
- Comfy, safe match with upgraded slim C-ring and air cushions
- Good sound for the worth
- They’re geared up with Bluetooth 6.0 and are totally waterproof and dustproof with an IP67 score
- Bodily button for playback and quantity management
- Stable battery life and first rate voice-calling efficiency
Cons
- Rounded case is somewhat slippery
- Can distort a bit at greater volumes
Not too lengthy after the discharge of Bose’s premium-priced Extremely Open Earbuds, finances clip-on earbuds began showing, and so they sounded fairly mediocre and regarded fairly low cost, too. However within the final a number of months, I’ve examined an rising variety of inexpensive variations of this new earring fashion of open true-wireless earbuds that sound surprisingly good. Living proof: Baseus’ Bowie MC2 buds, which listing for $80 however will be had for $60 after you apply an prompt $20-off coupon on their product web page at Amazon or the corporate’s website.
Learn extra: The 6 Finest Clip-On Earbuds I’ve Examined for 2026
The Bowie MC2 improves upon the sooner MC1 with superior sound and a design that is rather less generic. (Do not confuse it for the $10 cheaper MC2 Air buds, that are a slight step-down for sound and construct high quality.) They’re additionally a bit extra comfy, due to an upgraded “slim wave C-ring” and “air cushions” that are available in three sizes.
Outfitted with Bluetooth 6.0, they’ve an IP67 certification, which suggests the buds are totally waterproof and dustproof, making them appropriate for runners and bikers. I additionally like that they’ve a small bodily management button on every earbud to regulate playback and modify quantity. (You may customise the controls and modify equalizer settings within the Baseus companion app.)
The Baseus Bowie MC2 are presently out there in two coloration choices: white or black.
Cleaner, barely greater sound
The buds supply a bit higher efficiency to the Bowie MC1 Professional. I felt they sounded somewhat cleaner with barely greater sound general and fewer distortion at greater volumes. (The MC2 has barely bigger 11-millimeter drivers as an alternative of the ten.8mm driver discovered within the MC1 Professional.)
The sound does change a bit relying on the place you place the buds in your ears, with somewhat little bit of adjustment yielding extra bass. These buds, like different clip-on open buds, aren’t designed for essential listening. However what’s notable is that the sound is now respectable, with first rate bass and treble response together with pretty natural-sounding mids (the place voices dwell). As a result of they’re open earbuds — and so they sound open, which is sweet — they do higher in quieter environments as a result of ambient sound will leak into your ears and compete with no matter you are listening to.
The buds of their charging case. Battery life is rated at as much as 11.5 hours.
So far as competing fashions go, Earfun has improved the sound of its Clip 2 earbuds from its authentic Clip buds. Nonetheless, they did not match my ears fairly in addition to the Baseus Bowie MC2 buds, and the sound ended up coming throughout as somewhat recessed (much less open) by comparability as a result of the driving force sat additional outdoors my ear canal. I additionally thought the MC2’s sound was noticeably cleaner general, notably at greater volumes. Additionally, the bass response was higher to my ears. Once more, a few of these sound variations might have been affected by the match, however I would nonetheless charge the Baseus buds greater for sound high quality. (I manually pushed the drivers nearer to my ear canals to optimize the sound high quality to attempt to eradicate match as a variable as a lot as I may.)
Whereas not fairly in the identical league as Bose’s Extremely Open Earbuds, Shokz’ Open Dots or Baseus’ personal Encourage XC1 clip-on buds, they’re solely a really small step down for sound high quality however price quite a bit much less.
Just like the MC1 Professional, these have help for the LDAC audio codec (together with AAC and SBC) for Android units and multipoint Bluetooth pairing. A low-latency gaming mode can also be out there.
The buds from one other angle.
Good voice-calling efficiency and battery life
Voice-calling capabilities are additionally good; just like the MC1 Professional, they’ve two microphones per bud. Callers instructed me they heard solely minimal background noise, whereas my voice sounded acceptably clear once I spoke to them from the noisy streets of New York.
As for battery life, the buds are rated for as much as 11.5 hours at reasonable quantity ranges with bass enhance engaged. (Baseus markets this as Tremendous Bass 3.0.) That is superior battery life to quite a lot of noise-canceling earbuds, that are usually within the 6 to eight hour vary. I saved the bass enhance on once I was listening to music and the amount round 60% to 70%, so I did not fairly hit the 11.5-hour mark and registered nearer to round 10 hours of playback.
Testing them within the streets of New York.
Baseus Bowie MC2 last ideas
Baseus is shortly changing into a frontrunner in worth headphones and earbuds, and its Bowie MC2 buds are simply among the many finest finances clip-on earbuds I’ve examined as of June 2026. They price round $60 at Amazon, and Baseus additionally throws in a bonus merchandise along with your buy. As of this writing, you may get Baseus BP1 Professional noise-canceling buds, that are valued at $24. Baseus bonus gadgets tend to vary over time, in order that merchandise could also be completely different sooner or later or not out there in any respect. However in the intervening time, getting an additional set of finances ANC earbuds with a set of top-value clip-on buds that exceeded my expectations is a fairly good deal.
