Baseus Bowie MC2 open earbuds: I went hands-on with these budget buds

The open earbuds market is one of the fastest-expanding audio categories of 2026, and a new budget contender just entered the space.

Meet the Baseus Bowie MC2 earbuds, officially available as of June 1. Priced at $79.99, they're one of the most affordable open models on the market. (Keep reading to learn about their discounted launch price.)

Despite their lower price point, Baseus seeks to blend solid sound quality, innovative comfort, and a battery life that bests earbud options over triple the price of the MC2s. So how do they stack up? While I don't have a full review just yet, I've spent a few days with the newest open earbuds and have some early thoughts.

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Baseus Bowie MC2: Price and specs

As mentioned above, the Baseus Bowie MC2 earbuds are available now for $79.99, with a special launch price of $49.99 if you use the coupon code MC2OWSPR at checkout. For the price, these earbuds come loaded with:

• Battery: 11.5 hours with Bass Boost (55 hours in case) or 13 hours without Bass Boost (60 hours in case)

• Driver: 11mm dynamic

• Microphones: 8 microphones, plus two bone conduction sensors

• Connection: Bluetooth 6.0

• Codec: SBC, AAC, LDAC

• Multipoint: Yes, up to two devices simultaneously

• IP rating: IP67

• Ear cushion sizes: M, L, XL

• Colors: Cosmic black, stellar white, deep sea blue

Baseus Bowie MC2: First impressions

For most people, the draw of open earbuds comes from what they can offer you while you're out and about in the world. The awareness open earbuds provide is generally better than any transparency mode you'll find on traditional earbuds, giving the user the flexibility to listen to music in the park or go for a jog around your city without feeling totally shut out from the world around you.

With that in mind, the Bowie MC2 earbuds make a strong initial case for themselves on a few fronts.

Impressive battery life

If I can listen to music while staying aware of the world around, chances are I'll be keeping my earbuds in and powered on for much of the day. Baseus accounts for this in its battery life, offering an impressive 13 hours per charge, or 11.5 with Bass Boost on. In my experience so far, Bass Boost is pretty essential for getting the best sound quality, even if you're a non-bass head. Otherwise, the music can sound too distant.

To put things into perspective, the only other pair of open earbuds I've encountered with comparable battery life are the Shokz OpenFit Pro, which get 12 hours per charge and 50 hours in the case. They're also $250.

Interchangeable ear covers for maximizing comfort

Most times with budget earbuds, I don't expect a ton of innovation, but with the Bowie MC2, Baseus introduces a feature I've never seen on open earbuds — interchangeable ear covers, which the brand calls CloudComfort 2.0 cushions.

The soft silicone covers are comfortable, but the sizing is somewhat limited. The earbuds come set up with the medium size, but you'll find large and extra-large covers in the box. I tried the larges because out of the box, the earbuds felt a tiny bit loose on me compared to other cuff-style earbuds I've tried. However, I found the larger cover to fit even less securely.

I'm anticipating that this might be due to the size of the band that wraps around the ear, which is also larger than I've encountered on other earbuds. I imagine this is in the service of providing a more comfortable fit, but I've never found smaller bands to be too snug before. In my testing, I'll be looking at how this looser fit works in an exercise context — though I hope it works well, as the IP67 rating could make these earbuds a great pair of workout earbuds.

Their budget earbud competition

At $79.99 (and $50 on sale), these earbuds offer potentially excellent value, especially in a landscape where many of the more popular open earbuds from major audio brands can set you back $200 or more.

The only real competition I see are the EarFun Clip earbuds, which cost $69.99 at full price and are frequently on sale for under $50. Similar to the Baseus earbuds, they have LDAC support, Bluetooth 6.0, and are just behind the Baseus buds in terms of battery life, offering 10 hours per charge and 40 hours in the case.

Baseus Bowie MC2: Where to buy

The Baseus Bowie MC2 earbuds are available now at Amazon for a special launch price of $49.99 when you use the code MC2OWSPR. The code is valid through July 31.

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