Cleer Audio appears to have pulled out all the stops for its latest open-ear earbuds, the Cleer Arc 3. In addition to the features that were introduced on the Cleer Arc II Sport, like a charging case with its own battery, antibacterial UV lighting, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Sound, the Arc 3 add better water protection, voice control, and spatial audio with Dolby-powered head tracking. And the charging case now sports its own color touchscreen. The Cleer Arc 3 are available in black and pink color choices for $220 on amazon.com starting October 24. Cleer says additional colors are coming soon.
Design-wise, the Cleer Arc 3 use the same articulated, spring-loaded earhook as previous generations, and I’ve found that it offers a comfortable, yet secure fit. Cleer says the earbuds are now rated IPX7, making them effectively waterproof, even if fully submerged in water.
Battery life has been upped to a claimed 10 hours per charge, with the charging case providing an additional 40 hours. The case itself has undergone quite the transformation. You still get the UV-C light sterilization when the earbuds aren’t in use, but now the interior of the lid includes a mirror, while the exterior features a color touchscreen. The case can now be charged wirelessly, as well as via its USB-C connection.
The Cleer Arc II Sport introduced Snapdragon Sound, including the hi-res aptX Adaptive and CD-quality aptX Lossless Bluetooth codecs, but the Arc 3 take this formula further. You now get the option of using Sony’s LDAC hi-res codec instead, which is compatible with far more Android phones than Snapdragon Sound. Cleer says it has also improved bass response, however, its published frequency range for the Arc 3 seems to contradict this claim. According to its product page, the Arc 3 can reproduce 50Hz to 40kHz. The Arc II Sport go lower: 20Hz to 20kHz.
We’re beginning to see hands-free voice commands show up on new wireless earbuds. The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds offer an extensive list of available commands, as do Sony’s LinkBuds Fit. The Cleer Arc 3 also support voice commands, though they appear to be limited to just a few functions: previous/next song, play/pause, volume up/down, and pickup/reject call.
As with the Arc II Sport, six-axis sensors let you use head gestures to manage phone calls hands-free, and Bluetooth Multipoint lets you keep simultaneous connections to two devices.