TechRadar Verdict
The Cleer Arc 5 has great battery life, a fantastic suite of features, and scales surprisingly well. However, for the price you pay, you would hope for better audio quality and volume.
Benefits
- +
Surprisingly reliable fit
- +
Useful Case Features
- +
Long-lasting battery
Disadvantages
- –
Some of the most expensive open-back headphones
- –
Sound quality does not match the cost
- –
Maximum volume is too low
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Cleer Arc 5: two minute review
Almost all of the best open-back headphones I’ve tested have been designed with athletic users in mind. They allow you to hear your surroundings at the gym, stay aware when running in a busy area, and stay alert when cycling on a road. I don’t think Cleer missed that memo – the brand is intentionally going for something completely different.
The Cleer Arc 5 are open-back headphones designed not for sports, but for the rest of us. I was skeptical when I first saw them, but they surprised me, both good and bad.
The presence of Dolby Atmos and THX Spatial Audio means they’re suitable for watching a TV show or movie on the go, and their support for a range of better Bluetooth codecs, including LDAC and aptX Adaptive, shows that Cleer is aiming for audiophile-quality headphones here. These are great features for a form factor that naturally competes with a lot of extraneous background noise.
Cleer’s app also hides plenty of other features, including a posture test that uses the headphones’ position tools and the ability to set sedentary reminders if you’re stuck in one place too often.
The design department makes it clear that these are not about sportsmen. Although surprisingly sturdy during a race, the heads are much bulkier than those of the average slim runner. And the presence of a screen on the case, filled with controls and settings, clearly indicates that this is not intended for active users. When I go to the gym or run, the case is always left at home.
Unfortunately, despite the impressive specs and clear focus on listening quality, the Achilles heel of these headphones is sound quality. There’s a real lack of expansion in the soundstage, and the treble and bass seem poorly defined. The open-ear form factor doesn’t help here, especially with the maximum volume not being loud enough, but many similar headphones I’ve tested sound much better.
It’s a shame that it doesn’t look fantastic, and it’s also surprising when you see the price. For some users, I consider the feature set to outweigh the sound quality. The fantastic battery life, health features, and spatial audio might outweigh subpar sound. But that raises the question of who these devices are for, if not audiophiles. Or fitness enthusiasts.
Cleer Arc 5 review: Price and release date
- Released in March 2026
- Debuted at $219 (around £170 / AU$340)
- Some of the most expensive in their category
The Cleer Arc 5 were announced on March 16, 2026, just four months after their predecessors. It was a quick turnaround!
You can buy the Arc 5 for $219.99 (around £170, AU$340 – no word on a release outside the US, like the Arc 4). So these are some of the most expensive open-back headphones on the market.
In my opinion, only the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and Shokz OpenFit Pro cost more, but they are both explicitly designed for sports, while the Cleer is aimed at an audiophile market.
Cleer Arc 5 review: Specifications
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|
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
- 12 hour battery life, 60 with case
- 8-band EQ and presets
- Lots of features, including a posture test
If there’s one area where the Cleer Arc 5 stands out, it’s in the feature set – it seems like that’s what the headphones were designed for.
It starts with the basics: Battery life is great for open-back headphones. You get 12 hours of listening time per charge, including 60 hours once you factor in the charging case itself. Beyond a few endurance-focused headphones, these numbers are at the top of their class.
Start the Cleer+ app on your phone and you get an assortment of tools, albeit in a fairly confusing layout. You can use the app to toggle spatial audio, switch between EQ modes and create custom ones, change the action of touch and gesture controls, change the case wallpaper, change the tools available through the case, and much more.
The EQ is 8 bands, giving you some control over your sound, although these days I’d say 10 bands were more common. I preferred using this rather than the presets, which had no noticeable impact on the sound of a song.
The “and more” features I alluded to earlier are quite rare and therefore require a whole extra paragraph. These are health concerns: You can set sedentary reminders to encourage you to move, add volume limits to protect your hearing, and perform a posture test that uses the earbuds’ gesture controls to assess whether you’re sitting up straight.
For office workers, the latter is a genuinely useful feature, and I used it to make sure my seat and chair were level when working at my desk. However, for it to work properly, your phone must also be at eye level. I ruined it by leaving my laptop on my desk, and when I leaned over to look at it, the test was ruined.
One feature you don’t get in the Arc 5 is any sort of noise cancellation. This is certainly very rare in the open-ear space, but not unheard of (if you’ll pardon the pun).
- Features rating: 4.5/5
Cleer Arc 5 review: Design
- The giant case has a touchscreen
- The earbuds are on the large side, but fit securely
- Only IPX7 protected
Let’s start with the big new feature of the Cleer Arc 5: its charging case. Literally big: it weighs 97g alone and measures 8.3 x 6 x 2cm, making it one of the largest headphone cases I’ve seen in years.
This size not only serves to accommodate fairly large headphones, but it does so with a few added 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 learned to switch.
But no, the main selling point here is a screen built into the charging case. You can use it to navigate a few menus: battery, music controls, spatial audio settings, general settings, equalizer, and remote camera shutter. The interface resembles that of a smart watch: very basic.
For changing quick settings like EQ or skipping songs, the case was very convenient: I didn’t have to take my phone out of my pocket and get distracted by 120 notifications from that group chat I’d forgotten to turn off. But you can’t use the case to edit playlists, create an EQ, or dig deeper into settings, so it won’t completely replace your phone.
The earbuds also feature touch controls, which are fairly easy to trigger by tapping anywhere on their body, but never accidentally detected an unintentional touch.
I guess that brings us to headphones. They’re pretty huge and heavy too, weighing around 24g each. I haven’t seen an open earpiece this big and expected them to fit very poorly; luckily, I was totally wrong. I’ve done numerous runs with the Arc 5, and not once have they threatened to become dislodged or wobble more than the average open ear does.
I would attribute this to clever balancing of the bud and counterweight. They were still comfortable to wear, although their weight didn’t make them easy to forget about.
The Cleer Arc 5 is available in black or white, and I tested the latter. They have an IPX7 rating, making them sweat-resistant but not suitable for swimming. I would also avoid taking them out in heavier rain, just to be safe.
- Design rating: 4/5
Cleer Arc 5 review: Sound quality
- Large 16.2mm driver
- Dull and indistinct sound
- Maximum volume is too low for open format
I expected the sound of the Cleer Arc 5 to be its standout feature. Between its 16.2mm drivers, support for LDAC, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless, and its hefty price tag, it looks like these might be some of the best open earbuds yet.
I’m quite surprised to report that I was wrong and didn’t really enjoy listening to music on the Arc. The quality isn’t great, but it doesn’t live up to the expectations you’d have from the aforementioned specs.
Music sounds compressed, without differentiation between high end and low end in a way that gives a sense of soundstage or distinction. The snares lack bite, the distorted walls of the guitar turn into crusty puddles, the bass falters on many other low or mid instruments. The headphones might sound better if they were in-ear, but hovering a few mm above your ears doesn’t fly.
The low end is poorly defined but too present in the mix: The human race by BYRNE begins with a harmony that sounds more like a faulty speaker than a bass singer. This line is meant to be repeated in the chorus with bass guitar, and it completely replaces the harmony. In the 311 Good feelingthe bass trips over every other instrument, replacing the usually energetic and fun chorus with the sonic equivalent of a stubbed toe.
Treble is also affected, as vocals and upper lines lose their importance and energy. Take, for example, Morningsider Think about it: A string motif is added to the intro mix, and completely lost in the pre-chorus.
I admit that if you listen to acoustic or folk music, you may not notice this problem as much. In songs like those of Caamp 26the reduced instrumentation meant I could still hear virtually everything.
Well, I could I heard it until I went out. The Arc 5 falls into a common trap with open-back headphones: Their maximum volume isn’t high enough to compete in a noisy environment. When I ran near a main road, I could barely hear my songs.
- Sound quality: 3/5
Cleer Arc 5 Test: Value
- Features can It kind of justifies the price…
- …but not the audio quality
The Cleer has many great features. I really like what the display does and the fit is solid. Additionally, the movie listening features offer tools that many other headphones don’t offer.
However, that’s a very steep price for any earphone, let alone open-style ones – and especially not for ones that, frankly, don’t sound very good.
There’s no way these buds will give you good value for your money; You can get better audio quality for a lot less, especially if you’re happy to buy an unopened style e buds.
- Value: 3/5
Should I buy the Cleer Arc 5?
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|
Attributes |
Remarks |
Rating |
|---|---|---|
|
Features |
There are many features available here, and most of them work perfectly. |
4.5/5 |
|
Design |
They’re bulky, as it is, but it all manages to work well together. |
4/5 |
|
Sound quality |
These don’t have the quality, soundstage, or dynamism you’d expect for the price. |
3/5 |
|
Value |
Elsewhere, you can easily get more bang for your buck. |
3/5 |
Buy them if…
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| Header Cell – Column 0 |
Clear Arc 5 |
Huawei FreeArc |
Shokz OpenDots |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Drivers |
16.2mm |
17mm x 12mm |
2×11.8mm |
|
Active noise cancellation |
No |
No |
No |
|
Battery life (ANC on) |
12 hours (headphones), 60 hours (total) |
7 hours (headphones), 23 hours (total) |
10 hours (headphones), 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 |
- Tested for a month
- Tested in a range of indoor and outdoor environments
- Used for music, games, calls, movies and TV
I used the Cleer Arc 5 for about a month before writing this review. At that time, they were associated with a succession of Android smartphones, mainly the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Moto Edge 70 Fusion.
I listened to the Arc 5 during runs, walks around my neighborhood, office sessions, long commutes on public transportation, and at home. I primarily streamed music through Spotify Lossless and Apple Music, but I also watched movies on various streaming services, played games, and tested a few other music streamers.
I’ve been reviewing gadgets for TechRadar for over seven years now, including testing audio kit for almost as long. During this time I have handled other Cleer gadgets as well as many, many other open-back headphones.
- First revision in May 2026
- Read TechRadar Reviews Guarantee
Tom Bedford is an independent technology, entertainment and gaming contributor. Beyond TechRadar, he has signed on to sites such as GamesRadar, Digital Trends, Android Police, TechAdvisor, WhattoWatch and BGR. From 2019 to 2022, he was part of the TechRadar team as an editor and then deputy editor of the mobile team.