Cleer ARC 5 Review: Still the King of Open-Ear Workout Audio?

Todd Anderson · 2026-05-28T10:35:55-0500

A couple of years ago, Cleer’s ARC 2 earbuds landed on my desk and quickly became one of the easiest audio products I’ve ever recommended for active users. In fact, after testing, I was convinced they were the best open-ear option on the market. In retrospect, I don’t think that assessment was off the mark.

At the time, the open-ear category was filled with interesting designs, many of which were hamstrung by compromises. Bone conduction headphones had carved out a loyal niche with runners and cyclists because they let users hear what’s happening around them, but many of those products sound somewhat compromised and even tingle against your skin at higher volumes. Of course, traditional in-ear buds solve most sound-quality problems, but they can introduce a different set of frustrations. Perhaps most annoyingly, there’s the dreaded thud and thump of foot strikes reverberating through your head while running. No bueno if you’re looking for serenity.

The ARC 2 offered answers to those kinds of flaws.

Cleer had managed to build an open-ear design that stayed secure during workouts, maintained a remarkably consistent sound signature during movement, and delivered enough low-end presence and overall sonic balance to feel genuinely enjoyable. Better yet, it allowed me to remain aware of my surroundings. If you’ve ever gone for a run in a city while wearing fully isolating earbuds, you know exactly why that matters.

And here’s the thing: after reviewing the ARC 2, I never stopped using it.

That original review sample has remained in my rotation. Weekly use. Yard work. Dog walks. Home workouts. Running. General around-the-house listening. Better put, they became the pair I reached for whenever I wanted music without movement restrictions and without disconnecting myself from the world around me.

So when Cleer announced the ARC 5 and asked if I’d like to review a pair, how could I say no? Over the last couple of months, I’ve put them through the same kinds of real-world testing scenarios that made me appreciate the ARC 2. Running. Pull-ups. Push-ups. Gym sessions. Long walks on lake trails. Work sessions. Travel. General daily use. You name it, I’ve experienced it with Cleer’s latest design.

With weeks upon weeks of evaluation time under my belt, I can confidently say this: Cleer hasn’t reinvented the ARC formula, but they’ve certainly refined it in meaningful ways.

The ARC 5 feels like a mature evolution of a platform that was already extremely good.

The Evolution of Cleer’s Open-Ear Platform

The ARC 2 focused heavily on solving practical problems for active users: Stability, awareness, comfort, and consistency of sound during movement. Each was a factor it tackled with ease.

The ARC 5 still prioritizes those same performance pillars, but Cleer has layered in a much more ambitious feature set. THX Certification and THX Spatial Audio are now part of the mix, along with Dolby Atmos optimization, head tracking, Snapdragon Sound with aptX Lossless, and a dramatically upgraded smart case featuring an AMOLED touchscreen. Cleer has also expanded the total battery life to 60 hours while refining the earbuds' ergonomics.

On paper, the ARC 5 boasts all sorts of modern amenities, but I don’t think it succeeds because of those headline features. Instead, it stands tall because Cleer never lost sight of the line’s original formula and intent. That, my music-loving friends, remains the magic.

Physical Design and Comfort

The ARC 5 arrives in quality packaging with a presentation that immediately feels more premium than that of previous generations. Along with the earbuds, you get a USB-C charging cable, a printed quick-start guide, and Cleer’s redesigned smart case, which, for me, ends up being one of the standout aspects of the “new” ownership experience.

Compared to what Cleer gave us with the ARC 2, the ARC 5’s case carries a much more elevated feel. It’s smaller in every meaningful dimension, particularly in width and depth, making it easier to slide into a pocket or small bag. Cleer has also added a colorful external AMOLED touchscreen.

Just to pull back the curtain a bit: My first impression of the screen was “gimmick.” And boy, I was WRONG!

The touchscreen is responsive and genuinely useful. It gives you access to the battery status for each earbud, as well as the case itself. No more interpreting vague blinking LEDs or fumbling with your phone to check remaining battery life. You simply tap the screen and the information is immediately available.

The case also allows direct music control, displaying song titles and artist information, and provides access to playback controls, volume adjustment, EQ presets, spatial audio toggles, and head-tracking controls. Additional settings include wallpaper customization, language selection, brightness adjustment, firmware information, a hearing protection mode with an 85dB cap, and even a Find My Earbuds feature.

One surprisingly useful touch is the ability to display the time while the case sits on a nightstand or desk. It’s a small convenience, but one I appreciated while traveling. There’s also a mirror built into the inside lid, handy for checking your appearance or, in a pinch, flagging down rescue aircraft from a deserted island.

The earbuds themselves have undergone meaningful refinement, too. The ARC 5 is lighter, smaller, and noticeably less intrusive than the ARC 2. Cleer significantly reduced the size of the teardrop-shaped rear housing that sits behind the ear, and the entire design feels more streamlined.

The difference in comfort is immediately noticeable, and that’s saying something because the ARC 2 was already extremely comfortable. The ARC 5 simply disappears on your ears.

During workouts, I rarely found myself aware of them at all. Whether I was doing pull-ups, hitting the bench, jogging, or swinging kettlebells, they stayed firmly planted without shifting around or requiring adjustment.

Traditional earbuds can become frustrating during physical activity because movement changes how they seal inside your ear canal. Sound quality changes. Bass response shifts. Fit becomes inconsistent.

The ARC 5 avoids all of that.

And yes, I mentioned this earlier, but it deserves repeating: you won’t experience those awful foot-strike thuds reverberating through your skull while running down the street. For active users, that remains one of the biggest advantages of this entire design philosophy.

One small complaint involving the case: the right earbud docks on the left side and the left docks on the right. I understand why Cleer designed it this way to maximize space efficiency, but it definitely caused a few moments of confusion early on. So keep that in mind when you go to charge your buds for the first time.

Open-Ear Awareness Matters

One reason I continue to reach for Cleer ARC products years after first reviewing them is simple: they allow you to stay connected to the world around you.

That’s incredibly valuable. Whether you’re running in a city, walking the neighborhood, working out in a home gym, or simply trying to remain aware of your surroundings while listening casually at home, there’s something refreshing about not sealing yourself off from reality. The ARC 5 carries that torch forward beautifully.

Traffic noise, conversations, ambient sounds, and general environmental cues remain naturally audible while the earbuds continue delivering surprisingly capable audio performance. And unlike transparency modes found on traditional ANC earbuds, this isn’t artificial awareness recreated through microphones and digital processing. Everything you hear remains rooted in natural environmental sound.

Now, keep in mind, that openness naturally comes with trade-offs.

If you’re exercising alongside a busy road with fast-moving traffic, loud trucks, or constant engine noise, environmental sounds can begin to overpower your music or podcasts. That’s simply the nature of an open-ear design. To help combat this, Cleer includes adaptive volume control that adjusts output levels based on surrounding noise conditions. It works reasonably well in practice, though its effectiveness is understandably limited once environmental noise becomes extreme.

And yes, it probably goes without saying that the ARC 5 isn’t a great option for airplanes or noisy public environments (hello, hotel gyms!). In those situations, I’m still reaching for over-ear headphones or in-ear models with active noise cancellation.

But for workouts, outdoor movement, travel flexibility, and general day-to-day use?

The ARC 5 absolutely shines.

Sound Quality
No, the ARC 5 won’t replace a proper pair of closed-back headphones or premium in-ear earbuds for pure sound quality. A small open-ear driver simply can’t reproduce the same level of low-end authority, isolation, or immersive intimacy as a sealed system.

But here’s the important thing: the ARC 5 sounds dramatically better than many people will expect.

The low end is genuinely impressive given the design constraints. You’ll find tight bass with real presence and enough authority to give music convincing weight while still maintaining clarity and balance.

Listening to tracks like “All Very Hush Hush” by Mosca, material from Meat Beat Manifesto and Orbital, RAC’s EGO and Strangers albums, along with less aggressive artists like Taylor Swift and Norah Jones, the ARC 5 consistently delivered a confident and enjoyable tonal balance.

Compared to the ARC 2, I found the ARC 5 to present more refined mids and slightly better detail retrieval. Vocals have excellent body and texture. Treble remains clean and articulate without becoming sharp or fatiguing.

It’s simply a competent sound signature, and context matters.

The trade-off you’re making here buys you environmental awareness, comfort, stability, movement consistency, and freedom from the annoyances commonly associated with traditional in-ear designs. Viewed through that lens, the ARC 5’s sonic performance becomes genuinely impressive.

EQ and Customization
The Cleer+ app gives users access to surprisingly robust sound controls, including an eight-band graphic equalizer with control points at 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1kHz, 2kHz, 4kHz, 8kHz, and 16kHz.

As someone who generally prefers a beefier house curve with elevated low-end presence, I appreciated having enough flexibility to shape the sound toward my preferences. I ended up spending most of my time using a custom EQ curve, as shown in the image above.

For users less inclined to tinker, Cleer offers several built-in presets: Sport, Smart Sport, Flat, Rock, Jazz, Classical, and Pop. They’re easy to access either through the app or directly from the touchscreen case. So experiment away with whatever catches your fancy.

THX Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos

This is probably the area where my opinion might diverge most from other reviews you’ll find for this product.

The ARC 5 carries THX Certification, THX Spatial Audio support, Dolby Atmos optimization, and head tracking, all of which are incredibly enticing on paper. And to be fair, there are absolutely moments where the spatial presentation can sound expansive and legitimately interesting, particularly with Atmos music or movie content.

But are any of these features the primary reason I’d recommend the ARC 5? Nope.

For me, the real appeal remains what I’ve already covered: comfort, awareness, flexibility, and movement performance. If I’m specifically chasing immersive music or movie listening, I still prefer traditional over-ear headphones or premium in-ear designs. When it comes to the ARC 5, I simply don’t view immersion as a core part of the product’s identity.

In fact, I occasionally experienced more frustration with the spatial technology than enjoyment.

If spatial audio is engaged during dialog-heavy content like podcasts, voices can begin sounding somewhat unnatural and echoey, losing warmth and intimacy in the process.

Not a huge problem, right? Just turn it off. Well, in theory, yes, but during testing, I occasionally experienced spatial audio reactivating after storing the earbuds in the case. Not catastrophic, but definitely annoying when you’re geared up and ready to head out.

As for THX Certification itself, I view it more as a nice vote of confidence than a transformative ownership feature. It’s reassuring to know THX evaluated the earbuds and verified performance standards, but it’s not something that radically changes the real-world experience.

Intelligent Voice Commands and Controls
Touch controls on the ARC 5 work extremely well. Taps on either earbud activate playback controls like track skipping, volume adjustment, and call handling. But the ARC 5 also reserves a nifty secret weapon: intelligent voice commands. Commands like “Volume Up,” “Pause Music,” “Next Song,” and “Previous Song” work without needing to say “Hey Siri” or activate a digital assistant. In fact, your phone doesn’t need to be within earshot.

During workouts and runs, this proved genuinely useful, though I’ll admit my success rate wasn’t perfect. I’d estimate around 80% reliability overall. But it worked consistently enough to feel helpful instead of frustrating.

The ARC 5 also includes motion controls using built-in sensors. Head nods and directional movements can trigger various playback and call functions, but I found them inconsistent and somewhat awkward in practice.

Perhaps I simply never mastered the required motions, but I definitely spent enough time experimenting with them to feel slightly dizzy from jerking my head around.

That’s one feature I ultimately left disabled.

Call Quality
Call quality represents one area where Cleer clearly put in the work. During testing, the ARC 5 noticeably outperformed the older ARC 2 in suppressing environmental and ambient noise while maintaining solid voice clarity.

To evaluate performance, I intentionally created difficult call scenarios involving running water, clanking pots and pans together, and introducing general kitchen noise while speaking. Those sounds remained audible to the listener, but, importantly, they stayed in the background rather than dominating the conversation.

I also compared memo recordings between the ARC 5 and ARC 2.

Ambient suppression improvements were obvious, though the ARC 5 sacrifices a slight amount of the more natural vocal edge delivered by the ARC 2. Not ideal, because you want your voice to sound as crystal clear as possible, but I think the trade-off is worthwhile. No one wants to shred a caller’s ears with harsh background sounds bleeding into a conversation.

Battery Life
Battery life is simply excellent. The ARC 5 is rated for up to 12 hours of playback per charge with up to 60 total hours available through the charging case, and my real-world experience aligned fairly closely with those numbers.

Quick charging is onboard as well, with short charging sessions delivering meaningful playback time.

Final Thoughts

The ARC 5 doesn’t radically reinvent Cleer’s open-ear formula, but it absolutely refines it.

The earbuds are smaller, lighter, more comfortable, more polished, and more feature-rich than anything Cleer has delivered previously. Add in the outstanding smart case, excellent battery life, capable sound quality, solid call performance, and genuinely useful real-world flexibility, and you end up with a compelling package for active users.

At roughly $220 MSRP, I still believe Cleer makes the best open-ear earbuds currently available for workout enthusiasts and movement-oriented lifestyles. If you’re in the market for active earbuds and value sound quality, awareness, comfort, and stability, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

You can purchase the Cleer ARC 5 Open Ear Earbuds on Amazon right now for $189. If you'd like to support the AV NIRVANA community and the work we do covering the industry, use the following links at no additional cost to you:

Cleer ARC 5 in Black: https://amzn.to/4vej3Zk
Cleer ARC 5 in White: https://amzn.to/4nPRDqc

Cleer ARC 5 Open Ear Earbuds Specifications:

Product Type: Open-Ear True Wireless Earbuds
Driver Size: 16.2mm Dynamic Driver
Frequency Response (Bluetooth): 65Hz to 40kHz
Bluetooth Version: Bluetooth 5.4
Supported Audio Formats: aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, LC3, SBC, AAC, LDAC
Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound S5 Platform
Spatial Audio Support: THX Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos Optimization
Hi-Res Audio Support: Yes
Head Tracking: Yes
Microphones: 2-Mic Qualcomm cVc (Clear Voice Capture)
Multipoint Connectivity: Yes
Water Resistance: IPX7 Water and Sweat Resistance
Controls: Touch Controls, 6-Axis Motion Sensor with Head Gesture Controls
Adaptive Volume Control: Yes
Power Switch: Yes
Companion App: Cleer+ App
Battery Life: Up to 12 hours, up to 60 hours total with charging case
Quick Charge: 10-minute charge provides up to 4 hours playback
Charging Method: USB-C
Charging Case: USB-C Smart Touch Screen Charging Case with AMOLED Display
Weight: 11.5g per earbud, 117g combined with charging case
Available Colors: Black, White
What’s Included: ARC 5 earbuds, USB-C smart touch screen charging case, quick start guide, user manual, warranty card, USB-C to USB-A charging cable
Warranty: One-Year Warranty

Cleer ARC 5 Review: Still the King of Open-Ear Workout Audio?

Cleer ARC 5 Open Ear Earbuds​

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Cleer ARC 5 Open Ear Earbuds Specifications:​

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Cleer ARC 5 Open Ear Earbuds

Cleer ARC 5 Open Ear Earbuds Specifications: