According to the results of simulation experiments conducted by Shokz Lab for the intersection scene, AI noise cancellation can provide a maximum of 50dB signal-to-noise ratio improvement, which is equivalent to a 99.7% reduction of ambient noise, when the sound pressure level at the artificial head is 65-72dB(A). The over-ear design is comfortable, the rubber is soft even when wearing sunglasses at the same time (which I was initially concerned about).

I wore the Shokz OpenFit earbuds every day for two weeks and had the opportunity to test them in various environments. The introduction of an app and an equaliser is a great addition. I made my own profile immediately, which suited my taste and music preferences. I found it very easy to navigate and use. The Shokz OpenFit empowers you to enjoy your music and podcasts without compromising your safety, be it hearing a car approaching from behind or engaging in a conversation with a friend. Take a look at the breakdown of situations where the Shokz OpenFit comes in handy: Shokz is using what it calls DirectPitch technology to do this, which is similar to air conduction. It uses sound waves to optimize the distance and angle between the earbud and your ear. This leads to more sound pressure directed right at your ear and less off into other directions.

You can get accurate battery readings for both the earbuds and the charging case in the Shokz app. Here, you’ll also find a customisable five-band graphic equaliser, including Standard, Vocal, Bass Boost and Treble Boost presets, as well as customisation options for the touch controls. According to Shokz, the OpenFit earphones should run for approximately 7 hours when listening at 50% volume, which seems entirely accurate. If you aren’t in noisy areas requiring you to raise the volume level too much, you should be able to get through an average workday without recharging your earphones. Pairing was super easy, and there’s no buttons to press to activate the headphones, you just open the case, put them on, and hit the play button. Battery life appears to be good – I ran for 3 hours at the weekend with no issues, the case re-charges them between use.

Stay engaged on calls or video conferences while being aware of your surroundings. You can hear your partner, kids, or pets when they need you, and achieve work-life balance and effective communication from home. The OpenFit allows you to attend calls all day long, enjoy your favorite tunes or podcasts for hours on end, and almost forget you're even wearing earphones. It's like having the best of both worlds. He has been writing about hunting, fishing, trail running, camping, skiing, and more for 15+ years. Yes, history repeats itself here in our review: recordings with natural instruments, especially stringed instruments, sounded downright magical over the open-ears, with fabulous fine dynamics and a very generous, authentic sense of space. As for the voice reproduction, sometimes a tiny shift decides a slightly throaty discoloration, which mainly affects female voices, but also some male vocalists.

But their use cases remain rather niche and traditional in-ear options are a far better choice for general purpose listening. For the same money, you could buy the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2, which provide effective sound isolation to help deliver a more satisfying audio experience and benefit from useful features including active noise cancellation and wear detection. Shokz is one of the most reliably interesting companies I cover, which is saying a lot. In its first iteration, it made bone conduction headphones, which conducted soundwaves through your skull, that were so profoundly uncomfortable, we said we’d rather not wear headphones at all. Then 2022’s OpenRun Pro ( 8/10, WIRED Recommends) somehow became one of my favorite pairs of workout headphones. They were light, secure, and surprisingly great-sounding, and allowed me to keep an ear out for traffic or children while still listening to podcasts while biking or working in the garden. There's no wireless charging for this case, sadly, which is a bit surprising at this price, but USB-C means charging it up is still very easy. JBL took a different approach with the aforementioned Soundgear Sense open-ears. Their open-ears are significantly larger, also cover the ear more and you can’t forget them quite as easily when wearing them. Thus, the Americans sacrifice both the striking airiness in sound and feel, but voices and especially basses sound fuller and remain clean even at higher listening levels. Conclusion and alternatives to the Shokz OpenFit Shokz OpenFit earphones are great for general, everyday use. They aren’t ideal for audiophiles, and their water resistance rating is very low. Still, as Shokz’s first venture into air-conduction earphones, they offer decent sound quality, incredible comfort, and good environmental awareness.

The earphones look like they will be dangling a bit, but that is not the case. The over-ear hooks are sturdy enough that you can even go for a very energetic run without fear that they will come loose or fall off. They don’t fit as snugly as bone conduction headphones but won’t fall out easily. The wind can be a bit disruptive during a high-speed cycling session, though. One note of caution here is that cranking the volume up significantly does result in faster battery drainage, and that's a bit of a bummer considering these earbuds really benefit from higher volumes. This means you get total access to the world around you, and on that front the OpenFit excels - these are earbuds that don't diminish your awareness much at all, and I felt safe using them out and about. The buds have what Shokz is calling a dolphin arc ear hook design. This means there’s the main bulk of the bud that hangs next to your ear canal, which is held in place by a hook that slides behind your ear.OpenFit comes with an IP54 rating, which is much lower than most other Shokz products. It means that even a bit too much sweat can damage the earphones, so it’s best not to use them for any exercise that’s too strenuous. Jogging should be safe for the most part, but when you notice that you’re starting to sweat too much, it’s best to take the earphones off. Sound Quality They sit securely outside the ear canal, with the soft plastic band wrapping over and behind the ear lobe. This makes them very secure as well. I wore them running, and they don’t budge. They are IP54 water-resistant, so sweat or light rain should be no problem. However, similarities between the dissimilar twins with different fathers can certainly be discovered. Neither of them succeeds in overcoming the localization of solo voices or instruments in the center of the sound panorama, which is the biggest disadvantage of headphones in principle. This has a simple, but unfortunately hardly solvable physical reason. Evolution is to blame The Shokz OpenFit come with a handy charging case that has a matte finish and USB-C charging. The case is almost double the size of most other cases for true wireless earbuds, weighing 75g with the buds inside.

You get a pretty standard charging case with the earbuds and it's easy to magnetically secure them inside, although the unique shape of the OpenFit does make for a bigger case than more normal earbuds boast. Comfort is paramount when it comes to headphones, especially for extended use. The Shokz OpenFit prioritizes comfort in three ways: IP54耐塵耐水はイヤホンにのみ適用され、充電ケースは適用されません。 OpenFitは、制御された実験室の条件のもとにテストされ、IEC標準60529のもとでIP54等級と規定されています。なお、耐水性能は永続的ではなく、通常の経年使用の結果として耐性が低下する可能性があります。 長時間、水に浸すなどはしないでください。水に濡れて故障したOpenFitは保証の範囲ではありません。In combination with the already mentioned pressure-free wearing comfort, this results in a total work of art that solves not all, but many essential problems of headphones. With the Shokz OpenFit, you always stay a bit connected to your environment and enjoy a sound that is remotely reminiscent of speakers in a room. Thus, the Bluetooth open-ear makes head-fi culture quite a bit more attractive for anyone with chronic headphone phobia.