SHOKZ OpenFit for 2023 Open-Ear True Wireless Bluetooth Headphones with Microphone, Earbuds with Earhooks, Sweat Resistant, Fast Charging, 28HRS Playtime (Black)

I don't often write product reviews, but felt that my experience with the Oladance OWS Pro and Shokz OpenFit might be helpful to others. I pre-ordered the OWS Pro on the day of release and my initial impression was great. They have excellent sound quality and are a truly beautiful design. However, after a week of usage I ended up massively disappointed, and regrettably had to return them - I purchased the Shokz OpenFit instead and am much happier. My use case is for podcasts, audiobooks and quiet music in a home office environment. Unfortunately My OWS Pro had an annoying rapid 'ticking' sound that was constantly there quietly in the background when any audio was active. I could best describe it as the sound an old film projector makes. It wasn't audible in a noisy environment or with loud 'busy' music, but in a quiet home office with podcasts, phone calls, notification sounds, quiet music or music with silent portions, and - ironically enough - their 'Focus Mode', it was constantly apparent. I'd call it a constant hissing/ticking/clicking background sound when any audio stream is active. For example a notification sound would be 'hiss-ticktick-hiss-ticktick<notificaton sound>hiss-ticktick-hiss-ticktick' as the audio circuitry activated and deactivated. I tried it with three different devices. I contacted Oladance support and they told me, and I quote: "The low-level hissing/ticking/clicking sound audible in the background you mention may be white noise, and we'd like to explain to you that white noise is a common problem with all speakers and headphones; it is generated when electronic devices operate. It is a normal phenomenon, not the quality problem of the headset itself, so there is no need to worry". Laughably, some reviewers actually excuse this white noise by describing it as a 'noise cancelling' feature. Absolute nonsense. So after a little research I purchased a pair of Shokz OpenFit instead, as several serious YouTube reviewers noted them for their very low 'residual noise' (the OWS and the Cleer Arc II were rated the worst). The OpenFit has absolutely NO hissing or background static - just a clean pure audio stream - a notification sound is just a notification sound, nothing else is audible. Shokz deserve to be applauded for this. Additionally the OpenFit's comfort and lightweight design is second to none (and I wear glasses). The battery life of the Oladance also gave me problems (left earbud sometimes only charging to 70% and running out much faster than the right). The Shokz by comparison, despite only being rated for 7 hours, have got me through the day (and the battery case is smaller anyway so can more easily be carried with you). I have no doubt the OWS Pro are a great set of headphones for many use-cases, I was initially wowed by them, but for me they proved a major disappointment - despite their excellent audio quality. In addition, the controls proved fiddly and unreliable. I realise they've gone the push-button route for those using them when exercising, but in comparison I've found the OpenFit touch-style controls more reliable and easier to use. I hope my experience proves helpful for you in making a purchasing decision for your use case. I look forward to the next evolution in this product-space as it is rapidly expanding, but I'll be putting Shokz top of my list when buying my next pair - based on this experience I feel they can be better trusted to produce a quality product. UPDATE: Just spent an afternoon sitting in the sun listening to some favourite old tracks on these and have upped my rating from four stars to five. Very happy with the purchase. UPDATE 2 (10/02/24): I just tried a pair of Soundcore Aerofit Pro as they had some attractive features the Shokz do not (longer battery life, LDAC support, detachable headband, on/off switch). Although these features were all desirable, I ultimately returned the Aerofit Pro and kept the Shokz OpenFit. The reason was simple: sound quality. The Shokz have a fuller, more expansive soundstage, and much better bass. Although the AeroFit Pro do indeed have a very clear sound with the LDAC codec, it is more focussed on mids and highs and lacks the bass punch of the OpenFit. In a side-by-side comparison I realised that I *enjoyed* listening on the Shokz more than on the Soundcore. The EQ in the Soundcore app also seemed to have very little effect compared to the changes you can make in the Shokz app. If I can put it this way: the AeroFit sounded like a pair of headphones, while on the Shokz my music sounded like how I would expect it to over a pair of speakers. Hoping Shokz bring improvements in the abovementioned features in their next iteration, but despite their lacking in some areas at the moment, they still win out over everything else for me because of the sound.

Just amazingly good. I started with shokz since 2019 with aftershoxz xtrainerz for swimming and have aeropex. This company is doing really good. This pair of earphones are feather on ears very lightweight and very comfortable. sound quality is really but really decent.bases are very good. I love the awareness concepts when you wear them .phone quality just brilliant.stability on ears perfect. I have already parked my Bose buds,very upser from those. Can only recommend these shokx if you are not a lover of in ear buds, for me too discomfort. with these comfort,sound quality is absolutely guaranteed.nice work shokz team.hopefully it helps. Battery usually good with shokx 7 8 hours easy. I m studying a way to Keep them together like the Bose sound sports so can hold them on the neck. Anyway I used them on my helmet as well for a test and work perfectly,still awar of Street noise. Honestly,I was about to buy these and Bose earbuds. I went first with Bose trusting the name but aware of not so good reviews. They were right. I tested shokz very briefly in Barcelona airport, after a sec I wear them, couldn't forget. Few days with Bose, I decided to buy shokz as well. Arrived today and I am sooo glad I did buy them. Again sound quality on Calls : incredibly good.

I really liked the idea of an open ear headphones as I often needed to be open to the world when playing music but also more importantly when I need to make calls, I want to be able to hear myself properly. I have a lot of issues with headphones and found that over ear or even any with a bar for the top or back of my head just give me a headache so for years I've had in-ear headphones. For years I've had Bose ANC headphones which I love (and also don't fall out) however when using for audio I changed the earpieces when doing voice call and only use the proper earpieces when on flights or traveling. Unfortunately, you can't get them anymore, so I decided to do a different direction and try open earbuds. I first tried Bose again but after 3 days I returned as they were not right for me and had loads of issues with them. (Read the Bose ultra open earbuds review if you want to know more) So after returning the Bose I tried SHOKZ. They were cheaper so I was expecting to not be quite as good a Bose however in the end I would say they were a much better choice. Sound quality is good, they could be better but for an open ear they work well. They do bleed a little if you have them up too high (especially if you have increased the base) but most of the time they are good. I have not noticed any audio breakage in music and the range is quite good meaning I don't need to have my phone nearby. The multipoint Bluetooth is also perfect for me as I want to be able to use them to pay audio on my phone but also quickly switch to my laptop for voice/video calls. This I would say is my favourite part of them. Others mentioned that the controls are intermittent but I've yet to notice that when I was testing. There is a beep returned to confirm selection that was sometimes delayed but the actual action itself was fast for me and works every time. I would say the options/controls are very basic. You are limited on what you can pick for each action and the actions are limited to just 4 where other companies offer a much wider set and flexibility. i.e. Double tap and long tap are the only two options where others have single tap, double tap, triple tap, long tap and even "quick tap then long tap". Personally, I would like to enable start/top on the right ear and next track on the left ear but they don't allow that as an option and instead it's the other way around. Unfortunately, they don't provide auto volume adjustment based on the background noise. Personally, I would prefer ANC instead (yes, I know this is open ear but even still it would work) to lower some background nosie while on a voice call instead of increasing volume but either way this is also a bit of a gap to other providers. I hope they fix this in a futer software update. Battery live is better than I expected. Bose claimed longer but in reality they drained much faster than these. For simular length voice calls I had 60% battery left where Bose only had 40%. This is totally different to what the reviews stated. But in general, they core elements as to why I purchased are there and I'm quite happy with them however I have just returned them due to defect in the left ear headset. It's not fitting quite right on my ear and flaps around. Looking at it closely I think a replacement will fix the issue so I've sent them back for a new pair to see how those go.

My life quest seems to be finding the perfect earphones and I have to say I do believe I found them. The shape of my ear does not allow me to wear in ear earphones so I have been trying any other suitable earphone. These are by far the most comfortable earphone I have ever worn so much so that I'm not sure whether I have them on sometimes and I have to touch my ear. The app allows you to change the functions of the Touch control which I didn't find too easy at first but I've opted for double tap to answer calls which seems to work for me and I use my phone to change the volume. I've absolutely no negative comments to make about this product. I do use it for calls quite a lot and nobody has complained about the ability to hear me and I hear them very clearly. I wear glasses and was worried about the fit but I find that I put on the earphones first and then my glasses and the fit is very comfortable. Battery life is really good and it's an added bonus to be able to charge the product and then the case so you can charge on the go. Basically I'm a big fan.

I so wanted to love these headphones, as I am a big fan of Shokz and have their OpenRun Pros. Compared to my Cleer Audio Arc II the OpenFit headphones disappoint on so many levels. The one positive is the size and materials used! They look and feel high quality and are very comfortable! They are small in design and have a really compact carry case, so if size is important then these are great. On to where they disappointed me . Starting with the most important aspect - Sound quality. They really lack oomph in the bass department. It was muffled on all music styles I listened too. It just lacked depth. They performed better on higher notes and vocals but was still lacking punch. They didn’t have the same immersive sound that you get with the Cleer headphones Connectivity. Such a shame that it can only pair with one device at a time. It’s not hard to swap between devices but would be better if you didn’t have to. I use my iPhone and watch for music so had to keep connecting to the separate devices each time. Also meant that I could only use the app if the headphones were connected to my phone rather than my watch! So annoying. If I wanted to make any EQ tweaks I would have to log out of my watch, connect to my phone, make the tweaks in the app, log out of the iPhone and then reconnect to my watch! With Cleer you can connect to multiple devices, allowing you to use the app regardless. I would recommend you spend the extra £20 and go for the Cleer Audio Arc II as they deliver on all grounds and have an amazing sound

Exactly what I was hoping for - earpods that don’t make my inner ear sore. They sit snugly around my ear and seem very secure.Sound is great, linked up to my Apple iPhone no problem. Great value

I've been using in-ear buds for years to listen to music and audio books but lately I've been getting ear infections, cannot smell as much as Iibised too and constantly sounded like I'm getting a cold. Did some research and bone conducting headphones seemed to be the way forward. Tried to a few cheap varieties with no luck and finally bit the bullet and purchased a pair of Shokz OpenFit. I ditheted for a couple of weeks as they were £130+ more than the buds I was using and £70 more than my excellent over ear, noise canceling headphones. The quality of the sound was the first thing I noticed. It was on a whole different level too what I was used to. I tried books, rock, blues, pop and classical music and the sound quality was extraordinary. The next thing I noticed was how comfortable they were and I found myself wearing them for 5+ hours most days (even when I wasn't listening to anything). It does take a few days to get used to them, for me anyway, as they make your ear ache where they press on the Cymba Concha (Google it). A day or two later it was OK. All in, the best possible purchase I could have made and I now telling people to invest in them. There's a couple of reviews on Shokz site that talk about battery life and buttons not working. Ignore them, the reviewers didn't read the manual 🙄

Having deciding to purchase a premium product if fell a little short for what I was hoping for. DESIGN 8: I found them to be well made and I did like the feel and they feel fairly robust. They look great. FIT 6: I found them to be a little loose to fit and I had an experience after one day where they fell off and also nearly got damaged by a passer by. I would have liked they fit a little more tighter. They don’t also sit directly over the ear and I felt they off for me to get the full effect of sound. I guess we are all built different though. SOUND 5: fairly good but I had replaced a cheaper product that gave me more much better sound. This is a big fail as this is the purpose of the product. Also no external sound reduction for the user and only for callers. Although I have not used for calls. FEATURES 6: work well so I don’t thing any issues here and the app gives control to offer custom set sounds or create your own. PRICE 2: overall I think is very overpriced for the product I would maybe have felt better if it was priced nearer to £60 Rating 2.7/5 OR 5.4/10 It does the job but needs lots of improvement and reevaluation of the high price. a mid range product in my view.