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

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.

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

Use these mainly for the gym and they work well, sound is great but I am no tech expert. Find the touch feature takes a bit of getting use too, sometimes too sensitive and pauses my music by mistake and sometimes not sensitive enough when trying to pause have to repeatedly tap them I like that it pairs with 2 devices so have it paired to my watch and phone, however this caused an issue when I went from the changing rooms where they must have paired with my phone but when in the gym, the music kept freezing and cracking, thought the pods had broken but after a while realised they must still be in range of the phone, so just paused the music and when unpaused, they then connected to my watch and music was now working properly. Also like the spacial awareness. Charges fast, and probably last me a week before having to recharge the case, my only feedback is that it would be good if there was some indication of how much battery % was remaining, only as I have had this feature on a different model, and found it useful. They stay in place when working out which is great as other versions I’ve had kept falling off my ear, even when they were over ear hooks, these have not done that at all and I have tested them a lot with this. I have a few aftershock head phones, so am quite a fan, next set might be the swimming ones.

In the six weeks since I purchased the Shokz Openfit earbuds on 18 November 2023 from Amazon UK (for £152), I have been able to quite thoroughly test them. I am an audiophile, a lover of classical music, with a background in professional recording, and I have been enjoying using Sony’s over-ear noise-cancelling headphones for the last four years, but I wanted a pair of discreet headphones to wear in social environments. Generally, the Shokz Openfit earbuds have impressed me. They are quite simple, they are a bit slow to respond to touch commands, but their speakers are almost as good as those in the Sony over-ear noise-cancelling XMRs, which are almost twice as expensive. Using the "Poweramp" app I have created a setting which increases the Shokz’s bass performance considerably and the Openfit speakers can handle it. The things which I have had to learn in using the Shokz Openfit earbuds are as follows. You switch the Shokz on and off by taking them out of or putting them back in their case. For this reason one ought to pop their little carrying case into a pocket. If you don’t want to switch them off but you want to keep them on your ears but not listen to them for a while, then double-tapping on the top of the left ear-bud will pause performance. When you take the Openfit buds out of the case and pop them in your ears, you only need to enable bluetooth on your phone for the buds to become connected and then start playing by way of your music-playing app. However, if after popping the buds in your ears you open the Shokz app on your phone and allow it, instead, to switch on your phone’s bluetooth then the Shokz app will tell you how much charge is in the earbuds and how much charge is left in the case, and that is helpful information to know at the start of a listening session. Note that the charge information shown in the app does not alter during a session: it only changes when you start a new listening session via the Shokz app. The Shokz Openfit buds reliably respond to touch commands but the responses are a little slower than what I have become used to while using my Sony XMRs. For example, when I double-tap the left earbud to re-start a track, performance does not begin for about a second. However, when I double-tap the right earbud the next track fades in immediately. It took me a while to learn that decreasing and increasing volume depends not upon tapping the left or right earbud, but on holding the finger on the left or right earbud until such time as the volume I want is achieved (each incremental decrease or increase being indicated by a beep in the buds, over the music). So keep your finger on the bud and wait. Remove your finger when the Shokz has reached the volume you want. The Openfit earbuds are delicate little things to handle but on the ears they are perhaps the most visually discreet of all currently available earbuds - and I don't have to worry about them falling off my ears. I think that if they are handled with care they will not break. I always wear glasses, so I was pleased to find that indeed the very thin loops of the Openfit earbuds do not raise the arms of spectacles much or cause any other problem. I think it would have been better for the case to be made of shiny plastic rather than having a satin finish, as the satin finish wears away in places due to friction with the fabric of pockets, and the satin finish is also marred by slight grease or oil marks from one’s fingers, although these can be rubbed away with a damp cloth. I interacted a number of times with Shokz’s customer service via email in order to ensure that I was covered under the warranty, and Shokz’s customer service provided me with satisfactory answers generally within 48 hours. Lastly, my journey to the Shokz Openfit earbuds was quite gruelling. I started off by buying Samsung’s "Galaxy Buds Live", at £69 on Amazon. These interacted brilliantly with my Samsung phone but unfortunately the buds would not stay securely in my ears. Samsung’s Customer Service offered to send me thin silicone sleeves to envelope the lower part of each bud, to stop them slipping out of the oily channels of my ears, but I chose not to try this make-shift remedy. The "Galaxy Buds Live" are most probably wonderful provided you have ears which have cartiledge ridges which will hold the "beans" securely. They were also a third of the price of the Shokz Openfit earbuds. So I next moved to buds with a loop going over the ear, to ensure they would never fall out, and chose the "Nagfak Open Ear Headphones" at £69.99. I thought their four-position arms would ensure that the speakers married with the geography of my particular ears, but in fact I found that everyone has to open them to the fourth position in order for them to sit well on the ear. So the four positions of the arms is just a way of making the buds more compact when in their case. But quite soon I found that the "Nagfak Open Ear Headphones" cannot provide a reasonable bass although they are no doubt fine for listening to spoken programmes. From the "Nagfak Open Ear Headphones" I moved up to the Shokz Openfit buds. I will edit this review if the Shokz buds take a turn for the worse, but so far they have performed well. I hope this review is helpful for others considering the bewildering array of open-ear buds now available. Update: 21 January 2024. I am still very impressed with the sound quality of the speakers in these ear buds. I have also discovered that their receptivity is sensitive enough for them to be able to continue playing a track from my phone when I have moved four rooms along in my house, from where I have left the phone (the walls are all stud-partitions). One downbeat is that after leaving the charging case and ear-buds untouched for seven days I was surprised to return to them and find that the case and the buds had completely lost their charges. I wrote to Shokz about this and they replied saying that this is normal. Well, it is obviously normal for the OpenFit case and ear-bud batteries but it is not normal for some other headphones, such as my Sony XMRs, which lose no charge whatsoever after having been left alone for a month. However, this short battery-life of the OpenFits is not a severe problem, as one just needs to remember that if intending to use the OpenFits again after 7 days or more of non-use they will have to be charged up beforehand.

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

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.

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.

OK, firstly I must say I really liked these headphones, they sound great and very light/comfy to wear. Here comes the "but".. After wearing for about an hour or so my ears started itching, the next day my ears were extremely sore/blistered etc, trolling through the other reviews, unfortunatley I did not read all reviews before hand, I noticed that other people have had the same issue/reaction. Before I bought these headphones I decided to buy a cheap pair first, just in case I did not like this type. So I bought the Truefree 01 headphones, they were great, no issues at all, in fact I still have them and they are very good for the price. So based on that I decided to spend some more money are a better sounding pair, unfortunately my ears do not like them. I dont know what they are now using/adding in the silicon material that the arms are made of, but quite a few people have had an allergic reaction to it.