Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones Impress, Our Reveal-Day Review

I’ve long been a fan of Shokz Bone Conduction Headphones. I tried their product years ago with mixed reactions, but they’ve advanced the technology significantly, and I’ve grown to love their products. Now the company has released the Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones. I’ve been using a pair for a few weeks and am already a fan.

I’ve been using Shokz OpenSwim Waterproof Bone Conduction Headphones for the last few years for swimming. I love that they store audio onboard, so there’s no issue with losing connectivity when submerging your head. They also happen to sound rather good.

I’ve used the company’s OpenComm headphones in the office. It offers the same bone conduction technology but adds a Bluetooth connection instead of the onboard audio storage and a boom microphone. It’s great for taking calls when you don’t want to be completely isolated from your surroundings.

And I use the Shokz OpenRun Pro when riding my bike or hanging out. I’m constantly surprised by how good the sound they produce and often forget they are bone-conducting headphones.

In other words, Shokz took the nascent bone-conducting headphone technology, improved upon it significantly, and, over the last few years, has developed a range of products to serve various interests and needs. I wondered what they might do next since it seemed as if they had taken the technology as far as they could.

That’s not a knock on the company.

Bone conduction will never sound as good as traditional audio, and products like this don’t lend themselves to new technologies like active noise cancellation. So while they could improve upon battery life, change the design a bit, or offer flashy new colors, it seemed as if they had hit a wall.

They must have been thinking the same thing, and the result of their thought process is a brand-new product they’ve just announced; the Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones are the company’s first headphones that don’t offer bone conduction.

But they aren’t like anything I’ve ever used before, either. Let’s take a closer look.

The new product is called the OpenFit, and as the name suggests, it is the first open-ear true wireless earbud to use the company’s patented air conduction technology.

They chose the name OpenFit because the Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones are built to sit around the ear, leaving the ear and ear canal totally unobstructed. That, in turn, means you can take a call or enjoy your music while still hearing everything going on around you.

You may be asking, “I get that the ‘OpenFit leave the ear and ear canal unobstructed,’ but how is that different from Shokz other products? Don’t they all sit outside the ear and ear canal already?”

To which I would answer, “Yes/And….”

Yes, Shokz’s other products also sit outside the ear canal, send vibrations through the bones just outside the ear and allow you to listen to music or speak while still hearing everything happening around you.

And… these aren’t bone-conducting headphones but are, in fact, an entirely new category for the company of earphones that places the “speaker” just inside the folds of the ear.

Rather than using vibrations and bone conduction to deliver audio, the OpenFit employs DirectPitch.

DirectPitch is a new audio technology that sits between traditional earbud speakers and bone conduction. It allows OpenFit to deliver a premium audio experience far exceeding anything the best bone conduction earbuds offer.

More on DirectPitch in a moment, but first, a confession.

When I first got my review unit of the OpenFit, I put them on without reading any of the release documentation, and I was convinced they were bone-conduction headphones.

Sure, if you listen closely to the earbuds, you can hear your music, but it is so quiet that I assumed I was hearing a new bone-conducting vibration technology.

I was SO SURE they were bone-conducting that I ended up arguing about it with my wife, Raina. She insisted they sounded too good for me to be correct. Well, she was right. They aren’t bone-conducting, but neither are they traditional earbuds.

They are… something new. Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones generate sound rather than vibrations but then use the cartilage of the ear and its many folds as a resonator to take the “small” sound and enhance it. The result is an enjoyable audio experience.

Let’s start with the design.

The Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones look like sports earbuds with an ear hook for added stability.

This Dolphin Arc Ear Hook, as Shokz calls it, delivers the most comfortable ear hook design I have ever worn. This is accomplished thanks to the use of a .7mm ultrafine flexible memory wire that is wrapped in a dual-layered liquid silicon.

The Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones’ hooks adapt to the ear’s natural shape and provide a good balance between comfort and stability. The design, combined with the earbuds being just 8.3 grams each, results in earbuds that I’ve worn for hours without the slightest bit of discomfort.

Try THAT with almost any other earbud!!

The Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones have a customized dynamic driver that sits inside the ear folds without blocking the ear canal and can still deliver excellent sound thanks to DirectPitch technology.

This proprietary low-frequency enhancement algorithm carries vibrations directly toward your ear without covering it. In addition, OpenFit uses Shokz’s OpenBass technology.

This proprietary low-frequency enhancement algorithm Carrie’s low-frequency vibrations directly toward the ear without covering it. This is the same technology that, despite being gone conducting, allows the OpenRun Pro to deliver the audio quality it does.

The combination of DirectPitch and OpenBass allows OpenFit to deliver truly impressive sound.

But the technology packed into the Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones doesn’t stop there. The earphones are designed for calls and employ AI Call Noise Cancellation technology to ensure people on the other side of the line hear you. (In testing, they found that the AI noise filtering can remove up to 99.7% of ambient noise.)

Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones deliver up to 7 hours of playback per charge. The included battery case offers an additional 21 hours, so you can go for a full day before needing to plug the headset and battery case in for recharging.

The charging case takes two hours to recharge fully, and the earbuds, when placed inside, take an hour to recharge. For a bonus, a five-minute charge delivers up to an hour of playback. That means the music will keep going and going, and even when you run the earbuds down, you can be back listening in just a few minutes.

And while some of Shokz’s bone-conducting headphones, such as the OpenSwim, are waterproof due to their design, the Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones offer just an IP54 rating, and the charging case is not waterproof.

As Vincent Xiong, Chief Executive Officer at Shokz, notes,

When setting out to develop OpenFit, we scanned various human ear data to create the most comfortable fit within our patented open-ear design. We couldn’t be prouder of the natural sound quality, powerful bass, and secure, ergonomic fit we perfected with OpenFit. As the first flagship product to feature air conduction technology globally, it is a unique product offering that can be worn comfortably for any occasion – whether you are commuting to the office, working from home, or even working out, OpenFit was built to be comfortable, safe and secure in any situation.

Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones Features

• Optimizing the design and material of open-ear earbuds, OpenFit is compact and light, weighing just 8.3 grams per ear.3 The ergonomic and flexible dolphin arc ear hook design with a built-in 0.7mm ultra-fine flexible memory wire provides an ergonomic fit that gently adapts to your natural ear shape.
• Uses DirectPitch, a brand-new audio experience made for OpenFit that allows for premium audio quality that perfectly balances bold highs, clear mids, and surging bass.
• Listeners can enjoy a true audio experience by using Shokz OpenBass™, a proprietary low-frequency enhancement algorithm to carry low-frequency vibrations directly toward your ear without covering it.
• Features an 18x11mm customized dynamic driver unit built with an ultra-light composite diaphragm comprised of two parts. The inner dome-shaped cap is made of a high-strength, ultra-lightweight carbon fiber 20 times stronger than steel, pumping every acoustic vibration with incredible accuracy.
• Has AI Call Noise Cancellation technology to ensure call quality. This technology is tested and proven in standard noisy call settings – such as stations and intersections – filtering out up to 99.7% of ambient noise.5
• Up to 28 hours of music-listening time when charged in the charging case, making it ideal for the athlete and entrepreneurs on the go.6
• Audio playback and calls can be controlled directly on the built-in touchpads, freeing your hands without additional phone operation.
• An IP54 water-resistant rating was designed with a double-layer waterproof steel mesh and gauze for additional protection and enhanced sound performance.

Using the Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones

It took me a few minutes to adjust to the OpenFit. I’m used to hooking sports earbuds around my ear and then positioning the earbuds in my ear canal. With the OpenFit, however, the “speaker” sits inside the exterior of the ear without blocking the ear canal itself.

This picture explains what I mean.

When I turned on the Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones, I couldn’t believe my ears. The music sounded great, and I could still hear everything around me.

Once I downloaded and paired the free Shokz App, I adjusted the EQ of the earbuds to my liking. The apps also offer minimal customization over the controls.

Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones Specifications

• Speaker Type: Air conduction transducer
• Materials: Earbuds: PC, Silicone; Charging Case: PC
• Bluetooth: Generation 5.2
• Wireless range: Up to 33ft (10 meters)
• Battery capacity: Earbuds: 58mAh (Min); Charging case: 600mAh (Min)
• Continuous play time: Up to 28 hours when charged in the charging case and up to 7 hours of listening on a single full charge
• Standby time: Up to 10 days
• Charge time: Charge the earbuds with the charging case: 60 minutes; Empty case with charging cable:
  120 minutes
• Quick charge: 5 minutes provides an hour of listening time
• Weight: 8.3g per earbud; Charging case: 57g
• IP rating: IP54 Water- Resistant; charging case is not waterproof

It’s been a while since we’ve seen anything innovative in the wireless headset space; things have been stale, and most new offerings have been iterative.

The Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones bring something fresh to the market. They are exceptionally comfortable, sound excellent, and let you remain aware of your surroundings. If you’re in the market for a new pair of earbuds and don’t want the “usual,” you owe it to yourself to check them out.

I love them. More importantly, Raina tried them out and loved them too. Now we both have a pair to use in Tel Aviv next month!

The Shokz OpenFit True Wireless Earphones sell for $179.95; they are available directly from the manufacturer and other retailers, including Amazon.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Incredibly comfortable; Good battery life and fast, five-minute quick-charge; Audio is superb while leaving your ears open to the surroundings; AI noise cancellation makes them suitable for calls and video chats

What Needs Improvement: Water resistance is less than other Shokz offerings due to the headset design; The case is not waterproof; Only available in two colors at launch