LIFESTYLE
Shokz OpenFit Air: the Earbuds that Let You Enjoy Your Music Without Compromising on Your Safety
Finding a good enough pair of earphones that are both comfortable and produce a high sound quality while also allowing you to hear the environment around you can be tricky. However, that is where open-air earphones have made their mark.
Shokz is known for its speciality in bone conduction headsets, which allow you to enjoy your music while maintaining situational awareness. Its latest product, the OpenFit Air, is a testament to this.
Following the launch of the OpenFit Air in Malaysia, we were invited to pen our thoughts on them and here’s what we found:
Design & fit
The Shokz OpenFit Air, which weighs only 8.7 g, is engineered with a soft silicone finish that provides a comfortable fit for every ear shape and all-day use through its Air-Earhook design, which keeps them securely in place, minimising pressure during long listening sessions.
The earbuds consist of a speaker that rests near the ear canal without blocking it, which means you would still be aware of your surroundings while listening to audio.
Due to their lightness, it can sometimes be easy to forget that you’re wearing them, but thanks to their hooks, you’d never have to worry about them falling off. They have stayed reliably in place even during intense workouts.
Having tried them during gym sessions and other activities such as badminton and running, I can attest to their comfort and secure fit. The fit is also comfortable for a whole day’s use, as the hooks merely lightly cling to your ears rather than clamp on tightly.
The OpenFit Air also has an IP54 rating, which means it is sweat—and water-resistant and suitable for workouts but not fully waterproof. As someone who sweats profusely, I never had any issues using it during workouts.
The OpenFit Air come in a compact, palm-size case with a power indicator light and a USB-C charging port. The case itself is quite bulky but feels secure and solid. Due to its size, I had some difficulty fitting it into my pockets, so I usually carried around the headphones without the case in hand.
Three colours are available at launch — white, black and pink, all with metallic silver elements.
Sound quality
According to Shokz website, the OpenFit Air are an upgrade in audio quality, offering fuller, more powerful sound and a much more immersive experience.
When listening to pop music and hip-hop, the full range of instruments and vocals can be heard clearly, while the earbuds also have great sound quality when it comes to more instrumental music, such as EDM.
For those who prefer to listen to music with noise cancellation, you’d be disappointed to find that OpenFit Air’s open design doesn’t offer any passive noise cancellation, and the sound is still thinner than you get from in-ear and on-ear earbuds and headphones.
This lack of active or passive noise cancellation means the OpenFit Air is less suitable for noisy environments such as gyms and loud offices. I found that the noise on the outside would often drown out whatever music was playing.
That may be a negative for times when you want to concentrate or just drown yourself in music; however, in normal daily life, like going for a run in public, it can be very helpful to hear your surroundings for any hazards.
Features & battery life
Both sides of the OpenFit Air earbuds have a touch-sensitive panel on the outside, which you can use to control playback via two gestures: double tapping and press-and-hold.
If you’re unsatisfied with the preset touch controls, you can customise them to include options like bringing up your phone’s voice assistant, raising/lowering the volume, playing/pausing and skipping.
The touch controls weren’t particularly reliable, especially during workouts when it was hard to get my taps to register. However, I usually faced no issues when using them while working.
Additionally, the partner app allows you to choose between four EQ presets— standard, vocal, bass, and treble boost.
In terms of battery life, the Shokz OpenFit Air earbuds are listed as lasting six hours on a charge, with a further 22 hours of battery in the case. A quick charge will get you two hours of playback from 10 minutes of charging the buds in the case.
During my testing, when listening to podcasts or music in normal settings for two to three hours daily, the earbuds usually had enough battery for another working day.
Verdict
Having been accustomed to in-ear earbuds and headphones, I was initially worried that the OpenFit Air wouldn't stay in place while out doing activities, but I had no issues with this.
They stayed in place very well, and I found them to be very secure on both ears and comfortable enough for a couple of hours without any soreness.
Although I didn’t particularly enjoy the sound quality due to its lack of noise cancellation, I can’t help but commend how easy it was to hear the environment around me without sacrificing the sound quality.
I could hear cars approaching from a fair distance during runs and listen to conversations in the office and out and about, which helped me stay aware of my surroundings.
Another gripe I had with them was how annoying the touch control were as they tend not to be very responsive sometimes while being extremely sensitive at other times.
Overall, the OpenFit Air retails for RM599 and is perfect for those who love to run or cycle. The earbuds’ fit and comfort and their open-air design make them ideal for people who enjoy their music without compromising safety.
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