Active noise cancelling is a great invention. It blocks out distracting background noises – or some of them anyway – and lets me get on with concentrating on what I am trying to listen to.
But it isn’t always a good idea. While it is suitable for blocking out the background hum in the office or keeping you focused on the bus or train in the mornings, there are times when it is safer to be aware of your surroundings.
That is where open-fit earbuds are a better option. They don’t plug up your ear canal, cutting off the outside world. Instead, they direct audio towards your ear canal, leaving all the other sounds free to filter in should you decide to pay attention.
There are plenty of options when it comes to open-fit buds. You can go with the hard plastic kind that sit just outside your ear canal, such as Apple’s AirPods, or Nothing’s Ear Stick. But increasingly, we are seeing models that just hang on or over your ear, pointing the speaker towards your ear canal so you can hear your podcasts or music while also keeping tabs on the world around you.
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Shokz made a name for itself with its bone conduction headphones that kept your ears unplugged, using the bones in your skull to carry the audio instead. But the Shokz OpenDots One go the more traditional route, using speakers, and look more like ear cuffs than earbuds. The first clip-on style earbuds from Shokz, they promise open-ear convenience with immersive audio.
This isn’t the first pair of clip-style earbuds I’ve used. The Bose Ultra Open were a decent experience, if a little more expensive. So how will the slightly cheaper Shokz version stand up?
Exactly where you use these buds is up to you. I found them most useful for walking outdoors, or a light jog. They stayed put during exercise, although admittedly it wasn’t for overly energetic sessions. Shokz has created its own silicon hinge, which it calls the JointArc, made from nickel titanium and silicon to ensure it is a comfortable fit.
[ Bose Ultra Open Earbuds stand out from the crowd with design and sound qualityOpens in new window ]
I found the earbuds more convenient than over-ear headphones when wearing sunglasses, for example, and they didn’t pinch your head. They also sat out of the way of earrings – though those with multiple piercings may not have the same experience – and still managed to point the audio in the right direction.
And it was a decent quality too, for both podcasts and music. If you are looking for a good set of all-rounder earbuds, these are a great option. Calls were also reasonably clear, at both ends of the conversation.
It helps that the buds are interchangeable – you can put the left one on your right ear and the buds will automatically detect which ear the bud is in.
There are touch controls too, although they aren’t quite as versatile as other earbuds. You tap or pinch the battery compartment, which I found a little fiddly so didn’t bother too much with them.
They aren’t perfect though. If you are in a particularly noisy environment, you might hear a bit more ambient sound than you might like.
The opposite can also be true. In quieter environments, you might get sound leak, so it is best not to conduct any confidential conversations when you are in a public place. But even the best in earbuds may give a little sound leak so the Open Dots are not at as much of a disadvantage here.
They also don’t have a sensor that detects when they have been removed from your ears. With other buds, the audio will pause as soon as you remove a bud. The Shokz Open Dots don’t do this, so you will have to remember to pause whatever it is that you are listening to.
Battery life is decent at up to 10 hours on a single charge. That lengthens to 40 hours when the charging case is brought into the mix.
Good
The Shokz OpenDots One are lightweight but still stay put, which was surprising. The audio quality is good too, and the calls were clear enough. The interchangeable nature of the buds makes them much easier to handle; there is no swapping around or getting them wrong. They can even be swapped over in the charging case.
Bad
No auto pause when you remove the buds. The touch controls can be fiddly.
Everything else
The buds come in two colour choices – black and silver. They are IP54 rated, which isn’t the highest rating you can get but it means they are sweat proof and will survive some light rain. Whether they will survive Irish rain is another matter altogether.
Verdict
Lightweight earbuds that deliver good audio without blocking out the outside world.
