Shokz Openfit Air – Headset that leaves the ears free

Most True Wireless headsets come in one of two formats. Either you fix the earpiece in the ear with a rubber plug, or you hang the earpiece in the ear where a directional speaker sends the sound in, according to the principle of the original Airpods. If you don't think any of the options are successful, Shokz has a third option.

Shokz are known for their bone conduction headsets, but the Shokz Openfit Air uses different technology to achieve similar results. You hang the headset over your ear with a hook, and the earbuds are then in front of the canal. The principle is thus roughly the same as for the original Airpods with a directional speaker, but the difference is that the headset sits further from the ear canal and does not hang in the ear.

Does not press in the ear

The advantages are mainly two. On the one hand, it is an option that can be experienced as significantly more comfortable if you are one of those who think that headsets rub regardless of whether they have rubber pads or not. Firstly, the ears are kept free and you can take in the surrounding sounds when you have the headset on.

The latter is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Many headsets focus on giving you a quiet bubble with passive and active noise reduction that shuts out ambient noise. That is of course not the case here, but this is a headset for you who want to be able to talk to someone without taking off your headphones or who need to have full attention on what is happening around them.

The design is thus with a large bow that is hung on top of the ear, much like an eyeglass frame. Incidentally, wearing both glasses and a headset works perfectly. The sound part itself is then a box that sits in front of the ear. The ear is therefore not completely free and you experience a difference in how you hear the surroundings with and without the headset on, but it is small and the headset blocks a minimum of the surrounding sound. The size of the bow means that the case is also quite large, but the rounded shapes mean that it nevertheless fits well in the pocket. It's a bit fiddly to get the hoops in place over the ears and even if I get a hold of it during the test, it's never quick to hang the headset on. On the other hand, it sits perfectly in place once it's on, and the fact that it could fall off when I'm running or working out isn't on the map.

After all, the headset also needs to sound good for it to be worth all the alternative solutions. I think it does, albeit a little lacking in base. It's not that the bass disappears completely, but it is noticeably weaker than with tight-fitting headsets. In the accompanying app I can select the boosted bass equalizer mode, but I hardly hear any difference when I do that. otherwise, I think the sound sounds really good, both for music and for speech. If there is a lot of noise in the surroundings, I have to turn the volume up to maximum to hear properly, and then the music sounds a little worse, but that is more an effect of the selected characteristics than an actual weakness of the headset. If you want to listen to music in noisy environments, don't choose a headset that lets in as much ambient noise as possible. You could turn it around and say that I never have any problems perceiving important sounds in my surroundings or hearing what someone is saying when I have the headset on.

Delicious sound

A disadvantage of the open technology is that the headset leaks sound. If I listen to music at higher volumes, the surroundings, especially the snare drums, can be heard. The level of sound leakage can still be said to stay at a fairly low level and I never get any direct complaints that it disturbs.

The call sound is average, which means clearly passed. It sounds a bit tinny when I talk in the headset, but the person I'm talking to never has any problems hearing what I'm saying. The headset doesn't make much of an effort to filter out background noise for the person I'm talking to, but if it's noisy, I have a hard time hearing the person I'm talking to anyway, because the headset doesn't block out this noise.

Overall, I think Shokz has succeeded in its intentions. The Openfit Air is a fairly compact True Wireless headset that does not sit and rub in the ear and does not block the surrounding sound. A good choice if that's what you're looking for.