Shokz OpenFit Air 2 review: Some of the best open-ear 'buds for active folks

I'll happily hold my hands up and admit that I've been something of an open earbud sceptic for the last few years. While I've used a handful of "open" style 'buds, and I understand the appeal from a safety point of view, my experiences have generally left me keen to stick with my daily driver (the AirPods Pro 3) for convenience.

Shokz is one of the brands really aiming to shake up that sort of thinking, though, and having made a name for itself with bone conduction audio, it's long since branched out into the wider earbud market.

The OpenFit Air 2 aim to be so lightweight that even heathens like me end up seeing the light, and they've been a fascinating set of earbuds to use for the last few weeks while exercising.

Price and Availability

Shokz released the OpenFit Air 2 earlier this summer, so you can buy from basically all the retailers you'd expect, including Amazon, crucially.

It comes in at £129 here in the UK, $129.95 in the US, and €139 in the EU, which makes it really quite an affordable option compared to much of the exercise-specific market.

That said, it's also available at lower prices in a few instances, including some sub-£100 listings here in the UK – see the shopping widget above for current best deals – so there's already scope to score it for less.

Design and Features

As I mentioned in my introduction, it's important to clarify from the outset that these are not bone conduction earbuds. Rather, they're open-style earbuds that effectively play audio through a traditional driver, but without the sort of passive seal offered by either in-ear tips or over-ear cups.

The OpenFit Air 2 have a hooked design that will be familiar to anyone who's shopped for earbuds aimed at exercising in the last couple of decades. This means that when you wear them, you basically secure them around the back of your ear, which leaves the main part of the 'bud pointing into your ear canal.

They're really secure thanks to that hooked arm, but also leave your ear canal nice and open so that you can still clearly hear the world around you as you move around. This is ideal for exercising outdoors safely, since it won't drown out road noise or others around you.

The OpenFit Air 2 come in a few colours; I tested the dark grey option, but there's also a clean white version and a quite fetching icy blue, too. If there's a downside to their design, it's that those hooks make each 'bud rather big, which in turn makes the case housing them quite large – and therefore less convenient in a pocket.

Still, the 'buds themselves are well made and finished in a soft-touch plastic that is easy to grip even when you're sweaty (and you probably will be). They're also exceptionally lightweight, at just 7.2g per earbud according to my scale. That makes them really comfortable to wear for long periods.

In terms of battery life, Shokz says these earbuds should manage an impressive 8 hours of continuous play per charge, with a total of 36 hours if you account for the extra juice in the charging case. Those are great numbers, and beat much of the 'normal' competition.

When it comes to controls, though, things are a little bit more unique. Each Shokz earbud has one button on its inner section, and if you grip the earbud in the right way, you can squeeze it. This can play/pause your music, but it's really quite fiddly to locate when wearing the se, making it a challenge in practice.

The design made me assume they would offer some swipe- or tap-based touch controls on their outside, where the Shokz logo sits, but that's not the case. Given there's also no on-ear detection to pause your music when you take an earbud out, it leaves the OpenFit Air 2 a bit lacking where controls are concerned.

Another limitation comes with the case, which doesn't have wireless charging – it's wired via USB-C only. It does at least have its own IP rating (at IP54), to make sure that it's okay with a decent amount of liquid or dust exposure.

Sound and Performance

I used the OpenFit Air 2 as my earbuds for lunchtime jogs for a few weeks, and the fact that they're aimed squarely at fitness means I'll treat comfort with more detail than I normally would for an earbud review. In short, they're excellent on this front, provided you know what you're in for.

The fit of the OpenFit Air 2 can be a little hard to describe, but once you have them hooked into your ears, and after a little adjustment of the hook (which can be bent a little into the right shape for you, with effort), they sit really naturally and comfortably on the ears. They're so light that you might forget they're there, which is a rare boast in this area.

With water- and dust-resistance that sits at IP55 (therefore more resistant than the case), they're durable enough to withstand basically any amount of sweat or rain that you can throw their way – but they're not safe for submerging, so abandon any thoughts of swimming with them. I'd love to see that rating pushed higher for future iterations, but it's no issue here.

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How do they sound, though? Well, it's a mixed bag, but only by virtue of the design. There's no getting around the lack of passive isolation here, so whatever environment you're in, you'll be hearing it. When running, this is not a problem (in fact, it's a safety boon), but at home with a robot vacuum running, it means they're not a great option.

Still, in either a quiet room or when doing exercise, to accept the downsides, the actual sound quality on offer here is solid for the price. You get good clarity, and the earbuds can go to a high volume, too, which is more important than it normally is because background noise plays a role.

I found that the amount of bass on offer was surprising (in a good way), and Shokz claims to have concentrated on that in its upgrade over the previous OpenFit Air, so the return on that investment is noticeable.

That said, these aren't going to win awards for sound quality – mids aren't the most detailed, and the high-end can be a little weedy. EQ adjustment is available through Shokz's app, and you might want to tinker with it, because it can unlock distinct improvements compared to the default tuning. Having that functionality is appreciated.

Another small note is that the open design means that sound leakage is a factor here. I often listened to music at high volumes to deal with background noise, and that meant that taking the earbuds out made it apparent that my audio wasn't exactly inaudible to those around me.

Verdict

If you're looking for a wallet-friendly open-ear earbud that will perform really well during exercise, then the Shokz OpenFit Air 2 is a great pick.

These 'buds are incredibly, almost bafflingly light, have decent enough sound for this kind of design, great battery life, and the right sort of fit and durability.

Most of the downsides come packaged with open earbuds, from sound leakage to a lack of isolation, and while I'd love to see its sound tuning refined further, I really don't have major issues on any one front.

Shokz's latest may not permanently dislodge my AirPods Pro 3, but for a much lower price, it's given me a great secondary option when I go for halting jogs.

Also Consider

I've mentioned my AirPods Pro 3 a few times, but a fairer comparison and alternative comes from the new AirPods Gen 5. These don't have a silicone seal, either, and can be had for a price that competes much more directly with Shokz.

For an upgraded version of the same sort of hook-armed earbuds aimed at sweaty exercise, though, you might want to look to Beats. The Powerbeats Pro 2 are no longer brand-new, but they're superb and have all of those same Apple chip smarts, for easy device switching and pairing. They're not open, though, so will feel more enclosing.