The best open earbuds 2025: open-fit buds to stay aware of your surroundings, all TechRadar tested

The best open earbuds or open-ear headphones (sometimes known as air conduction headphones or earbuds and, in the case of a band around the back of your neck and drivers that go nowhere near your ears, bone conduction headphones), work differently from the over-ear and in-ear headphones you're probably used to. They deliver sound to your ears typically by snaking around your ear and thus, without blocking your ear canal, allowing you to still hear the world around you.

They're ideal for commuting or exercising in urban environments where you might want to keep an ear out for traffic and pedestrians, and they make excellent running and cycling headphones.

Until fairly recently, the open ear market wasn't huge, but in early 2025 we were told that production of open-ear designs was actually the fastest growing product in the audio industry, with a 600% growth rate year on year, while your more 'traditional' buds (the kind that make up our best earbuds guide) have plateaued.

What you need to know is this: your favorite audio brand now almost certainly makes a set, but we've tested them and if we don't rate them you won't find them in this guide – see our explanation on how we test earbuds at TechRadar for more information on this. Our experts have thoroughly reviewed every pair here to bring you our recommendations, plus a list of 'also considers' that didn't quite make the cut, at the very end.

You might also want to check out the best running headphones or a lightweight workout solution, but if you're set on open earbuds, here are our top picks.

The quick list

Curated by

Curated by

Becky Scarrott

I've reviewed over 150 audio products since becoming a tech journalist, ranging from super-budget earbuds to high-end Hi-Res Audio music players. Before joining TechRadar, I spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing everything the world of audio had to offer; before that, I was a professional dancer. My love of music ties it all together.

The best open earbuds of 2025

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Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best earbuds in the Quick List. We've tested each one extensively, remember – so check out the linked reviews at your leisure.

Best open ear headphones for most people

Shokz is known for creating some of the best bone conduction headphones, but the OpenFit buds prove it's just as adept at air conduction tech. In our review, we said that these earbuds are capable of "delivering quality audio almost as good as in-ear buds" but with plenty of awareness of your surroundings.

Unlike similar designs, the earhooks are soft and flexible, providing a stable fit. This fit wasn't perfect – especially when I was wearing glasses – but they stayed put throughout most workouts. If you're looking for similar style and performance but wear glasses or have smaller ears, take a look at the Shokz OpenFit Air further down in this guide.

The Shokz OpenFit are not the cheapest open ear option, but if you're looking for a dependable pair of air conduction earbuds that fit well and deliver solid sound, you can't go wrong here and it's worth the extra price rather than taking a gamble with stability.

Read our full Shokz OpenFit review

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Best premium open ear headphones

Bose is one of the best audio tech brands in the world, so it's no surprise that its first pair of open earbuds, the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, are seriously impressive. In our review, we found they tick all of the boxes – but obviously come with a premium Bose price tag to match.

Unlike other buds in this list, the Bose Ultra Open buds hook onto the side of your ear's helix. The battery cylinder then tucks behind your ear. During our testing, we thought they felt a little wobbly but never fell off – they might just need a bit of getting used to.

As you'd expect from a pair of Bose buds – even those with an open-ear design – the Ultra Open sound great. In our review, we wrote: "With their immersive sound-stage technology providing spatial audio that’s ideal for home media, as well as pumping tunes during a 10K."

These truly seem like the best air conduction headphones to beat so far. The only downside? They're significantly more expensive than rivals so will only appeal to those who can pay a premium, which is risky if you've not had a chance to trial them.

Read our initial Bose Ultra Open review

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Best open ear headphones for battery

One of the older pairs of buds in our list, the OpenRock Pro from OneOdio have an earhook style, similar to the Shokz OpenFit at the top of the guide and the 1More S50 below.

During our testing, we found this design to be comfortable. We even said they're among the best-fitting workout buds we've tested, which is really saying something.

We commented that audio quality isn't the best here, but will do for most people. They're our top pick for battery life, which is among the best of the bunch at 19 hours from the buds themselves and 46 hours with the case too. This makes them a great choice if you're considering open ear buds for more than just working out. These will see you through from commuting, a day at the office and a workout.

Read our full OneOdio OpenRock Pro review

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Best open ear headphones on a budget

The Huawei FreeArc are perhaps the first truly great example of budget open-ear headphones: they don’t break the bank, yet fit well and the audio is so good that we forgot they were open ears (yes, there's bass weight and it really is as good as 'traditional' earbuds).

OK, given the few new features some flagship open-ear offerings can support in 2025 (noise cancellation even though they don't create a seal in your ear canal; AI transcription services) the feature set is just a little lacking, and the app is an absolute pain to install for Android users.

But know this: for sound, comfort, audio performance and stone cold sound-per-pound value, theHuawei FreeArc has ushered in a new era of affordable yet durable, decent open-ears.

Read our full Huawei FreeArc review

Best open ear headphones for larger ears

The 1More Fit S50 deliver good quality sound, we were impressed with the clarity of voices, bass and volume that they delivered during our testing. We've also got a design built for workouts here, thanks to an IPX7 sweat-resistant rating.

However, we felt let down by the fit. Although the earhook design delivered when we tried the Shokz OpenFit, OpenFit Air and Emeet AirFlow, we couldn't achieve a stable and consistent fit with the 1More Fit S50. However, there's a chance they'll fare better for those with biggers ears that don't wear glasses, which significantly impacted the fit.

They're cheaper than many of the other options in this list, only beaten by the OpenFit Air above. But only consider them if you're already a fan of an earhook-like design.

Read our full 1More Fit S50 review

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Best open ear headphones for calls

The Emeet Airflow buds have an advanced algorithm to make calls as clear as possible, as well as a detachable mic to boost call performance, which is why they're our top choice for making calls and office use.

But that doesn't mean these open ear buds don't perform well across the board. They're stable, despite some minor issues when our reviewer was wearing glasses, but that's occurred with almost all rivals too. Glasses issues aside, they were incredibly comfortable to wear, with soft and flexible earhooks. They may not look interesting, but the design was subtle enough to fit in a range of environments.

In our review, we commented that sound quality was "clear and detailed with some richness and even bass – especially at higher volumes". There are some great features here that make them ideal for long hours while you work, like multi-point connectivity and a decent 8 hours of battery from the buds and 40 if you count the case.

These might be our favorite option if you want open ear headphone that aren't just made for the gym, but will suit walking, commuting and using regularly at the office, too.

Read our full Emeet Airflow review

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Best open ear headphones for sound

We know, it's a huge statement: open earbuds that sound as good as those able to create a physical seal betwixt your ear canal and the neck of a bud? But somehow, Honor's achieved it here. The Honor Earbuds Open sound great, and it's a compliment we rarely pay to such designs – think zealous bass, crisp treble and a soundstage that’d be admirable in normal buds, let alone designs that cannot benefit from physical barriers.

Also fantastic? The fit, which is an area that often ruins otherwise-great open earbuds. It was easy to forget we were wearing them at times, even on treadmills, during yoga and on long bike rides!

Honor has also offered a feature that is incredibly rare in open-ears: active noise cancellation. Yes, it's a novely: after all, the entire point of open-ears is that they allow you to hear surrounding sounds. However in practice, it just works.

A few minor issues – the limited battery life, the oddly fussy on-ear controls, the arrival of some excellent cheaper options (see the Huawei FreeArc, above) – stop them from taking our 'best overall' spot, but still, they're emphatically some of the best-sounding open-ear headphones on the market right now.

Read our in-depth Honor Earbuds Open review

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Other open earbuds to consider

Beats Powerbeats Pro 2: Before you write in – they're not open-ears! The Powerbeats Pro 2 may look like an open-fit design since they feature the ear hook that snakes around your shell-likes, but at the end of said hook you'll actually find a more traditional in-ear driver housing. The USP here is a heart-rate monitor that makes them great for workouts and worked really well for us – especially if you're using an iPhone as a source device. That said, we didn't think the audio was 5-star, which you can read more about in our full Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review.

JLab JBuds Open Sport: Why didn't these plucky cheap open-ear buds make our main list? They cannot compete with either in-ear rivals or more expensive open-ears for audio, with the treble feeling a bit sharp and the midrange cluttered. Also, they aren't particularly secure in your ears, which makes using them for running a less than ideal experience. So why are we still mentioning them? Because they offer decent battery life, good EQ settings and deliver on their core mission of coming in at a super affordable price. Get the full scoop in our JLab JBuds Open Sport review.

Shokz OpenFit Air: These were recently ousted from our main recommendations list by the newer and just slightly better Huawei FreeArc, but if you find them on offer (especially since they weren't expensive to start with) these summer 2024-issue sports-focused open earbuds are still well worth a look – and one of the team absolutely adored the pink colorway too. Read more in our Shokz OpenFit Air experiential.

How to choose the best open ear headphones for you

Air conduction tech and open ear headphones have been around for several years, but only recently have audio tech companies both big and small pumped significant time and energy into releasing open-ear devices. And we expect this to continue well into 2024 and beyond.

This means there isn't a huge amount of choice about which air conduction headphones and open ear buds to buy. It's not like the best wireless earbuds or best noise cancelling headphones in which most audio brands have at least one pair and there's a massive range to suit all budgets and preferences.

Having said that, our guide above proves there is some choice depending on what you're looking for – and your options will only grow as more brands enter this space.

The first thing to consider is whether open ear buds are for you. As you can tell from many of our reviews above, there's a trade-off here in terms of sound quality and fit for an open ear design, which means you need to care about hearing what's going on around you.

As always, one of the other major factors to consider is your budget. We don't have a huge range of choice at present, but there are some cheaper options. In fact, our top budget pick are the Shokz OpenFit Air, which not only fit incredibly well but also sound good. They only missed out on the top spot because we think they're ideal for smaller ears and the pricier Shokz OpenFit might be better suited to more people.

You'll see that, at least at the time of writing, air conduction tech comes in several different form factors. There are devices that stay in place with earhooks that fit around the back of your ear, like the Shokz OpenFit. Then there are those that fit around the outer ear in a different way, take a look at the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, which "clamp" on the side of your ear. Finally, there are devices that look similar to the best bone conduction headphones and they have a band around your neck connecting them and keeping them in place, like the Oladance OWS Sports.

These designs aren't all that common, which means we don't expect you to immediately know which will suit you. But consider whether you've got on well with earhook designs in the past – these can cause problems for those with smaller ears or anyone who wears glasses. And if you've tried a pair of bone conduction headphones before, you'll know whether you like the headband.

Otherwise, it is worth pointing out that you're taking a gamble on whether the fit of the different buds are right for you. This means if you don't have money to spare and only want a reliable fit, it might be worth trying some of the best workout headphones or best running headphones. Bone conduction headphones don't have the same method of conducting sound, pumping it through your temples with transducers rather than blasting sound through the air around your ears, but you may want to give those a go instead.

How we test the best air conduction headphones

We've tested every set of open earbuds in this guide – and as with every headphone design, we are working on reviewing many more. This means we know what to expect from the best air conduction headphones when it comes to key features, design, fit, battery life, audio performance and more.

During our testing, we focused a lot on fit. Open ear headphones face a unique challenge in that they need to stay put on your ear and yet don't have a snug over-ear design or in-ear bud to keep them in place. Brands have compensated for this with ear hooks, headbands or other methods, but they don't always suit everyone.

With this in mind, we paid close attention to their fit in a range of scenarios, including working, commuting, walking and working out. We made sure to put all of the headphones above through their paces with several different gym workouts, outdoor runs and exercises given that many are created to appeal to amateur athletes and outdoor runners.

We were also keen to assess the buds for audio quality, checking whether there's decent sound and clarity on offer, even if it's not as immersive as an over-ear design might be – and as much bass as possible given the nature of the design. We also weighed this audio performance up against the amount of ambient noise you can hear and whether each pair of buds made us feel more aware of our surroundings, as they're designed to do.

Finally, we're not at the point where one pair of open ear headphones tick all of the boxes like you'll find in other TechRadar headphone buying guides. But we also considered the whole package and whether some of these buds deserved higher ratings based on handy design choices, like water resistance, longevity, like battery life.