The list in brief ↴
1. Best for most people
2. Best premium
3. Best for battery
4. Best budget
5. Best for larger ears
6. Best for calls
7. Best for running
8. How to choose
9. How we test
The best open ear headphones, also known as the best air conduction headphones, are designed to deliver quality sound while keeping you aware of your surroundings. They don't place any tech within your ear canal, but position a small speaker just outside of it. This means open ear headphones are a solid choice for outdoor runners or anyone else who wants to hear what's going on in their immediate environment. They're also a good idea for people who don't like the feeling of buds or silicone tips in their ears.
Open ear headphones aren't new. But only recently have they become a major focus for a number of audio tech and fitness tech brands, so although the category is emerging, there isn't a great deal of choice just yet. A few of the earbuds in our guide perform well, but aren't perfect – they certainly won't give the best earbuds a run for their money in terms of sound. There are also teething issues with design; open ear buds aren't anchored in place with an in-ear bud, which means new design choices are being made with earhooks, headphones and even clamps.
Although there may not be many open ear headphones to choose from, we've selected several of our top picks below. We've had chance to test many of these headphones ourselves, but if you can't find a link to a full review it'll be coming soon. So if you're looking for an alternative to the best running headphones or best bone conduction headphones, then read on to find out which open ear headphones are right for you.
The quick list
Best for most people
These buds deliver good sound, awareness of your surroundings and a solid fit that should suit most people.
Best premium
An innovative design and Bose's signature excellent sound make these the top option if you don't mind paying premium.
Best for battery
You'll get 19 hours of battery from these buds, 46 hours with the case, making these the best choice for all-day wear.
Best budget
Affordable compared to rivals, comfortable for smaller ears and high-performing, they almost take the number one spot.
Best for larger ears
We enjoyed the clear sound of these buds, but the fit wasn't quite right on smaller ears, which makes them a solid, affordable option for larger ears.
Best for calls
One of the most comfortable designs with solid voice quality and clarity, they're our top choice for podcasts, calls and the office.
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Best for running
This headband-style design is made with athletes in mind and makes these buds a good choice if earhooks don't appeal.
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
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 ear buds, 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 premium, which is risky if you've not had chance to trial them.
Read our initial Bose Ultra Open hands-on review
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
Best open ear headphones on a budget
The Shokz OpenFit Air are one of our top-rated pairs of open ear headphones because they fit well, sound good and they're also much more affordable than many rivals.
They're an updated version of the Shokz OpenFit at the top of this guide and although they're a little bigger and heavier, they're been adapted to fit even better. Our reviewer wrote: "they felt so secure for me – even during walks, jogs, cardio workouts, weightlifting and (surprisingly) a few yoga sessions." As well as being secure, they look nice with a few different color options and have an IP54 sweat and water resistance rating, so they perfect for sweaty workouts.
These buds are among our favorite for delivering quality sound, despite their open ear design. In our review, we wrote: "Music sounded clear with some richness across the frequencies." We also commented that the Shokz OpenFit Air deliver "a surprising sense of spaciousness", which isn't common among this style of earbuds.
The only reason the Shokz OpenFit Air aren't at the top of this list is because we think the OpenFit Air were such a great fit because our reviewer has smaller ears. Those with more average-sized or larger ears may be happier with the regular OpenFit design.
Our Shokz OpenFit Air review is coming soon
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
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.
Our Emeet Airflow review is coming soon
Best open ear headphones for running
Unlike other open ear buds in this list, the Oladance OWS Sports have a design that not only hooks over your ears, but also connects the two buds with a band that sits behind your neck. This makes for a (mostly) stable fit that's ideal for sports, especially anything that doesn't involve moving your head around too much, like running.
In our review, we wrote that the Oladance OWS Sports deliver: "a clear, engaging sound that was fun for working out." We also found the earbuds delivered on their open ear promise and kept us well aware of our surroundings. A certain amount of noise leakage is to be expected from this style of buds, but we didn't experience much with these compared to rivals.
An easy-to-use app allows you to make basic customization options, and there's an impressive 15 hour battery life onboard that's bested only by the OneOdio OpenRock Pro in this guide.
The Oladance OWS Sports have a design that looks and feels premium with a nice velvety matte feel and elegant colorway. The fit was stable, but we did experience some issues when we wore glasses during testing or took part in activities that involved a lot of head and neck movements – this is why they're our top pick for running. There's a lot to love about these earbuds, but their fit was a little unreliable and they are one of the more expensive options in this list, so we recommend them but with caution.
Our Oladance OWS Sports review is coming soon
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 had chance to test several of the best air conduction headphones in this guide. We've made it clear which we haven't had chance to review yet, but rest assured that all of the ones mentioned here will be tested over the next month.
This means we know what to expect from the best air conduction headphones when it comes to key features, design and 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.
You're never going to get the kind of immersive sound you'd expect from the best noise cancelling headphones with these devices, but that's not the point. We were keen to assess the buds for audio quality, checking whether there's decent sound and clarity on offer, even if it's not immersive. 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.
