thoughts on "open ear buds"?

maybe the Huawei FreeClip could be a nice replacement for you.For what I have read,, they aren't fabulous for music but they are great for phonecalls and basic music, also they only weight 5.5 grams each and people say they even forget that they are wearing them for its lightness.

Hi, these aren't cheap but god they are just so good. For nearly everything nowadays they are my go to buds of choice. I am even happy to use them when I'm out walking connected to my phone getting the satnav updates as they hardly block out any sound.
Talking of sound that is pretty good as well. Obviously not as good as my Bose QC ultra's but their not designed for that. Another big selling point is they can connect to several devices which you can switch between just by pressing one of the controls and holding it dow. You get spoken feedback on which device is ready to be connected so in my case it is my iPhone, my iPad, My Android phone, my hifi tuner, my Sense player. Hope that helps

Hi, I’m curious about those Bose you mentioned, could you tell me if your music or conversation could be heard by people surrounding you? I mean, does privacy is not the virtue of this earbuds?
Thanks in advance.

Hi, To be honest I don't know. They would certainly be no worse than any other earpods on the market. I wear these a lot and not one person has ever mentioned leakage. Hope that is of some help.
Graham

I am personally a big fan of the clip-on style earbuds like the Huawei and the Bose. That being said, one is ridiculously over-priced in my mind (cough Bose cough), and the other one (Huawei) has a truly horrific app that requires you to have the buds in the case when changing any of the settings, so forget doing that in public. If you want to try out a clip-on bud, start with one on the cheaper end. The Tozo Open Ear Ring is about 1/6 the price of the Huawei and sounds nearly as good. Also, the app is very easy to use. Anotehr budget pair that has a good app is the Baseus MC1. I have not checked out the pro version, but that one has a good sound too. Still, my personal recommendation if you do want to try these out is the Tozo to give you an idea if you wil like the style. If you are not famliar with clip-on earbuds, it may take a bit of getting used to. However, in my mind, they sound better than any of the air/bone conduction headphones out there.

Hello guys!
I have FreeClip. I bought it because I have problems with my ears and I wanted something small and good.
So, even though in Brazil a headphone like this costs almost as much as AirPods Pro, I took the risk and bought it.
It was one of the best purchases I've made.
They are extremely comfortable, they don't hurt me, they don’t push earwax inside, and have very low latency. I use them with Android and the response time is amazing.
Besides that, the sound is extremely loud and it has several equalizer profiles. I love them, even for music.

Check flossy carter, do search on what you want and his name.

Hi,
I am late to this post, so you may have already made your decision, however, consider either the Shockz Open Fit or a pair of Meta Glasses.
Both would fit your use case of being able to be worn all day. Both, in my experience, are comfortable and provide adequate sound quality for most use cases.
The Meta Glasses do have a bit of sound leakage and lag with VO.
The Shockz Open Fit have quite good sound and do not block the ears at all.
Good luck with your choice.
SeaNoEvil

Hey Shuteye. I am a heavy shokz user as well and started out with the Open Run Pro, and recently received a pair of the Open Run Pro 2 for my birthday and love them. I recently won a pair of the Open Dots 1 in a Shokz Giveaway, and these have become my daily earbuds, my daily drivers. I've ditched my Airpods Pro 2, and other headphones in lieu of the open ear design because like you, I am blind since birth and rely on audio for a lot of my things like my phone, and don't want to disturb folks around me. The Open Dots 1 let m? do whatever I need too, I even work out on the rower with them, and the sound, especially for open earbuds is as phenomenal as the convenience. I'e not tried the Bose but would love too if I could ever get my hands on a pair, but these are honestly my go-to right beside the Open Run Pro 2. Battery life is about 10 11 hours on the buds and about 40 hours on the case. I use them for work, and just every day, and they even got me through a baseball game in Atlanta this past weekend, alwithout blocking my ear canals, or worrying about Noise cancelling. I also have noticed, there's not a lot of soud leakage, and they even have a private mode in the EQ settings to help with that if you wish. Pairing to up to 2 devices, and seamless switching, along with Dolby Audio. I definitely can't comllain. Let me know your thoughts and what you decide on. I would loe to try others and compare them. My budget won't let me though. Lol. Hope that helps.

Hi everyone. I would love to have a pair of open earbuds for all of the same reasons mentioned here. I've tried several different ones already, but every pair I've tried had too much lag with VO for me to be able to stand using them for long. I currenntly use AirPods 4 ANC. I tried a couple pairs of open earbuds that had a game or low latency mode, and that did help, but it also usually caused issues with the bluetooth connection causing VO to distort horribly.
Does anyone know of any open earbuds that have low latency with VO like you get with the airpods? I would love it if they also had good sound quality, but honestly, low lag is my highest priority.
Thanks in advance for any information.

A lot of lag with Voiceover is the disrupted bluetooth connection. A user here had a work around I love: go to Background Sounds and select any sound, then turn the volume down to zero. Put Background Sounds in your control panel. Whenever you have headphones in, turn on that functionally muted background sound. It will stop your phone from briefly disconnecting from your headphones. You do have to turn it back on after phone calls and sometimes after listening to a video, but if you have it in your control screen it's easy to do.

I've had a set of the Open Shockz Move bone conduction headphones for years and nothing has been better as a daily driver, including my Bose QT pair. I tried the open ear ones but found them actually painful to wear and they still have a part sticking into my ears.

I had been using Aftershokz for years but was getting tired of the proprietary charging cable and the fact that they could not go more than 2 years without finally breaking. It would be one thing if these were budget headphones but they are over $100 USD.

I don't like in-ear options so decided to try these open ear headphones from Soundcore. Overall, I am happy with them. They are adjustable to a point, are not particularly heavy, and I can wear them for hours. I am not sure how long they last b/c I rarely go more than four hours with them on. The sound quality for VoiceOver, podcasts, phone calls, and music is good but since I am no audiophile, I will not say they are better than "good." The case doubles as a charger, connects to USB C, and it is easy to insert and remove the headphones into the case.

Things to know...
The headphones do not have any physical buttons so you will have to be comfortable tapping the touch screen. Out of the box, there are no default touch controls so you'll have to download the Soundcore app. The app itself is somewhat accessible but to be transparent, I asked somebody to give me a hand and I've had no reason to open the app since. I cannot figure out how to answer a call while wearing them as there does not seem to be an option in the touch screen configuration screen but maybe I'll ask AI for some assistance.

I got these on sale at Amazon for about $30 USD and so far have been happy with my purchase.

Soundcore v20i
https://www.amazon.com/Soundcore-Headphones-Adjustable-Ultra-Comfort-Multipoint/dp/B0D2XRXNGY?th=1

I've been reading reviews and specifications about the Bose Open Ear Headphones mentioned on this thread, and this is likely the model that I will end up getting. However, just in case someone happens to know, I'm wondering what other models and brands might also have spatial audio with head position tracking compatible with the AirPods feature with that name.

My intention is to build some accessibility navigation software based on that kind of technology for personal use and maybe release it to the community at some point in the future. For example a very low hanging fruit is building an app for the Apple Watch that I can simply instruct to lock on a specific orientation and it will produce a sound that I can hear to keep myself walking in the same direction even in wide open spaces. In the future I also want to have the ability to mark locations on the map whose distance and direction can be accurately conveyed to me in real-time using sound, or just integrate with the existing waypoints feature of Apple Watch.

Unfortunately AirPods aren't really useful to use on the street, because if someone accidentally bumps into my head, there's a chance that I might just lose an AirPod, I don't like in-ear configurations either so most of the beats products that can hook to the ear pinna don't feel very appealing to me; none of that hardware supports multipoint pairing with third-party devices like the Twelve South AirFly Pro Deluxe headphone jack to bluetooth transceiver that I have attached to my keyring; and finally none of them are open-ear, which is very important to me since I'm totally blind and rely a lot on echolocation for orientation so I need crisp and clear aural perception of my surroundings.

I don't know a lot of the open earbud types that have spatial tracking. However, I would submit that this kind of technology would not be very conducive to spatial tracking because it is designed to hear what is going on around you, and for navigation by spatial sounds, may actually be extra distracting. This is just my thoughts.

The Bose Open Ear headphones do have that technology, and since I'll be the one implementing my own accessibility solutions I can make it do anything I wish, including playing specific sound patterns and timbres that are unlikely to be confused with anything else on the street, or even taking advantage of the accelerometer and gyroscope in the Apple Watch to conveniently and discretely trigger certain functionality in my application or complication by performing specific arm or hand gestures.

An advantage about being the target audience of my own solutions is that if I find that a specific behavior bothers me in real-world testing conditions, I can simply change things until the solution provides the desired functionality without making me feel discomfort, so I don't really need to be made aware of potential problems that might not even materialize in reality. Since I'm able to implement my own ideas, physical or artificial limitations are the only things that can stand in the way of my creativity.

relax. we're all friends here. No offense was intended. [smiling]. I do hope it works out for you. Like you, I do wish that there were cheaper earbuds with spatial tracking.

I have the original shokz openfits. Compared to traditional bone conduction, the newer ones like opencom, it leaks a little more sound but does sound better. The sound stage isn't necessarily more realistic than regular headphones but it is wider, movies and such are fun. Still mine don't quite get loud enough for busy places and they leak just slightly more than I'd be comfortable with for really sensitive stuff in crowded places. I know there is a newer model and these are probably things that can get a little better but physics is physics, you can't make speakers that hang by your ears not leak any sound. As far as environmental awareness these are definitely better than any transparency mode I've ever heard from in ears but they still block my ear the tiniest little bit. The opencoms and openruns were slightly better but these serve, I suspect the newer openfit II are a little better at this because they're a tad smaller than mine. Anyhow solid, pretty good, still not the absolute best for walking around and crossing busy streets but I feel plenty safe enough doing that with them.

I used to love open earbuds until I tried the clip-on style. While they took a little getting used to, in my mind, they do just as good as open earbuds about keeping you aware of your surroundings, but sound way better, and when I'm out and about, I really have to strain to hear any leakage if I take them off while they are playing at high volumes. I was a little nervous that figuring out how to get them on might be a bit tricky, but I figured out very quickly and have not gone back to open earbuds that sit over your ears since. Shokz makes a clip-on, the OpenDots, but they are nearly $200, and while they sound good, you can get pairs for a third of the price that you can get to sound just as good and the controls stink. If you want to try out a pair that won't break the bank, I'd recommend the Baseus Bowie MC1 Pro, https://www.amazon.com/Baseus-Bowie-MC1-Pro-Ultra-Lightweight/dp/B0F8BSD87S/ref=sr_1_2?crid=34B2OAIK9BQLU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7ifoya37HCQPzhN0V6-5o9OOPlv11SapbNcthwDYg7QdlKjTys1V4DevChjGY_v7aIkqO7DB-o-DFNRorYSXsA7SmyN4SSV8-IcBnPvdtaYvC6Z_VVgefQvavlg5-CZsjBD2Z4nLM-s9UmCWAFXeQj0D4crY9-P56rCIv18UAWS279z_I-guYFpt0i-zIXBhCOq0OLI0yIKGMzwyOesvyVIDbvObAHTSjRpw19N6RXQ.1KXySsZLREtC8ssxne62nJbtShcbvsOX8h9uMqRVSqY&dib_tag=se&keywords=baseus%2Bmc1&qid=1757511239&sprefix=baseus%2Bmc1%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-2&th=1 . While I haven't had any luck getting the app's custom EQ to work, it has some pretty good EQ options out of the bag. I was going to recommend another pair mentioned often above, the Huawei Freeclip, but I can not find them on Amazon at the moment. And while those sound really, really good, the app is rap with a c in front of it, and you have to have the earbuds in their case to update or to change EQ settings, making hearing what is being said by voiceover an interesting experience. Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Good luck to you with whatever earbuds you choose if you choose to go with a new pair.

The main reason why I personally want open-ear headphones is because, as I mentioned earlier, I intend to use them for navigation, and anything blocking the ear canal reduces my perception of very high pitched waves significantly thus affecting my ability to do echo location or gage my surroundings from sound. I'm a cane user, and my cane is a 6-section carbon fiber Ambutech with a high mileage rollerball tip that produces a sound very rich in high-pitched frequencies when I tap hard floor such as asphalt, concrete, or all the cobblestone that paves most of the city I live in. Even headphones supporting transparency modes like the AirPods aren't good enough, as high-pitched waves are a lot more directional than their lower-pitched counterparts so I tend to get disoriented because the position of the microphones doesn't feel natural.

Audio quality isn't really relevant to me, but head position tracking is, since I want to take advantage of spatial audio to place sound sources in the virtual environment that can help me find my way in unfamiliar places or if I just get disoriented for some reason.

I am still super old-school. I use wired earbuds and wired over your headphones. But this is just because I know that once I plug it in it’ll work. I don’t have to worry about any kind of battery life or updating the headphones or charging them any of that stuff so I just prefer wired. I have no issues with VoiceOver lag or anything else like that. So I just stick with that. I have the Apple wired EarPods for lightning and for USB-C. And I even still have a CD player yes I still buy CDs with a 3.5 headphone jack and I have a regular wired earbuds for that and a pair of wired over your headphones. I even used wired over ear headphones for my two digital keyboards and two digital pianos. Yes, they are different. Anything that is less than 88 keys is a digital keyboard. Anything that is 88 keys is a digital piano. Just a little fun fact. All I’m really trying to say here is for me. I just stick to wired because I know that they work. I don’t have to worry about keeping any firmware updated or charging a battery or having a certain app that’s not accessible any of that stuff that’s why I plug in headphones. They just work and that’s it. But that’s what works for me. I know that’s not the same for everybody. So that’s my thoughts about any kind of earbuds. That’s why I don’t have to worry about losing anything, they’re attached to the wires. They can’t go anywhere and I’ve been fine with that and I’m probably going to stay that way as long as possible. Can't go anywhere and I've been fine with that I'm probably return dictate return