Openrock S Earbuds: £72 (at time of writing)
In general, I am a tolerant and relaxed person. Only a small list of fairly inconsequential things truly annoy me. But be assured that poor quality audio is somewhere near the top of it. Music played through phone speakers is the chief culprit. Poor quality earbuds masquerading as high-end tech come a close second.
And so, I must confess I approached the Openrock S, with their air-conduction method of delivering sound into my ears, with some trepidation.
These are not going to work, I pre-judged. Surely in the gap between speaker and eardrum all manner of thudding bass and tinkling high end would escape. Not to mention the traffic noise, café chatter, and summertime lawn mowing that would find its way in.
I hooked them neatly over my earlobes (to which they clung lightly, securely, and comfortably), connected them to my phone via Bluetooth (swiftly, and with minimum fuss, I might add), and prepared to be disappointed.
And lo and behold if they didn’t work absolutely beautifully.
Air-conduction is as it sounds: not in the ear, not resting on the bone by the ear, but hovering over the ear and directing the sounds straight in.
The quality of the sound, the non-negotiable here, hit the spot. Enough thudding in the bass and subtlety across the mid-range and high end to deal with my often scattergun American-indie-to-old-school-hip-hop-to-50’s-Chicago-blues musical taste.
You compromise, of course, by accepting the ambient noise that makes these earbuds on-point for exercise and other situations where a degree of awareness is needed but it works so well. To my ears the surrounding noise and your audio entertainment manage not to compete with each other, but sit side by side, each holding their own without overpowering the other.
I’m not aware of how they technically achieve this, but it feels very clever.
So what about the ‘use-ability?’
They are super light and fit my average man-sized earlobes beautifully. They have a bit of bendiness in them to play with to ensure a snug fit, but basically I put them somewhere near my ear in vaguely the right position and they almost hook themselves on of their own accord.
Snug, comfortable, and forgettable.
The Bluetooth works. It has never not worked. It has never searched longer than you think it should. It finds multiple devices. Nothing more to say.
The touch controls keep it fairly simple. Double taps to stop and start songs, two second holds to play previous or next. These things are always a bit a faff with sweaty fingers mid-effort but I find the touch control sweet spot easily enough.
The marketing blurb promises hugely impressive running times, with 19 hours from a single charge and 60 hours in total when you include the charge held by the case. Here’s what i can say: I have ridden my bike for 28 hours in January, have worn the Openrock S for every minute, and the charger is still in its wrapper. I expect I’ll have to charge them at some point this year, but we’re good to go for while yet.
In summary, for exercise focused buds designed to ensure you remain in the real world and aware of your surroundings the sound is solidly impressive. I would say the price point – well below many rivals – only adds to this impression.
Air conduction, for me, is a big eye (or ear) opener: as someone who has never got on with in-ear buds these offer the best experience I’ve had mixing cycling and audio. The fit many be a personal thing but I just cannot fault them for comfort and wearability.
In summary – for sound, price, comfort, practicality – it’s a solid yes for me.
Not in any way annoying (in fact quite the opposite).
ragtime cyclist 
Have you worn them on an outdoor cycle? I’ve tried similar ones and found the wind noise overpowered them quite easily. Also what are they like for podcasts and the spoken word v music?
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