Shokz OpenDots One review: Ringing in the new ear

I have a love/hate relationship with earbuds.

They are convenient. Compact and lightweight, it’s easy to slip a pair of earbuds into your pocket.

But for the most part, I have a real battle with fit, particularly with any earbuds with a silicon tip. The AirPods 4 were the first pair of true wireless earbuds that I felt gave me a fit secure enough to wear while doing anything beyond a gentle walk.

Perhaps that’s why I found myself leaning towards the Shokz OpenFit last year when I reviewed them. The wraparound design meant they sat securely, regardless of what I was doing, while offering really robust audio quality for what was essentially a small speaker targeted at my ear.

But even they had limitations. Whenever I needed to wear my glasses (which is sadly more than not these days), there was a battle for the space where my ear meets my scalp, which was ultimately uncomfortable for any extended period of time.

Enter the Shokz OpenDots One. Shokz isn’t the first company to launch an earring-styled earbud, but it’s the first one I’ve been able to put on my ears.

And while, again, these aren’t perfect, I have been hugely impressed by the combination of comfort, battery life and audio quality the OpenDots offer.

What do the OpenDots One offer?

Shokz is building upon its OpenFit design here with the OpenDots One. Rather than offering the bone conduction technology in its OpenRun lineup of products, it uses the same DirectPitch open-ear technology to pump sound directly into your ear holes, without blocking other sounds.

That means you can still hear the world around you while you listen to your favourite music or podcast.

But the earbuds are more than just that. The clip-on style looks more like an old-fashioned pirate earring, and is reversible as well, so you can wear either earbud on either ear, and it will automatically adjust the sound as appropriate.

Each earbud weighs just 6.5 grams, so you can barely feel them on your ear. Despite the clip on design, the OpenDots don’t clamp down on your ear painfully, either.

Each tiny earbud offers up to 10 hours of battery life, with 40 hours combined in the case and earbuds. While that’s not unheard of in earbuds, it does seem like a lot given the OpenDots form factor.

These earbuds also offer support for Dolby Atmos, wireless charging for the case, and two hours of battery life from a 10-minute charge.

Rated IP54 for dust and water resistance, and with multi-point pairing, the OpenDots One also has four EQ modes you can select and customise in the Shokz app.

What do the OpenDots One do well?

When I reviewed the OpenFit last year, I loved how secure they were. The round-ear design meant they didn’t go anywhere when I was moving.

But they were also a bit uncomfortable when I was wearing my glasses. Having two things battling for the real estate behind my ears wasn’t ideal.

The OpenDots combine the security of the OpenFit, in a design that lets you comfortably wear glasses. I cannot understate enough that these are comfortable to wear for extended periods of time, too.

I expected the clamping to get a bit sore on my ears, but even after a full workday, I was comfortable wearing the OpenDots.

And while I’m on the matter of all-day wear, the battery life in these earbuds is exceptional. Shokz says 10 hours, and I think that’s probably true — I never had any low battery notification after wearing them throughout my whole workday.

On the audio front, the sound quality is pretty great for earbuds that don’t actually go all the way into your ear holes. In a quiet environment, the bass is full and vocals are clear.

I also found that depending on your particular scenario, you can rotate the position of the OpenDots slightly to adjust the sound. If you wear them higher up, it places the speaker a bit further away from your ear, making it better for working environments where you need to be able to hear people talking to you.

But if you slide them down to a more traditional earring position, where it loops around the lobe of your ear, the sound is louder and fuller, making it more suitable for noisy environments.

Regardless of where you wear the earbuds, they are pretty good with audio leakage. At high volume, there is a bit of leakage, but not so much that my son could clearly make out what I was listening to from a couple of metres away.

What could the OpenDots One improve?

The design of the OpenDots means that in extremely noisy environments – like walking next to a main road – it can be almost impossible to hear the earbuds, even with the volume cranked right up.

Given that the market for open-ear headphones does tend to lean towards people who want to exercise and hear their surroundings, this can be a bit of a problem.

The controls are also extremely limited. There are three possible actions — double tap the earbud, double pinch the back part of the earbud, or long pinch the back of the earbud.

Only the long pinch is customisable, and I found it a bit unreliable, particularly with volume control.

On more than one occasion, I tried to stop the music playing when someone was talking to me, but ended up having to just rip the earbud from my ear because the control wasn’t registering.

It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s a hurdle Shokz will need to overcome with the second generation.

I was also underwhelmed by the Atmos support. You need to switch it on in the Shokz app, but I could not tell the difference between Atmos on or off when watching Atmos-enabled content. I think part of that is the open design not being able to deliver that truly spatial experience, but ultimately, it just means that the feature isn’t a reason to buy these earbuds.

Oh, and while it’s a minor thing, the fact the OpenDots only comes in black and grey limits the market for these. The OpenDots almost look like jewellery, so the option of a gold or silver finish, or even just a nice vibrant colour, would help it reach a broader audience.

Verdict

The OpenDot One earbuds from Shokz are an iconic shift in design that I honestly feel will push earbuds design forwards. They marry exceptional battery life with good sound quality and a comfortable, secure fit that you never worry is going to fall off your ear.

Shokz may not have been the first company to launch an earring design, but it definitely helps push the form factor forward.

If you want ANC for your earbuds, then look elsewhere, but if you’re after a pair of open-styled earbuds to hear your environment while you listen to music, then the OpenDots are an impressive product.

They’re probably not for everyone, though. The OpenFit 2+, which cost the same amount, will be a better option for truly active people, while the likes of the OpenRun2+ likely best suit really committed runners.

But if you wear glasses, or don’t like shaving silicon tips right into your ear holes, then the OpenDots One are a great option.