Shokz - OpenFit Air 2 Open-Ear True Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds - White

The Shokz OpenFit Air 2 earbuds are well designed, easy to use, very comfortable, and the audio quality is truly great. The earbuds are shipped with their charging case, a brief hardcopy user guide, a regulatory information booklet and a warranty registration card. The hardcopy user guide contains a QR code link to a download page for the full downloadable PDF version of the user guide. This version contains useful information for setting up and using the earbuds. I'm using the Shokz OpenFit Air 2 earbuds with a Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and the setup was extremely easy. The earbuds were first fully charged in their charging case using a standard USB-C phone charger, which can take up to 100 minutes. After charging, the case was opened and its LED flashed orange/green as expected with initially unpaired earbuds to indicate pairing mode. After navigating to Bluetooth settings in the Pixel 10 Pro, selecting the Shokz earbuds and connecting, the earbuds are paired and ready to go. When the earbuds are returned to the charging case, they are securely held in place magnetically so as to be in the proper position and make good contact with the charging contacts in the case. Phone settings for the Shokz Bluetooth device reports the charge level for each earbud and for the charging case. The device settings also contain a nudge to install the Shokz app through the Google Play Store. The nudge turns into a button to open the app after it is installed. The app asks you to create an account with Shokz, but an account isn't required to use the app and account creation can be skipped. The Shokz smartphone app contains preset equalization profiles and the ability to create and name your own custom equalization profiles. One thing that threw me initially was getting to the custom profile option in the app. The app main screen shows four labeled and evenly spaced icons in a row, each for a preset equalization profile. There is no scrollbar, arrow, or anything else indicating that there are more icons to the right, but you have to slide the icon row to the left to get to the custom profile icon. There are other settings and features in the app, including gesture control, multipoint pairing, a find my earbuds feature, and some additional options to set audio connection preferences and update firmware. The preset profiles work but I wasn't overly excited about the sound. I set up a custom equalization profile boosting the high and low end response, and the results were kind of amazing. Ride and crash symbols are bright and clear, and acoustic instruments and vocals sound true and present. Funk bass lines and baritone sax scoops are equally present and easy to hear, everything is there and the overall sound quality is amazing. I quickly transitioned from listening critically to just enjoying the music. Each airbud has a button that allows control of features through single, double or triple button presses. Either earbud can be used to answer, reject or end a call. When music is playing, either earbud can be used to pause or continue playing, or to move to the next or previous track. A long press on the left earbud turns volume down, and a long press on the right earbud turns volume up. The OpenFit Air 2 earbuds are very comfortable. Unlike over-ear headphones or earbuds that need to stay in the ear, the Shokz earbuds sit just over the ear canal and don't become uncomfortable over time. The loop that goes over the ear is soft and flexible, and it doesn't interfere at all with my glasses. Unlike other earbuds I've used that don't want to stay put when I'm just sitting still, I can shake my head and the Shokz earbuds stay in place. I was hoping the Shokz OpenFit Air 2 earbuds would sound good and stay in place while walking and moving around, and they have turned out to be better than I had hoped in just about every respect. The custom equalization capability enables an amazing tailored audio experience with great sound quality. They stay securely in place, are very comfortable, and are very easy to set up and use. They are solid, well designed, impressive earbuds.

As someone who already owns and really likes the regular Shokz OpenFit 2, I was curious where the OpenFit Air 2 would fit in. Functionally, these feel very familiar, but Shokz has managed to make them lighter and just a little more secure without changing what I like about the OpenFit design. Comfort is still the big reason I like these. Since they don't sit inside your ear like a traditional earbud, I can wear them for hours without that plugged-up feeling. The lighter weight of the Air 2 is noticeable, and I think it helps them stay in place a little better when I'm moving around. Overall, though, the fit isn't dramatically different from my OpenFit 2. There is one design difference that matters to me. The speaker on the Air 2 curves toward the ear canal a little more. During normal use it's every bit as comfortable, but I've been wearing these overnight and noticed that if I sleep on one, I'll sometimes wake up with a sore ear the next morning. That's something I don't really experience with my regular OpenFit 2. If you're just wearing them during the day, I doubt it will matter. Apparently my use case of sleeping in earbuds is where I find the weird stuff. Sound quality is very good, especially considering these are open-ear headphones. Compared with my OpenFit 2, the Air 2 sounds a little less punchy and doesn't have quite the same fullness, but I still really enjoy listening to them. I've been watching movies on my iPad during late-night bottle feedings, and dialogue has been easy to understand while soundtracks still have plenty of impact. That's really what I want from open-ear headphones: good sound without completely shutting myself off from what's happening around me. I also thought I was going to hate the controls. The buttons don't really move like a traditional button, and I've had enough bad touch controls on other earbuds that I expected more of the same. Instead, these are excellent. Shokz uses pressure-sensitive buttons, and there's such a positive response when pressing them that it almost feels like haptic feedback. I've had no trouble figuring out whether a press actually registered, which is more than I can say for a lot of earbuds I've used. Connectivity has also been trouble-free. Multipoint between my phone and iPad has worked seamlessly, and switching between the two has been exactly how it should be which is something I don't have to think about. Battery life has been equally uneventful in the best possible way. They get me through the night, which is really all I care about. Build quality feels about the same as my other OpenFit earbuds. The finish is a little different, but nothing about them feels cheap or like Shokz cut corners to make them lighter. I still wish the charging case supported wireless charging, though. USB-C works fine, but wireless charging would make an already convenient set of earbuds even easier to live with. If you already like the Shokz OpenFit line, the Air 2 feels like a lighter variation on a formula that already works. They don't sound quite as robust as my OpenFit 2, and the slightly different speaker shape isn't quite as friendly for sleeping, but neither issue has stopped me from really enjoying them. They're lightweight, comfortable, secure, sound great for an open-ear design, and the controls and multipoint connection have been excellent. I do love these, and they've quickly become my go-to pair for late-night listening.

The Shokz OpenFit Air 2 earbuds are a near perfect combination of sound quality, comfort, durability, and overall design. I'll start by saying that I've owned a lot of earbuds over the years, ranging from relatively inexpensive pairs to some very expensive ones, and I still have many of them today. Around this time last year, I got the Shokz OpenFit 2, and they have been my go-to earbuds ever since. Probably 90% of the time those are the ones in my ears, and I would estimate that I wear them for at least two to three hours almost every day. I've also put those earbuds through a pretty rigorous lifestyle that goes well beyond what they are recommended for. They go out to the hot tub with me nearly every night, (obviously not underwater). They've been through rainstorms, dropped more times than I can count, and currently have paint and primer on them from our recent remodel. Despite all of that, they still work just as well as they did when I first got them. With that said, the new OpenFit Air 2 feels very familiar, they’re noticeably lighter than my OpenFit 2, and I actually think the fit has improved. They seem to lock around my ears a little more securely, and the speaker sits slightly differently against my ear. I get a closer fit in my ear canal while still having the open-ear feeling. I also think the sound quality has improved. Some of that may simply come from the better fit, but the bass seems a little fuller and music has a richer overall sound. Open-ear earbuds always have some limitations compared with earbuds that completely seal your ear canal, but I'm very happy with the sound these produce. Where Shokz continues to absolutely win me over, though, is microphone quality. This is probably the biggest reason their earbuds have become my everyday pair. I can put them on and practically forget I'm wearing them. Then my phone rings while I'm walking around the house and I can just answer it without thinking about switching devices. I've made countless business phone calls with my OpenFit earbuds, and nobody ever complains about the quality. While I’ve definitely had earbuds with a more dynamic or richer sound, or deeper bass, I've never been able to consistently replicate the call quality I get from my Shokz with most of the other open-ear earbuds I've tried. However, the difference in sound quality when playing music isn’t dramatic enough to make me switch earbuds. The design looks great, they're incredibly comfortable, they stay securely on my ears, sound excellent, have fantastic battery life, and based on my experience with my previous pair, can withstand plenty of abuse, and of course, sound great on the phone. They are the complete package. If you're looking for an excellent all-around pair of open-ear earbuds that you can put on in the morning and practically forget you're wearing, the OpenFit Air 2 are extremely easy for me to recommend. There may be earbuds that beat them in one individual category, but I think they are overall the most balanced earbuds I’ve ever owned.

Shokz has a new set of earbuds, the Shokz OpenFit Air 2. They are lightweight, stay in place, have a good battery life, and come with a charge case. In The Box In the box is the OpenFit Air 2 earbuds and a charging case. There is no USB-C charge cable in the box. I already have a lot of charge cables, so that wasn’t a big issue for me. The charge case is just big enough for the earbuds which keeps the size down. The battery in the charge case is good and I can get a lot of charges out of it. The earbuds, when in the charge case overlap a little which helps to keep the charge case size down to a minimum. Fit/Use It’s quick for me to get the earbuds on. The design make is easy without having to fiddle with each to get the over ear part in place. The earbuds don’t fit in the ear canal, the rest right in front of it. The sound is good, but I had trouble hearing an audio book while out jogging when I was on the sidewalk next to a highway. While out on a walk, a jog, and a bike ride, I didn’t have any issues with them staying in place. The fit is good enough that there was no moving around. Once I put them on, they stayed in place. With them being so light, they also didn’t hurt my ear or cause me to think about them. Earbuds are great when I can put them on and within a minute just forget about them. No unusual pressure on any part of my ears. Battery life is good. They are small enough that I was surprised that I was able to get through the bike ride, the jogs, and walks without the battery getting low. The buttons are easy to find by touch. When I press one it registers the button press. I’ve had issues with other earbuds in the past with buttons, but I did not have any problems with the button on the OpenFit Air 2’s. The controls are simple for audio stop/start, next track, previous track as well as controlling phone calls. App The app works just fine. There are options for different EQ modes, gesture control, and multi-point pairing. It’s easy to setup multi-point pairing and selecting the EQ mode is simple. The app is minimal, but it doesn’t need to have much to it. It’s streamlined and easy to use. Final Thoughts I really like that the OpenFit Air 2 earbuds are so lightweight that I forget they are on. They are not distracting to me at all. I would have liked active noise canceling, but without it, the battery life is very long. Couple that with the charge case capable of multiple charges of the earbuds, and I have less of a headache regarding charging and battery life. I like what Shokz has done with the Shokz OpenFit Air 2 earbuds. If you are looking for a pair, then add these to your list for consideration.

I have used other Shokz open-ear earbuds in the past and, to be honest, I am impressed by this new OpenFit Air 2 model. It has improved a lot in terms of comfort, size, and sound quality. The packaging includes sleek-looking earbuds and a small charging case. It is impressive that Shokz has fit the earbuds into such a small, pocket-friendly case. The pairing and setup were straightforward through the Shokz app. The workflow is the same as for any other Bluetooth earbuds—open the case, open the app, and pair. The app immediately recognized the earbuds and they paired without any issues. The earbuds are very comfortable to wear. For long-term wearing, they are almost negligible in weight; after 10–15 minutes, I almost forgot that I was wearing them. I wear reading glasses, and they don’t interfere with them at all. The earbuds have multi-touch, pressure-sensitive touch spots to control calls or music (like playing the next or previous track) and they are fully customizable. I would say the sound quality is good for everyday wearing. The app offers equalizer settings: Standard, Vocal, Bass, Private, and Custom. I find the Standard mode is a kind of flat, and the Bass setting is almost like the Standard setting with very minimal bass improvement. However, the Bass setting sounds more natural to me than Standard. Switching to Vocal increases the sound output and loudness significantly but offers almost no bass; that said, the vocals are very clear. Regardless of the equalizer mode, the music output is clear and crisp with no fading or latency. Shokz notes that Private mode significantly reduces sound leakage, but to me, it just feels like it reduces the volume, so I am not entirely sure how much sound leaks on Private versus the other modes. The earbuds also offer multipoint pairing and can seamlessly switch between calls on my phone and music on my computer. "Find My Earbuds" is built-in, which is a nice feature to have for finding a missing earbud in case of accidental misplacement. The app offers a firmware update option for future updates as well. Overall, this is an impressive open-ear earbud from Shokz with good sound quality, and it is lightweight enough for long daily wear.