Open-ear buds are becoming more popular and for me there were a couple of reasons why I wanted to try them. Firstly, I have decided that I do not want to place buds inside my ear canal anymore and secondly when I am out and about I like to be aware of my surroundings in terms of noise. I have been wearing in-ear, on-ear and over-ear phones since childhood and at 51 now I have worn so many varieties and budgets. Let's start by accepting that the sound quality from open-ear will not be the same as those other types that the majority of people wear. Walking around with the noise of traffic, nature etc in addition to your music or podcast will be different. Inside the box is the charging case which houses the ear buds, charging cable, two pairs of silicone tips and booklets in relation to usage. On the back of the case is the USB port for charging. The ear buds look very stylish, they are well designed and the open ring part is nice and flexible. I already have the Soundcore app installed on my mobile and so I simply connected the ear buds to my mobile and in turn the app. There are a number of functions on the app that include customisation of the ear bud ring whereby you can determine the action when tapping the ring such as play, pause or skip. There is also an EQ mode with both presets and custom so that you can choose your own sound profile. Connectivity was flawless as always with Anker products. Placing the ear bud onto the ear is very straight forward, just widen the ring part of the ear bud and place it around the edge of your upper ear and then once on, slowly lower it down until you find the fit you like. This should also be where the audio sounds best. If you are not happy with the fit you can apply the included silicone tips for a better fit if this helps. For me they immediately felt right and since wearing them for upwards of two hours there has been no issue with the fit, my ears have not felt tired, sore or at any moment have I wanted to take them off. My first listen to music was genuinely impressive, this was indoors and I was surprised how good the stereo soundstage was. Instruments and sounds coming from various points, it was great. Now bass is something that will be different here. Not having an in-ear bud sealed into the ear canal you will not be getting that full, boomy (If that is your thing) thud. Here it is still good and I do get a good sense of the bass. Going outside for a walk and once again I am impressed with the tech. It really is clever how the audio is directed into the ear canal whilst cars go by, birds chirp in the trees and the wind whistles past, yet I could hear the music still very well. In terms of volume control I didn't require turning it up anywhere near to its loudest level. Obviously in quieter environments there will be some sound leakage and as a respectful person I won't be having the volume turned up too loudly on public transport. In terms of voice calls, I have used them indoors only so far and the other person was able to hear me very clearly. I didn't purchase them to use this specific feature however, it is good to know the quality of calls is impressive. The battery is decent and you get a good amount of usage until they require charging up. Placing back into the charging case and they juice up perfectly. One feature related to this which is on the app, it displays not only the battery level for each earbud but also for the charging case which I find really useful and great to know when it requires a charge again. So my overall thoughts are overwhelmingly positive. The design of the ear buds are excellent, modern and for me the fit is great. The sound quality is impressive and exceeds my expectations. Functionality is very good all round. I own and have used various Anker tech over the years and the Soundcore range for audio is one of my favourite. If you are curious about open-ear buds then I can recommend giving them a try, for the offer that I got them on, they are excellent value for money.
