OpenRock X Open-Ear Earbuds

Review by Angie Kibiloski

The OpenRock X series of open-ear earbuds are the only earhook-style earbuds that I’ve wanted to continue using after I’ve finished reviewing them. The X series earbuds are small, lightweight, comfortable, and widely adjustable, with satisfying sound quality and user-friendly function. In my opinion, they’re far superior to open-ear models from other brands I’ve tried before, and even compared to previous OpenRock versions. I’ve never been a huge fan of open-ear earbuds in general, for either fit or fashion, but the OpenRock X have changed my mind, even if just for this specific model. Available in black, white, or orange, and packaged with a robust charging case, this sleek and stylish set of earbuds is available for just $169.99.

The OpenRock X earbuds have an open-ear design, relying on air conduction to deliver sound instead of an internal earplug to channel audio into your ear canal. This aids in maintaining ear health by allowing your ear canal to breathe and remain dry while eliminating the friction and pressure created by earplug-style earbuds. By leaving your ears open, you’ll also still be able to hear ambient sounds and stay safely aware of your surroundings. I’ve found that I prefer this over earbuds that completely block out external sounds when I’m out of my house, so that I’m not oblivious to what’s happening around me, in case I need to react. The speaker portion is made from plastic and coated with an antiseptic layer to prevent bacterial growth from perspiration, and is IPX5 waterproof and sweat-resistant to suit an active lifestyle. Each earbud has a single physical button to control playback options, volume, and call functions, which I prefer over touch surface controls to prevent inadvertently pausing or changing tracks. The speaker is suspended immediately outside of your ear canal, resting in place within the inner curve of your ear shell, and attached over the top of your ear by a hook.

The earhook is made from a titanium alloy wire coated in liquid silicone rubber for a soft, smooth, matte feel against your skin. This hook is nice and thin, barely noticeable once properly situated, fitting comfortably in the valley between your ear and head, and counter-balanced by a small bobber at the back. The hook is attached to the speaker bud with a stainless steel, dual-axis joint, providing minute degrees of adjustment across a 50° vertical and 45° horizontal range, making these earbuds customizable to any size and shape of ear. This is the main feature of why I like the OpenRock X so much, because they’re super easy to precisely adjust to my exact ear size and angle, so they stay snugly attached without feeling tight or irritating, even when I’m moving around. Altogether, the speaker and earhook weigh in at just 0.24 oz.

Internally, each earbud houses a 14.2 mm dynamic speaker with a nanometer bio-fiber and polymer diaphragm, providing high-res sound with minimal distortion. The patented BassDirect acoustic cavity transmits powerful bass across the air gap into your ear canal, purportedly unparalleled in other open-ear models. On-board software delivers crisp audio across the full frequency spectrum with OpenRock‘s LISO 2.0 algorithm and HiFi 5 DSP, along with AI-assisted noise cancellation during phone calls through 4 beam-forming microphones. Due to the open-ear design, you’ll still be able to hear ambient noise, but the person on the other end of your call will not. The earbuds can connect with 2 devices simultaneously via Bluetooth 5.3, and you can switch between them seamlessly once paired. I found this process quick and easy, with zero issues pairing the OpenRock X to both my cell phone and laptop.

Peripheral to the earbuds, we have the 720 mAh aluminum alloy charging case, with a magnetic housing for each earbud, one on either side of the rectangular unit, sitting inside of a push-to-release drawer that slides closed to charge. The case provides up to 48 hours of battery life, with 12 hours per charge on the earbuds, with a quick charge of 1 hour of earbud life in just 5 minutes of charging, and a full charge in just 1.5 hours. The case comes with a removable ring clip so you can attach it to a backpack or belt loop, but I find it kinda chunky to carry everywhere, at 91.5 mm x 46.1 mm x 32.5 mm, and weighing in at 3.19 oz. For a more compact option, you can purchase the Portable Case for $29.99, a slim and stylish hard-sided fabric carrying case to protect and transport your earbuds when you don’t need a backup charge.

Additionally, the OpenRock app for Android and iOS opens up several software features to enhance your listening experience. You can customize which controls are assigned to the left and right earbud buttons, toggle on some extra features, and finetune your EQ settings. For each button you can choose single, double, or long press for play/pause, skip, answer call, and volume up/down. Toggle on Spatial Sound to mimic the immersive stereophonic audio of a movie theater, Max Volume Limiter to remain within the healthy volume range recommended by WHO, and Over-time Wear Reminder to alert you when you’ve reached a set duration, to give your ears a break and prevent ear strain. The 3 EQ preset modes are Rock Mode, which enhances the bass to energize you during fast-paced activities like workouts, Relax Mode, which provides a balanced sound frequency distribution that’s perfect for more mellow moments, and Boom Mode, which amps up the SPL (sound pressure level) so the audio clearly reaches your ear in noisy environments. You can also create a precise custom EQ setting to suit your own unique listening taste.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed using the OpenRock X open-ear earbuds, especially as I’d not been a fan of earhook-style earbuds in the past. It was so easy to adjust both the width of the earhook arch and the angle that the speaker bud rested against the surface of my ear. Once I had them adjusted, they stayed securely in place even when I moved around a lot, when other models have fallen off my head at the slightest tilt. They were light enough that I hardly felt them sitting on my ears, and didn’t create the headache-inducing pressure after prolonged use like other devices. The sound quality of both speakers and microphones seems on par with this price range of earbuds, and though I’m not enough of an audiophile to have much use for the EQ settings myself, they seem to provide decent enough customization for those who like to micro-manage their listening experiences. I encourage you to explore the OpenRock X earbuds in more depth on the OpenRock website, and maybe pick up a set for $169.99. While you’re there, compare them to the flagship OpenRock S series at a mere $99.99, or the OpenRock Pro for $149.99. If you prefer a more typical earhook design, both the S and Pro series might be for you, but with their minimal size adjustments and larger, heavier speaker bodies that didn’t sit as snugly or comfortably within my ear shell, they just don’t compete with the OpenRock X for my personal taste. If you’d like to see them up close, check out my hands-on video on YouTube for a brief tour of the product.