The HONOR Earbuds Open Managed To Surprise Me

Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority

HONOR launched multiple products at MWC, including a new pair of open earbuds, called, in a shocking twist, HONOR Earbuds Open.

I got to try them out for several weeks and although I didn’t expect to like them or find them that useful, they managed to surprise me.

The HONOR Earbuds Open are more comfortable for prolonged use than my usual choice of in-ear earbuds (currently the HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 4). But they also provide great sound while keeping me more connected to my surroundings. For the right kind of user, these are easy to recommend.

The AirPods Pro 2 and most higher-end modern earbuds feature flexible silicone tips that plug into your ears and prevent some of the outside noise from seeping in. This is for good reason — when you have effective isolation, you experience less auditory masking due to unwanted external noise. Thanks to the silicone tips, you don’t need to rely on noise cancellation as much and you can listen at a lower volume, both of which are good for protecting your hearing.

For the right kind of user, these are easy to recommend.

As beneficial as in-ear silicone tips are, they also come with drawbacks — they can get uncomfortable after prolonged use, they can fall out of your ears, and sometimes they’re simply too good at shutting out the outside world.

Open earbuds like the new HONOR ones take a different approach. They essentially behave like tiny speakers you wear over your ears, rather than inside them.

Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority

The bass on the Earbuds Open is punchy, even if you’ll probably want to pump up the volume a little more than you would with in-ear buds. The whole range is quite clean, though I still prefer my HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 4 for their more faithful reproduction throughout mids and high notes.

Beyond the sound quality, there are three key aspects I like about the HONOR Earbuds Open.

First is the fact that they don’t seal off the outside world. As much as I sometimes enjoy the near total isolation provided by regular earbuds, I can’t wear them in situations when I actually need to pay attention to my surroundings. Sure, Apple’s Transparency mode and various other implementations of the same concept attempt to work around this issue, but I never found that they truly solved it. In contrast, with the Earbuds Open, I could enjoy my music and keep up with a conversation with my colleagues at the same time. If I turned the volume high enough they would still drown out conversations, but I rarely found myself doing that anyway.

The second big advantage of using the Earbuds Open is the stable fit. If you’re like me, you might have trouble getting in-ear buds to stay put. Earbuds tend to fall out of my ears, regardless of shape or size, so I find myself having to regularly stuff them back in. This is a mild annoyance when it happens during Zoom calls, but infuriatingly it makes using earbuds during workouts impossible for me. In contrast, the Earbuds Open simply cannot fall off your ears thanks to their hook construction. On a side note, the earbuds’ hooks did not feel uncomfortable against my eyeglasses if that’s something that worries you.

You can truly wear the HONOR Earbuds Open for hours without discomfort.

Finally, the Earbuds Open are very comfortable. They don’t exert pressure on the inside of your ears, so you can truly wear them for hours and forget you have them on. This is something that is often said about in-ear buds, but in my experience it’s hardly ever the case.

Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority

As the first pair of open earbuds I tried, I was surprised by how much I liked the HONOR Earbuds Open. The great sound and comfort, combined with the ability to enjoy my music without missing out on my surroundings, ticked a lot of boxes for me. However, they’re not for everyone.

While they technically feature active noise cancelling, it’s not effective due to the inherent limitations of open-style earbuds. Too much noise simply seeps past the speakers for the ANC to work in a meaningful way. I recommend you leave ANC disabled, which should save you some battery life.

Due to their size and construction, they’re also more conspicuous than in-ear earbuds. And they aren’t a good choice when you do actually want to shut out as much noise as you can, such as during air travel.

You should know that the HONOR Earbuds Open aren’t great if you’re worried about your music or voice calls being heard by people around you. If you are in a quiet space and you listen at higher volumes, the sound may be noticeable from a couple of meters away.

Considering their size, I also feel HONOR missed a beat when it didn’t fit the Earbuds Open with larger batteries. Each bud contains a 58mAh unit, which is good, but it’s about the same as the much more compact HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 4. According to the manufacturer, you should get around up to six hours of continuous use (ANC off) before you have to place them back into the case for a recharge.