While I don’t consider myself an audiophile, having earphones that perform both for calls and for listening to audio is key in my line of work and play.
I received the OpenRock X Open-Ear Air Conduction Sport Earbuds around the time I got back home from doing the Osaka Marathon, so I was catching up on work mostly and not doing a lot of exercise. I ended up using them for the first time on a work conference call, and listened to some music afterwards as I wrote some articles not realizing I had been wearing them for most of the day.
Now as I’ve ramped up my training again in the last week and a half, I’ve used the OpenRock X during some of my runs as well as a yoga session.
Watch my vlog review below or scroll down for the lowdown.
The specs on the OpenRock X Open-Ear Air Conduction Sport Earbuds box include the following info:
- Customized 14.2mm driver with enhanced bass
- four microphones and AI algorithm for clear calls
- Professional sound effects for sports
- IPX5 waterproof
- Multipoint connection
- Bluetooth 5.3
Additional information from the manual:
- Battery life: 12 hours per earbud on a single charge, and 48 hours when using the charging case
- Power supply: 5V or 1A
- Charging time: 1.5 hours from zero to 100%; charging for 5 minutes gives you one hour playback time
- Weight: 11.9 grams (single earbud) / 128.8 grams (full set including charging case)
The OpenRock X box includes a pair of earbuds, charging case, USB-C to USB-A charging cable, and a quick-start guide. You can also download and link the earbuds to your smartphone using the OpenRock app so you can customize sound profiles and controls.
The earbuds look like dainty little things, but they have a solid build quality, with an adjustable design made possible through a titanium pivot/hinge. When you put them on over your ears, I mean they don’t disappear, but they do stay on well and are balanced so it doesn’t feel like they are going to fall off.
Both earbuds have physical buttons which you can use to control the earbuds.
- Long press on both: power on/off
- Single click: start/stop music; accept call
- Double click: next track; reject call
- Triple click: previous track
- Long press on left: volume down/customizable
- Long press on right: volume up/customizable
You can use the OpenRock app to set custom controls for the long presses. The app also has equalizer/sound profiles with three presets and one custom, a spatial audio toggle, volume limiter, time usage reminder, idle time power off, earbud audio finder, and audio prompts language selection.
I think my favorite feature was the Multipoint Connection which allowed me to connect more than one device to the earbuds — pretty helpful when you want to listen to music from your phone but also want to hear audio prompts from your Garmin.
The four microphones and noise-cancellation algorithm also allowed me to take conference calls and sound professional instead of them hearing my dogs howling in the background. However, wind noise (from a swiveling fan, for instance) can cause choppy audio quality because the algorithm silences the noise.
They are great for exercising outdoors on open roads because you can still hear ambient sound; however, the powerful driver means you still need to keep volume at a reasonable level, otherwise it can drown out the car honking behind you.
Throughout my two weeks of use, the charging case went from service charge down to only 50% battery level — and I still haven’t had to charge it. Probably the only con to having so much battery capacity is that the case is chunky and feels like I’m toting around a portable speaker.
I’m really thankful that OpenRock sent this to me so I could share the information about the OpenRockX with my readers. They also gave me a promo code, which I don’t make any money from. I think it’s a great product, and I want others to be able to buy it at an affordable price.
The OpenRock X Open-Ear Air Conduction Sport Earbuds retails for USD $179.99 on OpenRock.com, but is currently on sale at USD $169.99 with free shipping worldwide.
Get an additional 15% off by using my voucher code PHLOPENX15 (I do not receive anything when you use my voucher code).
