How well wireless earphones fit your ears is one of the most important factors. Finding the correct fit for your unique ear shape might be difficult due to the wide range of ear sizes and shapes; this is where open-ear earbuds excel. In an effort to solve the fit problem, these earbuds rest right around your ears rather than merely going in. We’ll be looking at the Tozo Open Buds, one of the brand’s most recent products, which sell for $56 on Amazon right now.
The 14.2mm dynamic drivers, built-in biaxial rotating ear hooks, Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, and 42 hours of total battery life with the charging case are all features of the Tozo Open Buds. We were eager to try the Open Buds because we don’t receive many open-fit earphones for review. These are the results.
Design
The Tozo Open Buds are housed and charged inside a sizable pebble-shaped charging container. Although the colour of the earphones is more graphite grey than black, the case and buds are only offered in a single matte black colour. The charging case is wider and longer than most of the earbuds we’ve evaluated, measuring 92mm by 56mm. It’s not exactly pocket-friendly, but that’s because the ear hooks on the buds take up the most of the case’s inside space. Each earbud weighs little over 5 grammes, bringing the case and buds’ total weight to 72 grammes.
The Tozo Open Buds stand out thanks to its air-conduction design, which places the speaker drivers above your ear canal. This is particularly helpful for runners because it enables them to hear background noise while exercising, but it’s also a great feature for those whose ear shapes don’t work well with in-ear buds. The ear hooks on the Open Buds are another important component.
A metal hinge mechanism with a seven-stage adjustability and great tactile feedback connects the ear hooks to the buds. In order to better fit your ears, the hooks may easily be turned 90 degrees. Tozo Open Buds are among the most comfortable earbuds we’ve tested, and this is coming from someone who has trouble using in-ear buds owing to the shape of my particular ear canal.
Thanks to their adjustable shape, the buds also comfortably accommodate various coworkers around the office. Due to the absence of in-ear tips, which are prone to collecting ear wax and other debris, Open Buds are also considerably simpler to share.
The hooks fit over your ears and make sure the earbuds are always securely fastened. This form factor will most likely meet your demands if you need a set of headphones for exercising, running, or other activities that need continual movement. The tiny piece of cartilage that is adjacent to your ear canal and can cause irritation is the sole drawback to the fit of the buds. Longer listening sessions would cause this as the earbuds continue to press against the area.
With the exception of the metal hinge joined to the ear hooks, the earphones are composed of plastic. There are no streams on the buds’ or their case’s sturdy construction. The main drawback is that the matte coating makes smudges appear rather clearly, necessitating the odd wipe. The buds’ IPX6 water-resistance is always a plus, especially if you find yourself caught in the rain. One USB-C charging cable, a quick start manual, and a warranty card are all included in the retail packing.
Features of Tozo Open Buds
With support for dual-device connections, Tozo Open Buds offer Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity. Additionally, each earbud has a 14.2mm Dynamic driver with Tozo’s OrigX acoustic tuning and supports the AAC and SBC audio codecs. You’ll also discover capacitive touch controls with customizable single, double, triple, and long press gestures, as well as a wear detection sensor for automatically pausing and restarting media playback.
In the Tozo companion app, which is available for iOS and Android smartphones, the audio equaliser can be adjusted. The open-fit design of Tozo Open Buds prevents them from offering active noise cancellation, but they do have DSP call noise cancellation, which makes use of the twin microphones on each earbud to block out background noises while making or receiving calls.
Like in our review of the Tozo Golden X1 smartphone, we thought the Tozo companion app for Android and iOS was one of the best implementations. We liked its straightforward design and practical customization options. The programme has four extra sound profiles that, depending on your preferences, might boost the vocals, treble, or bass. Regrettably, you are limited in how much you can alter the EQ profiles compared to the Tozo Golden X1 flagship model.
Performance and Sound Quality
Once you place the Tozo Open Buds around your ears, it takes a few minutes to get used to its open-fit design. It seems strange at first because you would generally anticipate the earphones to make contact with your ear canal. the ear is securely encircled by the buds, and the speakers are placed on top of the ear canal to deliver sound. As we’ve already said, this design’s one drawback is that the earphones press against your ear tragus, which can be uncomfortable for extended listening sessions.
The 14.2mm dynamic drivers deliver good audio, although you will need to turn up the volume. As expected, there is some audible sound leakage, so those nearby will be able to hear your audio, especially in quieter settings. Compared to standard in-ear buds, which have a seal in your ear and produce more immersive sound, the listening experience with the Open Buds is different.
Due to the open-ear aspect, you don’t feel completely involved in the music, and the bass is obviously lacking. One of the main selling factors here is that if you want to run or bike about the city, this might be a benefit.
Although the Bass+ EQ preset does deliver more prominent levels, it still falls well short of what you’d experience with in-ear earbuds. While the top register is buried, the midrange is clearly audible and accurately reproduces vocals and musical instruments. Having said that, Tozo Open Buds sound good as long as you don’t hold them to the same standard as expensive in-ear headphones.
My connected phone and laptop’s touch controls operated without a hitch, and I had no trouble managing my media. Another useful addition to the Tozo app is the ability to remap the touch controls. You can even assign volume controls to the long press gesture, which is always a good choice.
Although, like the Golden X1, Open Buds handled Bluetooth communication well, they only give an effective range of 10 metres, which is significantly less than what we’ve observed from the majority of the previously tested earbuds from other brands. In my testing, multi-point pairing smoothly switched between my linked phone and laptop. For earbuds in this price range, the Open Buds’ call quality is approximately average.
Although incoming car traffic and wind distort my voice during conversations, persons on the other end of the queue report that the microphone was generally successful in picking up my voice.
Battery life
Each of the Tozo Open Buds’ 70mAh batteries is housed inside an earbud, and a 650 mAh battery is added by the charging case. Tozo asserts that the case should increase the total runtime to 42 hours while the earbuds should last 12 hours on a single charge at 50% volume using the AAC codec.
In our tests, the earbuds provided 11 hours of playback, which is exceptional endurance. The case provided 3 full recharges, bringing the total battery life to 44 hours. That’s among the most outstanding battery life we’ve observed in our testing of wireless earbuds so far. It takes two hours to recharge the case using the USB-C connector.
Verdict
Tozo Open Buds have an innovative open-ear design with swivelling ear hooks that can fit almost any size and shape of ear. They are simple to recommend because of this essential characteristic, which fits almost all ear shapes. The Open Buds provided all-day comfort during our tests while jogging, exercising, and using them for work. After a few hours, some individuals could experience pressure in the area of their ear tragus. Because of the excellent battery life, you can toss these in your luggage and neglect to charge them for a few weeks.
It does take some getting used to the open-ear design, and the sound leaking is undoubtedly audible. The lack of bass and flat highs in the Open Buds’ design prevents you from feeling as fully engaged in your music. The Tozo Open Buds are a fantastic value at $56 and have good sound quality and long battery life. Tozo Open Buds are unquestionably worth a look if you prioritise snug-fitting earphones for your workouts that don’t require regular recharging.
We might receive a commission from acceptable sales.
