OpenRock X are open-ear earbuds that are ideal for sports and outdoor activities. As a long-time user of open-ear earbuds, I found them comfortable and sturdy with decent sound quality. The price is a bit steep but worth it if you want to have good audio gear during your workouts.
Design
The OpenRock X is built from high-quality silicone. It is both light and sturdy and can withstand some of the rough treatment you can expect during workouts. The silicone hook sits comfortably around the ear and has a pivot that adjusts 50 by 45 degrees in two directions to better adjust the audio output for your ear. As a regular user of open-ear buds, I found this to be one of the key differentiators of OpenRock X.
The charging case is made of sleek metal with a nice design. The earbuds come out with a click and are magnetically attached to the charger, which gives a pleasant sleek, metal charging case with great aesthetics and a nice click when you open it.
The OpenRock X comes in black, white, and orange.
Features
OpenRock X uses Bluetooth 5.3 with multipoint pairing. You can connect it to two devices simultaneously and switch between them by pausing one and playing the other. OpenRock X swaps seamlessly, and it automatically switches to your phone if you are receiving or making a call.
The earbuds are IPX5 water-resistant, which means you don’t need to worry about sweat, rain, and water splashes (but don’t submerge them in water).
One of the features of OpenRock X is that the earbuds don’t automatically turn on when you remove them from the charging case. This can be a bit frustrating, but the advantage is that you can turn them on or off without putting them back in the case, which can help preserve battery life.
Each earbud has a button that is partly customizable with the OpenRock App. The app also has a feature for locating your earbuds if you can’t find them.
Sound quality
One thing to note about open-ear earbuds is that the sound quality will not match the devices that fit snugly in your ear canal or headphones that cover your ear. The point is to avoid the discomfort of having something stuck in your ear and also be aware of ambient sound.
That said, I think OpenRock X has one fo the best audio qualities among open-ear earbuds. It uses a 14.2mm dynamic driver and BassDirect technology that channels speaker energy directly into the ear canal to improve the quality.
You can further customize the EQ through OpenRock app, which has three preconfigured audio modes: Rock (deep bass), Relax (balanced sound), and Boom (energetic).
The microphone quality is also impressive. OpenRock X comes with four microphones that have built-in AI noise canceling, which makes them ideal for outdoor calls. I usually don’t use my open-ear earbuds for calls and recordings, but the few tests I made with OpenRock X were decent and managed to remove the ambient noise, though my voice became a bit muffled at times.
Battery life and pricing
The OpenRock X has a really good battery that lasts 12 hours with a single charge. With the charging case, you can get up to 48 hours of usage. And if you’re in a rush, five minutes of charging will give you one hour of usage.
The price of OpenRock X is a bit steep at $179. I would consider it a premium product. If comfort and audio quality makes a big difference for your workouts and outdoor excursions, I would definitely recommend it.