Wireless earbuds aren’t an easy space to innovate in—and not for lack of trying. It’s not that there’s nothing more to be squeezed out of the form factor; it’s the fact that there are probably enough pairs across generations and brands to blanket the moon (that’s not a real fact, so don’t hold me to that). That means a lot has been attempted in the space, and not all of it is worth holding onto.

On the other hand, it also means that when something genuinely new does come around, it’s all the more exciting, and to me, Shokz OpenFit Pro achieve that genuinely new feeling.

Noise reduction, not noise cancellation

When I tried the $250 OpenFit Pro at CES 2026, I was skeptical. Not because Shokz doesn’t make great audio products—they do—but because they were alleging to do the one thing I’ve wanted for years in the open earbud world: make a pair with noise cancellation.

In case you’re not familiar with open-ear wireless audio products, let me back up for a moment. They’re great for a lot of reasons. They’re comfortable because you don’t have silicone shoved in your ears, they’re great for running and biking because you can still hear your environment, and they’re great for taking calls since you can still hear your own voice as you would normally without (again) something shoved inside your ears.

See Shokz OpenFit Pro at Best Buy

If there’s one major downside, though, it’s that they don’t have active noise cancellation (ANC). Because open-ear wireless earbuds can’t create a tight seal in your ears with ear tips, ANC has been mostly off the table. Shokz, however, clearly took that limitation as a challenge and gave the OpenFit Pro the next best thing—noise reduction. While Shokz stops short of calling noise-blocking features on the OpenFit Pro ANC, it definitely has a similar effect.

As soon as noise reduction is turned on in the OpenFit Pro, there’s a noticeable dimming of ambient sound. In an office setting, the effect is significant. I tried the OpenFit Pro while my colleagues and I were busy clacking away at our keyboards, and the second I activated noise reduction, I was suddenly a lot more locked in to my music. Keystrokes were less present, chatter was muffled, and I was free to listen to music or a podcast more intently.

As skeptical as I was that open-style earbuds could provide anything even close to ANC, Shokz has definitely done it. With that said, however, this is not ANC, and there’s a reason why Shokz doesn’t call it that. Noise reduction does a good job of dampening sounds around you, but it won’t hold up to louder environments like other, more traditional wireless earbuds and headphones, which create a seal in (or around) your ears.

I gave the Shokz OpenFit Pro an obligatory test on the subway, and while it definitely reduced some noise, they were still no match for train screeches and rumbling. Like any other pair of open-ear wireless earbuds, I found myself having to crank the volume in order to compete. In some ways, I actually find them less suitable for loud environments compared to open-ear, clip-style earbuds like the Soundpeats Clip1, because the speaker element sits a bit farther away from your ear, meaning the sound is slightly less direct.

In lower-to-medium-loud settings is where the OpenFit Pro shine, though. In offices, walking on a less busy street, and sitting around at my apartment with cats and my partner doing their thing, the OpenFit Pro definitely gave me a bit of a buffer—just a slight hedge against ambient noise when I wanted it. And when the noise reduction was off, I could hear almost as well as I would had I not been wearing them. For what it’s worth, you can also adjust the level of noise reduction with a slider in the Shokz app for whatever your noise-reducing occasion may be.

The bottom line is that the OpenFit Pro don’t have ANC, and if you’re looking for a pair of earbuds that give you maximum protection from outside noise, these aren’t your pick. If you’re okay with a middle ground that gives you a little bit of a bubble when you need it, then the OpenFit Pro might just be the open-ear wireless earbuds you’ve been waiting for.

They sound fantastic

I’ll just get straight to the point: I think the OpenFit Pro sound fantastic. I was recently impressed by the Soundpeats Clip1, and I’m willing to say that the OpenFit Pro reach parity in sound quality and maybe even outshine the Clip1 at times.

One of the ways that the OpenFit Pro flex on the Clip1 is the inclusion of an “Optimized for Dolby Atmos” toggle in the app. While the Clip1 also have Dolby Atmos for 3D spatial sound, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as immersive as it does on the OpenFit Pro. By switching this feature on, you can listen to any audio content using enhanced Dolby Atmos sound—not just content made specifically for Dolby Atmos. The second you do, everything you listen to instantly gains a greater sense of space, and the whole soundstage gets broadened. I listened to Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and was struck by the presence of subtle reverb in the vocals and light percussion in the background of the song panned to one side.

In more bass-centric electronic genres, the OpenFit Pro performed equally as well. I listened to Daft Punk’s “Around the World,” and everything had room to breathe—bass samples felt round and present without overpowering the rest of the mix, and synths bounced back and forth between right and left earbuds just like god intended. Slightly crunchy, robotic vocals sat right in the middle of the mix without getting lost or muddled. I would call the experience “mise en place”—everything in its place.

You could, of course, turn the optimized for Dolby Atmos toggle off, but if you’re looking for the best sound, I don’t see any reason to do that. It’s not that the OpenFit Pro don’t sound good without the Dolby setting on—they do—but they just sound that much better with the added spatiality.

Powering the excellent sound is Shokz’s 11 x 20mm synchronized dual-diaphragm driver, which gets properly loud, though it may sound a bit quieter than competitors like the Clip1, which sit closer to your ear canal. I was able to compete with train noise, though, which means that if you’re wearing these while running or biking like a lot of people are, you should have more than enough volume.

With calling, the OpenFit Pro performed equally as well. While other open-style earbuds like Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds have a tendency to pick up ambient noise, I’m told that the OpenFit Pro did not. I spent several minutes on the phone with a friend with simulated city noise in the background (a YouTube video playing at full volume from my MacBook Air) and was told that the ambient noise wasn’t disruptive and that my voice quality was solid. They rated my voice an eight on a scale of 10.

For most other styles of earbud, calling might be significant but not the biggest thing in the world, but for open-style earbuds, calling is arguably one of the best use cases since talking is so much better without something crammed inside your ear. Needless to say, if you planned on using the OpenFit Pro for calls, you probably won’t be disappointed.

Not another clip

Unlike other clip-style earbuds that wrap around the back of your ear like a sideways earring for a semi-in-ear fit, the OpenFit Pro actually loop around the back with the battery resting behind your ear and the speaker resting on the outside. If you’ve ever seen Nothing’s Ear Open, it’s basically the same design.

This style of open-ear bud definitely has a bigger footprint on your head, but if you’re okay with the look, I think there’s a lot to like here. The OpenFit Pro are comfortable, secure, and easy to take on and off. I think they look kind of cool, personally, and have just enough style to make you feel like they’re sleek but not so much that they stand out. The Nothing Ear Open still have them beat in the looks department, but these are a good in-between—almost like a mix of Bose and Nothing aesthetically.

I wore the Shokz OpenFit Pro for hours on end without any irritation, and while I’m not a runner, I could see being comfortable using these while exercising, especially with the IP55 rating. One thing that is a little obnoxious is the case. It’s big. I guess if you’re not necessarily bringing the case around with you when you run or walk, it’s fine, but if you planned on carrying the charging case, you may want to have a jacket or a purse.

In this form factor, it’s kind of inevitable to have a case that’s a little bit larger, but I still think the charging case solution on the Nothing Ear Open is slightly more elegant—it’s long and can fit more easily in a pocket.

Button-wise, things are fairly simple. Each OpenFit Pro earbud has the same rubber button, which can be used for play and pause and track skipping by single and double-pressing. If you long-press the button, you can switch between open and noise reduction modes. The buttons work fine. Nothing to report here, really. They’re on the smaller side, but I didn’t find them difficult to use or finicky. I’m personally glad that Shokz went with buttons instead of swipe controls here, since they’re generally more responsive. On the case, there’s just one button for pairing, but what more do you really need there?

All the right features

The OpenFit Pro aren’t the most feature-rich earbuds I’ve ever used, but they’ve got quite a bit going for them. In addition to the Dolby Atmos sound that I already mentioned and noise reduction, there’s 3D head-tracking. Lots of wireless earbuds have features like this nowadays, and while I don’t often feel the need or urge to use it, Shokz’s version works well.

With a quick calibration, the OpenFit Pro can track your head movements so that if you tilt to either side, audio sounds like it’s playing into one ear or another. It’s a bit of a gimmick, but I guess if you’re looking for immersion in some form or another, it might speak to you. There are also fairly standard features like EQ, which you can tweak with presets like “vocal” or “bass boost,” and can also customize yourself with a 10-band EQ.

There’a a convenient “Find My Earbuds” feature that lets you play a sound from either earbud in case you lose one. Your earbuds have to be paired for this to work, and they’re limited to the Bluetooth range, but it’s nice to have. My one complaint here is that the noise could be a little bit louder, but maybe my hearing is just shot from years of using earbuds.

You can also switch between connection modes with a “low latency” option that is better for video or maybe even gaming, though you’d need a 2.4GHz dongle to really get fast enough connection for that. There’s a “high stability” option if you’re using these open-ear wireless earbuds while farther away from your phone or whatever device you’re streaming from. There’s also multi-device pairing for easier switching and the ability to customize buttons for controls if you don’t like the presets. Feature-wise, these wireless earbuds will have everything you need and quite a few perks you didn’t expect. I would have liked to see personalized EQ with a hearing test as an option, but not having it isn’t a dealbreaker.

Luckily, you’ll be able to use all of those features for quite a while, too, since the battery life is solid. Shokz says that (with noise reduction on), you’ll get 6 hours of music playback and 12 hours with noise reduction off. Those estimates hold up in my testing. As of writing, I’ve been using the OpenFit Pro for over an hour on and off with noise reduction on most of the time, and the battery dropped from 100% to 80%. If you’re using these for exercise, that should be more than enough juice with noise reduction enabled, unless you’re not training for a marathon.

A not-so-shocking conclusion

When I initially tried the OpenFit Pro in January at CES, I had high expectations, and the Shokz OpenFit Pro mostly lived up to them. They sound fantastic, they fit great, and they have lots of features. Noise reduction—the headlining feature—is also a solid start. While it works well for muffling sounds, I’d love to see Shokz bring those capabilities even further in the future. I doubt it’ll ever be as good as ANC from wireless earbuds that have eartips, but maybe there’s still more room to close the gap.

The fact that Shokz even achieved nose reduction at all on a pair of open-ear wireless earbuds is impressive, though, and it’s great to see the OpenFit Pro aren’t a one-trick pony. If you’re looking for a pair of open-ear wireless earbuds that sound great and are comfortable, Shokz’s are some of the best that money can buy.

See Shokz OpenFit Pro at Best Buy