Shokz OpenFit 2 hands-on: constant improvement

I wanted to love Shokz’s OpenFit 2, the company’s latest open-ear wireless headphones that are debuting here at CES 2025. Although Shokz has made several improvements to the overall design and function, the sound can still be be a little hollow.

I tried the OpenFit Air a few months ago and they checked off almost everything I was looking for in a pair of open-ear headphones. Although not perfect, the bass is decent. The volume can also be quite difficult in some environments – again, something understandable for an open-ear design. The problem was that the ear hook design didn’t fit well if I was wearing my glasses. (That, and the touch controls were difficult to use.)

Shokz sent me a pair of the $179.95 OpenFit 2s before CES. Based on the updates I was very optimistic. To start, Shokz added an additional driver to each bud for a total of two: one dedicated to bass, the other to mids and highs. It’s an approach that has worked wonderfully with the OpenRun Pro 2 bone conduction headphones which include an air conduction driver to enhance bass. (My colleague David Pierce and I are die-hard OpenRun Pro 2 converts.) Volume has been slightly improved. The earhook design has also been changed so that the curved part above the ear is thinner. Physical buttons have been added to each bud for simpler controls. Battery life has also improved to 11 hours, up from seven hours on the original OpenFit and six hours on the OpenFit Air. There are also four EQ presets!

And during my testing, I noticed many of these improvements immediately. It’s still not ideal, but the thinner earloop is easier to use with my glasses on days when I don’t want to wear contacts. Noisy highways and very noisy environments were always a challenge but outperformed the OpenFit Air. While taking these hands-on photos, the hustle and bustle of the Vegas Strip didn’t drown out my music or prevent me from hearing my colleague Antonio G. Di Benedetto’s photo cues. I got about 10-11 hours on a single charge. When I wanted to pause or skip tracks, the physical buttons were easier to use (although my butterfingers still struggled sometimes, especially when wearing snap studs.)

Unfortunately, I couldn’t help but notice the sound quality. While better than the Air, it wasn’t as good as I hoped. On Stray Kids’ “Unfair,” what should be a growling baritone vocal sounds muddy. Vocals, in general, can sound distant at times, even with vocal EQ. At higher volumes, bass-heavy songs sometimes sounded distorted. My problems were more evident when I ran outside. However, if you’re listening to a podcast or in a relatively quiet room at a lower volume, it’s much less noticeable.

All of this is somewhat expected from open-ear headphones. It’s more that the effect of having dedicated drivers for bass versus treble and midrange wasn’t as impressive as that of the OpenRun Pro 2. When I tried the latter for first time, my jaw dropped and I said, “Oh.“With these, it’s more of a grateful nod. This could be because the OpenFit 2s are traditional earphones using air conduction. The OpenRun Pro 2 uses air conduction for bass and bone conduction for highs and mids.

Whether sound quality is a deciding factor depends on how you plan to use these headphones. I primarily use open-back headphones for running and found myself wanting to use the OpenRun Pro 2 instead. But when putting at home or strength training, the lack of a wraparound neckband makes them infinitely more comfortable, especially for exercises like chest presses or leaning back in my chair.

The OpenFit 2 are available starting today for $179.95 in black and beige.