Review of Honor Earbuds Open: Excellent Design and Pleasant Sound

Explore the features of Honor Earbuds Open, blending great design with impressive sound quality.

Overview of Honor Earbuds Open

Honor Earbuds Open stands out with its unique and stylish design. They provide the comfort of full-sized headphones yet weigh less and take up less space than traditional in-ear models. If you have sensitive ears or struggle to find headphones that don’t cause discomfort in the ear canal, the Honor Earbuds Open can be the perfect alternative.

These open-ear earbuds come equipped with a range of impressive features, such as real-time translation in 15 languages powered by artificial intelligence, dust and water resistance rated at IP54, multi-device connectivity, 16mm magnetic drivers, active noise cancellation, and spatial audio, among others.

We rigorously tested the Honor Earbuds Open, taking them on a 5 km run, to the gym, and we fully drained the batteries while listening to a variety of music genres. Are these headphones worth your time and money? Read on to find out!

Key Features of Honor Earbuds Open:

• 16mm multi-magnet drivers
• Touch controls
• Open-ear hook design
• Ultra-lightweight
• Sleek and stylish case
• IP54 rated for the earbuds
• Real-time AI translation
• Spatial sound
• Virtual bass technology

Design and Comfort

One of the key highlights of the Honor Earbuds Open is their design and lightweight build. Each earbud weighs just 7.9 grams, including the drivers, hooks, and batteries. They are made from soft TPU material, which feels pleasant to touch and doesn’t give off a cheap vibe like plastic might.

A rubber cable connects the drivers to the batteries, and you wear the earbuds so that the battery remains hidden behind your ear, while the soft drivers snugly fit into the ear canal. This design works wonders, especially for individuals with sensitive ears, like myself.

The Honor Earbuds Open are incredibly comfortable, and I occasionally forgot I was wearing them. Unfortunately, the rubber cable length connecting the earbuds to the battery isn’t adjustable, which means if you have larger ears, the drivers may stick out a bit from the ear canal.

As I mentioned earlier, I took the Earbuds Open for a 5 km run, and they stayed firmly in place. They remained intact and didn’t get soaked with sweat during my first run in six months. The IP54 rating is quite handy, and combined with how these earbuds fit in your ears, they are perfect for sports.

Controls and Features

The touch controls are fairly intuitive, and the earbuds respond quickly and accurately to taps. Double-tap to pause/play a song or answer/end a call. Long-press to decline a call or toggle noise cancellation, and swipe up/down to adjust the volume.

We tested the AI translation feature in several languages, including Spanish, English, and French. It works as advertised—truly useful, especially in conversation mode, where your phone screen splits into two halves, each corresponding to the selected language. There’s a second or two lag before you hear a male voice translating what the other person typed or said, but the translation is fairly accurate.

In terms of packaging, you get just the case with the earbuds in a white paper box; no cables or additional accessories are included. Due to the design of these headphones, you won’t find additional ear tips or other accessories, although we wished the rubber cable were longer and better suited for larger ears.

Sound Quality

Now onto the most crucial aspect of earbuds—the sound quality. The Honor Earbuds Open surprisingly sounds great for open-ear headphones. Typically, when earbuds sit above the ear canal and don't create a tight seal, bass tends to be weak. However, Honor has utilized Virtual Bass technology to enhance the lower frequencies, and they’ve succeeded.

Overall, the sound is detailed and rich; the bass is present, and while it may not be as powerful or deep as that of regular in-ear headphones, these earbuds deliver decent sound quality. However, at max volume, some harmonic distortion occurs, especially with those lower frequencies, but at volumes up to 80%, the sound remains quite clean and linear. The app does not feature an equalizer but offers two preset modes—“Original” and “Workout.” We didn’t notice much difference between the two.

Voice calls also perform excellently; we tested them both indoors and outdoors, and the person on the other end could hear us well. As for active noise cancellation, it’s minimal.

To their credit, you’ll notice a difference when toggling the ANC on and off; background sounds change in pitch and become slightly muted, but don’t expect miracles. We recommend turning off ANC to extend battery life, which leads us to the next section of the review.

Battery Life and Charging

Honor claims six hours of continuous music listening on a single charge, but in reality, our experience was slightly less. We managed just over five hours with ANC off, which isn’t impressive. You can use the case to recharge the earbuds, and it takes about 30–40 minutes to fully recharge them in the case.

The case lacks wireless charging, which may disappoint some users, and recharging the built-in 480 mAh battery is done via standard USB-C charging. It takes just under an hour for the case to charge from zero to full capacity.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What is the weight of Honor Earbuds Open? Each earbud weighs just 7.9 grams, making them exceptionally lightweight.
• Do they have noise cancellation? Yes, but the active noise cancellation is minimal compared to other models.
• How long does the battery last? You can expect about five hours of playback with ANC off on a single charge.
• Are there any additional accessories included? No, the package includes only the earbuds and the case; no cables or extra ear tips.
• Can I connect them to multiple devices? Yes, they support multi-device connectivity for convenience.

If you're interested in elevating your audio experience, head over to our store and shop your favorite album cover poster at Architeg Prints.