Honor Earbuds Open Review: A great in-ear alternative
The Honor Earbuds Open are a pair of earphones with a very cool and ingenious design. They offer the comfort of over-ear headphones with the weight and size of an in-ear model. If you have sensitive ears, or you struggle to find earbuds that don't make your ear canal hurt, the Honor Earbuds Open might be a perfect alternative.
These open-ear buds also come with a bunch of interesting features, such as AI-powered real-time translation between 15 languages, IP54 dust and water resistance, multi-device connectivity, 16 mm multi-magnetic drivers, active noise cancelation, surround sound, and more.
We've tested the Honor Earbuds Open thoroughly, took them out for a run, went to the gym, tried the real-time conversational translation feature, and completely drained the batteries listening to various genres of music. Are these buds worthy of your time and money? Read on to find out!
We've tested the Honor Earbuds Open thoroughly, took them out for a run, went to the gym, tried the real-time conversational translation feature, and completely drained the batteries listening to various genres of music. Are these buds worthy of your time and money? Read on to find out!
Honor Earbuds Open in a nutshell:
- 16 mm multi-magnetic drivers
- Touch controls
- Hook-up "open ear" design
- Super-light
- Thin and classy case
- IP54 resistance on buds only
- AI-powered real-time translation
- Surround Sound
- Virtual Subwoofer technology
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Honor Earbuds Open specs
| Color options | Polar Gold, Polar Black |
|---|---|
| Audio | Bluetooth 5.2, AAC & SBC |
| Noise cancelation | ANC for open-ear design |
| Connectivity | BT multipoint (dual device) |
| Battery life | 6 hours from buds, +22 hours from case |
| Wireless charging case | No, USB-C charging |
| Ingress resistance | IP54 buds |
Design and Comfort
The Honor Earbuds Open weigh just 7.9 grams each | Image by PhoneArena
One of the key features of the Honor Earbuds Open is their design and weight. Each bud weighs only 7.9 grams, and this includes the drivers, the hooks, and the batteries. The buds are made of soft TPU material that's nice to the touch and doesn't feel cheap like plastic, for example.
There's a rubber cable connecting the drivers to the batteries, and you hook the buds over your ear in such a way that the battery remains hidden behind your ear, while the drivers lay gently over your ear canal. This design works wonders, and for a person with sensitive ears such as myself, it is a godsend.
The Honor Earbuds Open are extremely comfortable, and in fact, I forgot that I was wearing them on several occasions. Now, there's no way to adjust the length of the rubber cable connecting the buds to the battery, and you can't mold it into a different shape either, so if your ear is on the big side, you might end up with the driver hanging slightly upward of your ear canal.
There's a rubber cable connecting the drivers to the batteries, and you hook the buds over your ear in such a way that the battery remains hidden behind your ear, while the drivers lay gently over your ear canal. This design works wonders, and for a person with sensitive ears such as myself, it is a godsend.
The Honor Earbuds Open are extremely comfortable, and in fact, I forgot that I was wearing them on several occasions. Now, there's no way to adjust the length of the rubber cable connecting the buds to the battery, and you can't mold it into a different shape either, so if your ear is on the big side, you might end up with the driver hanging slightly upward of your ear canal.
As I've already mentioned in the intro, I took the Earbuds Open on a 5K run, and they didn't budge. The buds stayed in place and also didn't mind the sweat from me running for the first time in six months. The IP54 protection is pretty handy, and coupled with the way these buds hook to your ears and their impressive weight, it makes them ideal for sports.
Controls and Features
The way these buds hook onto your ear might look strange but it's extremely comfortable | Image by PhoneArena
The touch controls are pretty intuitive, and the buds react fast and accurately. Tap twice to pause/play a song or answer/end a call. Press and hold to reject a call or turn noise canceling on/off, and swipe up/down to increase or decrease the volume.
We tested the AI translation with several languages, including Spanish, Russian, English, and French. It worked as advertised—it is really helpful, especially in conversation mode, where your phone screen splits in two, each part facing the opposite way with the selected language. There's a second or two delay before you hear a male voice translate what the other person had typed or said, but the translation is pretty accurate.
You don't get a lot of case candy with the Honor Earbuds Open, just the case with the buds inside and some paperwork | Image by PhoneArena
In terms of packaging, you only get the case with the buds in a white paper box; no cable or other case candy is included. Due to the design of these buds, you don't get additional ear tips or other accessories, though we would've loved some kind of an extension to make the rubber cable longer and a better fit for bigger ears.
Sound Quality
The Honor Earbuds Open sound surprisingly full and rich for an open-ear model | Image by PhoneArena
Now for the most important part in a pair of earbuds—the sound. The Honor Earbuds Open sound surprisingly good for open-ear design headphones. Normally, when you have the buds floating over and not in contact with your ear canal, making a tight seal, the bass is quite feeble. Honor has used a Virtual Bass technology to boost these frequencies, and to great success.
The overall sound is detailed and rich; low frequencies are there, and while not as powerful and punchy as conventional in-ears, these buds deliver a decent sound. If you max the volume, though, there are some harmonic distortions, particularly in the aforementioned low frequencies, but up to 80% volume, things stay pretty clean and linear. There's no EQ to tweak, just two presets in the app - Original and Workout. We didn't find much of a difference between these two.
Voice calling is also great on these; we tested it both indoors and out on the streets, and the person on the other end was able to hear us clearly. Which brings us to the active noise cancelation. It's almost nonexistent.
Credit where credit is due—you can hear a difference when switching between ANC on and ANC off; the background sounds change their pitch a little, and they get ever so slightly muffled, but don't expect miracles. We suggest keeping ANC off to prolong battery life, which leads us to the next part of this review.
The overall sound is detailed and rich; low frequencies are there, and while not as powerful and punchy as conventional in-ears, these buds deliver a decent sound. If you max the volume, though, there are some harmonic distortions, particularly in the aforementioned low frequencies, but up to 80% volume, things stay pretty clean and linear. There's no EQ to tweak, just two presets in the app - Original and Workout. We didn't find much of a difference between these two.
Voice calling is also great on these; we tested it both indoors and out on the streets, and the person on the other end was able to hear us clearly. Which brings us to the active noise cancelation. It's almost nonexistent.
Battery life and charging
You can get around 5 hours of listening time out of a single charge | Image by PhoneArena
Honor advertises six hours of nonstop listening on a single charge, but the real result falls a bit short. We were able to juice a little over five hours with ANC off, which is not impressive. You can use the case to top the buds up, and it takes about 30-40 minutes to fully charge the buds inside the case.
The case lacks wireless charging, which might be a bummer for some, and it uses standard USB-C charging to fill the 480 mAh battery inside. The case also charges from zero to full in just under an hour.
The case lacks wireless charging, which might be a bummer for some, and it uses standard USB-C charging to fill the 480 mAh battery inside. The case also charges from zero to full in just under an hour.
Conclusion
These are a great open-ear headphones and a great in-ear alternative for people with sensitive ears | Image by PhoneArena
At the end of the day, Honor has produced a great pair of in-ear alternatives. The design and comfort of the Earbuds Open more than make up for all the other little shortcomings these little buds might have.
The overall sound is pleasing, detailed, and rich; the touch controls are responsive and straightforward; and the AI translation feature works well and is actually useful. Granted, due to the open-ear design, the active noise cancelation is almost nonexistent, and the bass vastly depends on where exactly over your ear canal the driver will end up being placed, but overall, for their price of €149.99, these buds are great.
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