Our cultural association with earbuds is pretty straightforward—if someone’s wearing earbuds, they’re isolated and cannot hear the outside world. But a new trend is pushing things in an interesting direction. Instead of plugging up your ear canal, some companies want to keep your ears unobscured.
The FiiO JW1s launched on July 27th. You can purchase them from the link at the bottom of thisFiiO press release.
The latest example of this trend is the FiiO JW1, a set of “open-ear” wireless earbuds. These wireless earbuds do not have the classic rubber ear tips. Instead, they float above your ear canal. And they only cost $40.
Obviously, this “open-ear” design allows you to hear your surroundings. It’s also more comfortable than the traditional earbud design, according to FiiO. These features make the FiiO JW1 earbuds ideal for certain users—commuters, gym rats, parents of young children, cyclists, and anyone else who wants to enjoy music without shutting out the world.
The trade-off to this design is that you don’t get any noise cancelation, and again, you can hear your surroundings. And it should be noted that most premium earbuds now offer a Transparency mode, which uses microphones to pump in audio from the outside (though an open-ear design is much more effective if you always want to hear your surroundings).
As for the specs, the FiiO JW1 uses 14.2mm drivers and connects via the Bluetooth 5.3 standard. These earbuds have a 13-hour battery life, which sounds unimpressive until you realize that the carrying case is not a charging case (a very unusual decision that probably keeps the price down). Also, the earbuds use touch controls, rather than push-button controls.
Related:Shokz Debuts Its Athletic “Air Conduction” Headphones
Note that FiiO is one of many companies experimenting with an open-ear design. Sony is the most notable example, as itsLinkBudskind of kicked off this trend. ButSamsungalso occupies this space, andShokz’s latest headphoneslook shockingly similar to the FiiO JW1s.
The FiiO JW1 earbuds will cost $40 when they launch on July 27th. That’s an incredible price for a well-known headphone brand, and it’s one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for open-ear earbuds. Competing products, like the Shokz OpenFit and Sony LinkBuds, sell for $180.
