Relatively fresh off the heels of IFA, there’s a clear emerging trend in audio accessories. Open-ear buds are the vogue accessory of 2025. In the space of a few weeks, I’ve had clip on buds from at least 6 companies in my hands. Perhaps most impressive are the Shokz OpenDots One.
What Are Clip On Open Ear Buds?
I want to introduce you to the category before diving straight into the Shokz OpenDots specifically, and why they’ve quietly become one of the fastest-growing categories in personal audio.
Traditional earbuds are all about isolation. They seal off your ear canal, block out the world, and pump sound directly into your head. That’s great when you’re on a plane or trying to focus in a noisy café, but it’s not ideal if you still need to hear what’s going on around you.
Clip-on open-ear buds take the opposite approach. They sit just outside your ear, usually resting against or slightly above it, leaving your ear canal open. The result is a much more natural listening experience where you can still hear traffic, conversations, or the barista calling your name.
These designs originally gained traction among runners and cyclists who wanted music without losing situational awareness. But as the tech improved, open-ear designs started appealing to anyone who spends long hours listening. Think about wearing something in the office all day for calls, while people can still call across to you – if you want to let them.
Without the pressure or heat of sealed buds, they’re simply more comfortable. This is the big point for me. We wear buds more than ever now in the world of video calls, leaving my ears tired and dry. These clips-ons can be worn all day at work, on calls, or during a commute without that “ear fatigue” that comes from traditional in-ear models. I’ve even watched movies in German with translation apps live-translating in my ear, leaving enough surrounding audio from the TV getting in for wider context.
The charging case is compact too, the regular size of a headphone case these case while feeling nice, fitting easily in a pocket and offering wireless charging alongside plenty of power for your buds.
There are drawbacks. They are obviously not great for environments like planes, where ANC headphones still reign supreme. But the drivers and general audio experience has been vastly improved.
So, now that you know more about the category itself, we can dive into the Shokz OpenDots One.
Design
The OpenDots One are neatly designed. Here, the most important thing I’m looking for is how secure they are. The biggest compliment I can pay these buds is that I constantly forget I’m wearing them. I’ll be walking around town listening to something then come home, and only realise they’re still clipped onto my ears a few hours later.
Now, there’s a lot of people buying buds like this for sleep. These are not the best earbuds for the job here. That remains the Shokz OpenFit 2 buds, which I still wear nightly to listen to podcasts and the likes. 9 times out of 10, I’ll wake up with both still on my ears, despite me being a very active sleeper.
The buds themselves are made up of a lightweight, curved chassis designed to contour to your ear’s natural shape, with soft silicone or rubber padding on the contact points. This prevents pressure build-up, especially important for people who wear them all day at work or on long commutes. While some brands opt for hinges, Shokz just went with a firm body that clips onto your ear.
The dots weight in at just 6.5g each, combined with the coated body they are not only light but incredibly comfortable. Again, you will forget they are there. When travelling China, I saw so many people wearing these types of buds, and they just wear them for the day and don’t take them off.
Which is a nice little segue to our next section.
Functionality
In terms of audio quality, the OpenDots One are incredible. The form factor lets engineers come up with some impressive innovative solutions, given it’s not just a bud with a slender stalk. Shokz has two areas to play with – the driver that sits just by your ear canal and the rear barrel that contains all the tech.
That tech includes Dolby Audio and additional tech to minimise sound leakage. It’s also home to the buds’ incredible battery that gives you over a full average working day. With the case, you get up to 40 hours of total usage.
Another neat feature for desk wearers is multipoint connectivity. This means you can be connected to your laptop for calls and your phone for music, with the buds changing automatically to what’s needed.
Touch controls is one area the OpenDots fell down dramatically for me. There are no physical buttons on the buds, unlike the OpenFit 2 buds. For the life of me, I just could not work out the touch controls. I was pressing the wrong place, or double pressing – either way, not controlling anything effectively.
I also found the buds weren’t ideal for calls. It makes sense given the distance from the microphone to your mouth. At home, calls weren’t a problem at all. But out and about, I found others struggling to hear me at times – but then again, I would struggle to hear them in noisy environments too.
It’s an obvious point to make for the form factor, but I have to make it. These just are not the buds for you if you need noise cancellation or want to focus on audio in a noisy environment. That’s not a design issue, it’s a result of the form factor. The only real blip in the functionality is the touch controls being a bit janky.
But for everything else, they work really well.
Shokz OpenDots One: The Goosed Verdict
This new category of earbud won’t be for everyone. But it’s the perfect solution for those who recognise the usefulness of it. I’ve been trying out a few different versions of these buds lately and they are largely similar. But the Shokz OpenDots One seem to perfect nearly everything that really matters. Battery life, comfort, security of wearing and audio quality.
I still believe most people will know if they want a pair of clip-on buds like these, but they will want them alongside ANC over-ear headphones too. But I’m reaching for these buds daily when walking into down, opting for them instead of over-ear or in-ear ANC, because I like being aware of my surroundings.
And that surprises me. Because that means the average consumer has more use for them that I originally thought. I’m going to call it that the walking office commuter is arguably as big a target groups for these as runners or cyclists.
The Shokz OpenDots One are available on Amazon.ie for €199.
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