I used to think open-ear sports headphones had a fairly obvious home: outdoors, away from the office. Taking them into a busy open-plan workspace sounded like asking for trouble. With Shokz OpenFit Pro, I spent the past few weeks testing that assumption at work, in cafés and at the gym.
My main finding is that OpenFit Pro can make listening in noise easier, but they do not turn a shared office into a silent room. Their appeal is the combination of comfort, calls and exercise. That makes sense if you want one pair for a working day that ends with a workout. It makes much less sense if your priority is shutting out nearby conversations.
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What this Shokz OpenFit Pro review covers
OpenFit Pro use air conduction, with a speaker positioned beside each ear. The ear canal stays open. These are not bone-conduction headphones, despite the association many people have with Shokz. Each earbud has its own hook, without a connecting band behind the head or an ear tip sealing the canal.
My focus was everyday use: computer work, calls, a shopping mall and exercise after leaving the office. The observations below come from those situations. The video also includes microphone and range demonstrations, but I do not treat them as laboratory measurements.
Watch the video: office use and microphone demonstrations
Long-wear comfort, including with glasses
What impressed me most was how little attention the earbuds demanded after I put them on. The weight felt well balanced and I did not experience the pressure or discomfort I associate with wearing in-ear models for long periods. I could leave them in place while working and still speak to someone nearby.
I wear glasses, and the ear hooks sat comfortably alongside the arms of my frames. After several hours, that combination still worked for me. This is one of the strongest reasons I would consider OpenFit Pro, although fit remains personal: my experience cannot promise the same result for every ear shape or pair of glasses.
Physical buttons and multipoint make daily use easier
The physical buttons provide a clear, deliberate click. I do not have to wonder whether a touch was registered, and adjusting an earbud or my hair does not keep interrupting playback. Button functions can be configured in the Shokz app. For office use, I find this more convenient than controls that demand careful handling of a touch surface.
Multipoint mattered even more. I could listen on a computer and move to a phone call without digging into Bluetooth settings. In the video I mention a work laptop, a personal computer, a phone and a tablet. That needs a clarification: Shokz specifies two simultaneous device connections. Using several devices across a day does not mean all four can stay actively connected at once.
Sound: convincing bass, with voices as the highlight
I expected an open design to sound rather thin. Instead, the bass had noticeable weight while staying clean. It did not deliver the same impact as headphones that seal the ear, but music felt substantial enough to enjoy rather than simply filling silence between meetings.
The midrange was the bigger benefit for my working day. Podcasts, audiobooks and voices on calls came through clearly. I also enjoyed the spatial impression and head tracking when watching a film in the evening. For me, that is an enjoyable extra rather than the main reason to buy the earbuds.
At moderate volume, leakage did not seem to be an obvious problem for the person beside me. That is not a promise of privacy: increasing the volume makes leakage more noticeable. The volume percentage mentioned in the video is neither a sound-level measurement nor a threshold for safe listening.
Noise reduction: softer background noise, audible colleagues
It helps to separate two functions: reducing the noise I hear while listening and reducing background noise in the voice sent to the person on a call. The first worked best for me against steady sounds such as air conditioning or a low, continuous rumble. Music became easier to follow while the ear remained open.
I particularly liked this in a shopping mall. Enabling reduction brought music further forward against the surrounding bustle. At the gym, I noticed a similar benefit with monotonous background noise. The effect improved listening conditions rather than making the environment disappear.
I could still hear colleagues talking in the office. At the strongest setting, I occasionally noticed a faint hiss and a slight blocked-ear sensation. Switching reduction off removed that feeling. I would therefore describe the feature as a way of managing the background, with its strength adjusted to the setting and my comfort.
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Calls and range: what the video actually demonstrates
My impression of microphone performance on the open-plan office floor and on the walk towards the car was very good. Speech sounded natural rather than hollow, with keyboard tapping and air-conditioning noise reduced. That is a practical assessment from my use, not a measured noise-removal percentage.
The video includes a noisy coffee machine, the interior of a car and a walk away from the phone into the office. At the coffee machine, different recording sources let the listener hear a change. In the car, I mention 80 and 100 km/h in different segments with different recording sources. Those clips are not a controlled comparison under identical conditions.
The office range demonstration likewise does not provide a measured distance or a mapped set of obstacles. It illustrates moving around a workplace, but it cannot support a claim that I achieved a particular number of metres through walls. If microphone character is your deciding factor, the relevant video sections are worth listening to for yourself.
From the desk to the gym
The move towards office use has not removed the sports appeal. During bench exercises and dynamic movements, the earbuds stayed secure on my ears. The flexible hooks offered stability without putting tips inside the ear canal. That made it easy to keep the same pair on for a workout after work.
On runs and bike rides, the open design made surrounding signals easier for me to hear. It does not guarantee safety: playback volume and conditions still matter. The practical benefit is being able to listen while retaining more contact with the world around me.
Shokz lists an IP55 rating, which should not be read as permission to immerse the earbuds. I did not carry out a separate ingress-protection test or a long endurance-event trial. This review centres on a day combining office use with training.
For readers who also train across swimming, cycling and running, the following Dynamic Triathlete banner is an affiliate placement separate from the headphone review.
The case and battery: comfort is not a runtime measurement
The flat case fits conveniently into a trouser pocket or the inside pocket of a jacket, and the materials feel well finished. It is a small detail that becomes useful when carrying the earbuds every day. Wireless charging is also supported.
I did not measure battery runtime in this review. Shokz documentation lists up to 12 hours of music without reduction or 6 hours with it, rising to 50 or 24 hours including the case. Those are manufacturer figures. Comfortably wearing the earbuds for an eight-hour workday does not establish eight hours of continuous music with reduction enabled.
The limitations that matter to me
Price is the first barrier. In the video I refer to roughly PLN 1,100; that is the reference price discussed in the review, not a verified current offer or a quote for another market. At that level, I would want a clear reason to choose an open design beyond the attraction of a new noise-reduction feature.
The second issue is specific to my workflow. During Teams calls, I missed the convenient microphone mute button I use on OpenComm 2. I had to manage mute inside Teams instead. This describes the setup I used in the review, rather than making a blanket claim about every app, firmware version or possible configuration.
Finally, there is the acoustic compromise. These do not give me the isolation of a sealed design, and the strongest reduction setting was not always the most comfortable. Yet that open fit is also what makes it easy to wear them for hours and speak to people beside me. Choosing between those priorities is central to the purchase.
Verdict: who should consider OpenFit Pro?
I would recommend considering them if you want one pair for work, calls and workouts, and dislike the feeling of sealed ears. My main positives were comfort with glasses, physical buttons, moving between computer and phone, and clear voices. Enjoyable bass and useful reduction of steady background noise round out that experience.
I would not choose them to eliminate office conversations. They also did not fully replace my OpenComm 2 workflow when frequent microphone muting mattered. OpenFit Pro work well as a bridge between everyday work and exercise, provided maximum isolation is not your main requirement.
Frequently asked questions
Are OpenFit Pro bone-conduction headphones? No. They use air-conduction speakers beside the ears, leaving the ear canals open.
Will they remove office conversations? They did not remove colleagues’ conversations in my test. Steady background noise was the more convincing use case.
Can I connect a laptop and phone? Yes. Shokz specifies two simultaneous connections using multipoint in its app.
Are they suitable for exercise? They stayed secure during my gym sessions. Their open fit preserves contact with the surroundings without guaranteeing safety.
Related reading and sources
For context on another open-ear model, read my Shokz OpenFit 2+ review.
Personal observations come from my Shokz OpenFit Pro video and the supplied Polish transcript. Technical details were checked on 19 October 2026 against the official Shokz product page and support documentation. Photos were supplied for this article.
At work, do you prefer complete isolation or the ability to hear music and your team at the same time? Tell me which trade-off works better for you.