The new form of non-bone conduction open-back true wireless earbuds, also known as air conduction earphones or OWS, had a hot sales momentum last year (2023) due to the comfort of "not in the ears" and the characteristics of covering sports, commuting and middle-aged and elderly groups, and many brands have followed suit. Let's talk about them today.
Limited to energy and no manuscript fee, it may not be written carefully. Think of it as a simple consumer experience report, which took several weeks to figure out. I believe it will be a little helpful for friends who like "in-ear" true wireless earbuds.
It's a sing-up, a little more than a little more than a 1000-year-ago. JW1 (1999) SIVGA SO2 (4995) The 899,000-dayJBL SoundGear senses.
(In-ear TWS, I have more than 60 in my hands, open TWS, that's all for now.) ）
Limited by space, there are trade-offs. This article focuses on tuning and form factor. I think these are the two most important parts of this type of product. Anti-loss tracking, support for aptX-HD or LDAC Bluetooth codecs is unnecessary. For non-in-ear products, it is easy to become a gimmick.
For the specific product experience report, I refer to a lot of buyers' reviews, not just the words of a paranoid family. In terms of writing, try to be objective, but you can't get rid of subjectivity.
The accompanying pictures are more casual this time. In total, more than 4,600 words, at the end of which is a shopping guide and the characteristics of these headphones that you may need to pay attention to.
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First of all, the comprehensive sense of hearing (musicality) and quality (acousticability), the first echelon: SIVGA SO2 and JBL SoundGear sense.
In comparison, these two are like Huawei freebuds pro3 and Sony noise cancelling bean5, they are also "mutual explosions" with each other, but in general, I still think JBL "clarity" is better, and the density is stronger.
But interestingly, after a long time, I am still more likely to indulge in the "romantic" atmosphere created by the soft vocals and strong bass of the SO2, and its tuning makes most of the music more durable and good-sounding. Even though I'm not obsessed with bass, I even chose a studio version with no bass when I bought Intemei headphones.
The JBL is relatively bright, and it takes a full, sharp route, which is actually very good, but what I'm not satisfied with is that it often has stimuli from the human voice, especially at high volumes, which is more likely to appear, affecting the "smoothness" (natural). I think if you're a sensitive person to teeth, you might be more concerned about this.
What about SO2? It's not so "sharp", it's not so obviously "bright", but it naturally expresses details. It's a little less transparent.
In the bass part, SO2 is the obvious NO1 among the 6 OWS mentioned this time. The sense of volume is turbulent, the lines are relaxed, and the charm is somewhat close to the Sony WF-1000XM5. The SO2 has a moderate low-frequency speed, good downpotential and depth, does not interfere with the human voice, and can always maintain a pleasant "boom" level.
The JBL's low-end quality is also good, but it has less volume, and there is no "deep dive" and no roar. It felt like a simple blast of waves, and the rest (fullness and clarity) was focused on vocals and mid-to-high instrumental music.
Then, JBL is the one that pays the most attention to the "wearing experience" of all these 6 OWS.
Its earhook has some kind of inward rebound, and there are three positions of position adjustment at the hinge where the earhook and cavity meet, which can make the cavity fit tightly with the ear piercing.
Due to the more detailed ergonomic design, JBL is also the best performance in "loudness" among the OWS discussed this time, which indirectly interprets part of the meaning of "directivity", and when wearing it, you almost don't have to worry about hearing the music in your ears when using it in a noisy environment.
The second best thing for "directivity" and "loudness" is the SIVGA SO2 for JBL, but like the sound quality drop, this part is also very small and I may need to measure it with the help of a decibel meter.
In view of this, SO2 can also ignore the noise of the outside world and turn on the loud volume (about 70%) to shuttle through the downtown area. But in particularly noisy environments, it's less likely to hear the details of the music in its ears. On the one hand, the directivity is not particularly strong, on the other hand, it is tuning, after all, in the three-frequency distribution, it has more energy to the bass and low frequencies, while the brightness of the middle and high frequencies is not enough, so in a noisy environment of human voices, its pan-midrange power (clarity) will not be so powerful. However, it is still excellent in normal noise environments.
第二梯队:南卡OE NUNCA、FIIO JW1和泥炭GoFree 2。
South Carolina OE MIX is a recent period of time, South Carolina company has spent a lot of effort to promote the model, according to the past cognition, all manufacturers vigorously promote, generally not bad, such as the earliest former water army flooded JEET (now seems to be coming to an end), there are a few vigorously promoted models are relatively good.
What is the actual perception of OE MIX?
It's better than I expected, and even better than FiiO JW1 (199 yuan) in some qualities, and JW1 is the first non-bone conduction open (air conduction?) in the real sense that I heard, the first impression is very good, and the sound of South Carolina OE MIX is very similar to the full version of JW1, compared with the two, the three-frequency distribution is about the same, all of them are low frequencies, and take the "clear" way, but the fullness of Nanka's vocals is better than JW1, and the middle and high frequencies have good clarity and sharpness, but it seems to be a little too bright.
The problem is that if you are a little stricter, it will feel "unnatural", for example, at a loud volume, the "plastic smell" will be more obvious, this "plastic smell" reminds me of more than ten years ago, I heard about 20 yuan of domestic low-end wired headphones when I was a student, because of the lack of "density" and "softness", I will feel boring. The good thing is that after listening to it for a long time, your ears may also get used to or adapt, but compared to the Peat GoFree 2, which also takes the "clear" route, its tuning is not very complete.
The three frequencies of Peat GoFree 2 are smooth, and the image is clear, but it doesn't pay so much attention to "fullness" and doesn't seem to be too rich, but the overall sound quality level is still very good, and it can basically be ranked "third" among the 7 OWS discussed this time.
However, in terms of loudness, because the earhook and cavity design of the peat are not very good, the "pointing" is not high enough like most OWS, and if it is used in a noisy environment, it will face the pressure of "inaudible".
Interestingly, in terms of "directivity", the South Carolina OE MIX is better than it, and its ergonomic design is more conducive to "directivity and loudness" under normal wear.
Summary: The sound quality (sound quality) of the South Carolina OE MIX is slightly inferior to that of the Peat GoFree 2, but the loudness and fullness of the midrange are slightly better than the peat.
Bonus: In terms of design, there is a small problem with the South Carolina OE MIX, that is, it is too small (the smallest of all the OWS mentioned here), so that the wearing "stability" is not good, why? As an OWS, it is meant to be hung on the ear, but it slims down the cavity significantly, like a small bell hanging in the ear, which makes it more susceptible to "displacement" in the auricular area, either during exercise or when lying flat, in short, the sound leakage caused by loosening may make you think it is occasionally" It's a quiet sound."
To sum up, if the price of South Carolina OE MIX is pressed to 249 yuan, I think it will be better to sell, at present, 499 yuan, I personally feel that there is still a lot of pressure. On the other hand, the Peat GoFree 2 is more reasonably priced, except for the two problems of low loudness and inaudible noise in noisy environments, the rest is good.
As for FIIO JW1, since I have written a detailed article about its experience before, I won't talk too much about it this time. To put it simply, its tuning level is in line with HIFI manufacturers' understanding of sound, and it is smooth and clean enough, but the amount of information and loudness are not too much compared to the higher pricing, which may seem too skinny for some people, lacking charm and power. But after all, it's cheap, and the shape design is also outstanding, so it's still worth a try for friends with a tight budget.
The third echelon: Shengkuo AeroFit (799 yuan) and Shokin OpenFit comfort zone (899 yuan)
I didn't expect these two big brands to do this kind of product at all.
In fact, the high-end in-ear TWS of Shengkuo in recent years, such as liberty 2 pro and Xiaojin cavity 2 generation, are my favorite, and they have not been released yet, and they are all representatives of the circle iron bel canto in their respective years, although the fans of the scientific HIFI party and competitors may disdain it. Shokin is even more powerful, and they are on the sales list of bone conduction headphones or wireless headphones in many countries.
But this time, both new models from both brands have had quite a big problem......
声阔AeroFit：
The shape design is too "advanced", and the speakers of other houses are parallel to the piercing, for fear of leaking too much sound, but the speaker of AeroFit is similar to the ceiling design, like "blowing" from above your ear piercing. As a result, its loudness, fullness, and sonic power have become quite average. I know that many people who use such headphones will turn on to 7% volume, but the sound is wide, even if the full volume is a bit "small". Out of instinctive "salvation", I had to pull and press its "horn" towards my ear piercing.
韶音OpenFit:
It's obviously a problem with "buzzing" and breaking sound at loud volumes (I'm not the only one who feels this),I feel that its diaphragm is difficult to withstand the bombardment of "8 percent or so volume",Of the 6 OWSs mentioned this time,There seems to be another one that also has this situation.,But I forgot who the other one is。 It's just that Shokin this, because the price is very high, but there is this quality problem, and it is too obvious, I think it should not be.
It also has a problem, it is the same as the sound of the wide AeroFit, the distance between the speaker and the ear hole is relatively large, so that the loudness (actual auditory sound pressure) is low, its "low", is inferior to the second echelon of "peat" and "South Carolina" between 300 yuan and 500 yuan.
In terms of sound quality, if you press its speaker close to your ears with your hand, you will find that Shokin is seriously doing low frequency, the density and volume of the middle and lower disks are relatively strong, and the three-frequency distribution pays more attention to the bass atmosphere than all the above OWS. Unfortunately, due to the lack of good ergonomic design, it usually only sounds like a stuffy stereo sound that is stiff but limited to a small area.
If you don't pursue high loudness, or only listen in a quiet environment, you may not feel that the sound quality of Shokin is much of a problem. After all, you won't be able to turn on the volume around 8 percent. But considering that its price is not less than 500, but higher than 800 yuan, this has become a big problem.
Summary: Regarding the third echelon, I don't recommend buying it with the mass production machine in my hand as a reference. But if it's a defect caused by a batch problem, then I also think I'm slapped in the face.
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I think it's worth buying at this stage (high degree of completion), sorted by price from low to high, a total of 4 models:
1. At present, the cheapest FIIO JW1 (199 yuan) in my hand, as long as you don't ask too much for "fullness" and "loudness", you can enter, its timbre is a bit like FiiO's own new flat-headed plug FF1, which is a sound that pursues a sense of speed, with a relatively high resolution.
2. Peat GoFree 2 (299 yuan) and SIVGA SO2 (399 yuan), peat is only loud because the speaker is not close enough to the ear hole, which damages the "loudness", but the three-frequency distribution is more uniform, and there is a relatively fuller form, which is also worth entering.
As for the SIVGA, it has deeper low frequencies than peat (in fact, more than all), soft vocals and mid-high frequency lines, and the loudness is also better (second only to JBL), so I think it is the "work" type wireless earphone that really solves all the pain points of OWS in the "low price segment". I even have a hunch that it may win the Bluetooth headset award or gold prize for Japan's VGP2024 SUMMER in June this year between 5,000 and 10,000 yen. It is said that the manufacturer has designed three versions with sound quality, and this is only the "worst".
3. JBL Sound Circle (999 yuan), if you have a sufficient budget and are not particularly pursuing low-frequency fullness, but you want the basic form of the three frequencies to be full, clear enough and loud enough, then choose JBL Sound Circle.
The prices of the above four OWS models in parentheses are for reference only.
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Finally, three views on the current OWS (Open True Wireless Earbuds) market:
1. True wireless earbuds that do not fit into the ears often have the problem of low "loudness".
I have seen a buyer who often listens to music say that her in-ear TWS often turns on 3 to 4 percent of the volume, and she has to turn on 7 percent of the volume when she changes to a newly purchased OWS (non-bone conduction open).
I think this is really representative.
Like the 7 OWS in this review, the second echelon and the third echelon, in a quieter room (such as where I am typing, the ambient noise is about 45dB) It is more necessary to open at least "seventy percent volume" to have a sense of satisfaction, especially the third echelon, that must be above seventy percent volume, and it is best to be full. However, such an inefficient vocalization will also indirectly affect the battery life.
Only the first echelon can experience the satisfaction of some high-sensitivity TWS in a quieter environment with a "5% volume". In fact, these two in the first echelon are already very close to those high-sensitivity in-ear TWS. JBL, in particular, is equivalent to the traditional high-sensitivity TWS.
Second, consumers will worry that the sound leaked by OWS will disturb others.
Based on the actual experience and the results of the test with a decibel meter, I think that if someone of your height is standing close to your shoulder, if you listen at 70% or more OWS (usually between 40 and 60dB, gradually increasing according to the volume level), he will definitely hear music in your headphones that is louder than mosquitoes. However, if you have a lot of noise sources around you, which is very common, such as the sound of wind, talking, humidifiers, TVs, carrying things, etc., then these noises can almost make people ignore the hum of music in your ears.
Therefore, unless it is very quiet (about 30dB) and there are outsiders around, you need to pay attention to the volume to avoid embarrassment, otherwise, it is basically casual.
Third, the vast majority of OWS manufacturers will express "directivity" well, and a few OWS will also specifically mention that the low frequency has compensation for relatively ordinary products, and by the way, I will draw a frequency response schematic diagram for you.
But in reality, it's really different for everyone. Some of them work so well that the sound feels like it's all in your ears, like SIVGA and JBL. But some of them are just "aimed at the ear canal", as for how much sound it leaks, the manufacturer does not talk, but this is a very key point in the design of OWS, it directly affects your "happiness of listening to songs".
Then there is "low-frequency compensation", compared to TWS, many OWS will put more effort here, but the actual shape of the bass will be affected by the algorithm, cavity, speaker unit quality and wearing design. Some will compensate for a "point-to-point" low frequency, some will dive deeper low frequency, some will have both volume and texture of low frequency, and some will only focus on low frequency volume, but ignore the full-frequency clarity and sound stability at large volumes. In short, it is simply said that it "compensates for low frequency", but what is left to buyers is often confused.
The top three plots are from top to bottom for peat, JBL, and SIVGA for low frequency compensation. It can be seen that OWS has to put a lot of effort into making a full and deep bass and soft and warm vocals like TWS, and the entire 20Hz to 400Hz has to be expended.
Above, thanks for reading.