Shokz has a CES 2025 surprise for anyone who’s been thinking of buying its excellent OpenFit open-ear earbuds: a new version with several worthwhile upgrades is now available, for the same price of $180.
The OpenFit 2 — available in black or beige — keep the same basic formula of the original, but use a slightly tighter curve on the earhook, with inner surfaces covered in Shokz’s Ultra-Soft Silicone 2.0. Add to that a new flexible nickel-titanium alloy, Shokz says the new earbuds should be both more comfortable and more secure.
The best part of open-ear earbuds is that they let you hear the world around you. But if the buds can’t get loud enough, you may find you struggle to hear the music. Bass frequencies can be especially challenging, something I noted in my review of the first-gen OpenFit. Shokz says the OpenFit 2 address these concerns through a new dual-driver arrangement that pairs a 17.3mm bass driver with a dedicated high-frequency driver. The volume curve has also been tweaked: the OpenFit 2 can pump out the same level at 50% that the OpenFit muster when at 65%.
Battery life has also been boosted. The first gen could get up to 7 hours per charge and 28 hours total with the charging case’s reservoir. The OpenFit 2 are now pegged at 11/48 hours respectively — a massive gain. Unfortunately, the charging case is still wired only — I guess we’ll have to wait for the next version for a chance at getting wireless charging.
Some folks apparently found it tricky to get the OpenFit into pairing mode by touching both earbuds while in their case, so the OpenFit 2 case now has a dedicated pairing button, which is pretty standard on wireless earbuds.
Another change is the inclusion of physical buttons. You still get the touch controls from the previous model, but now there’s far more flexibility. All available actions (including volume changes) can now be accomplished, and there’s less chance you’ll accidentally trigger a control. Better yet, physical buttons means you can use them even with gloved hands.
Finally, Shokz has upgraded the calling mics and given them an AI-based beamforming feature. I thought calls on the OpenFit were already excellent, so I’m curious to see how much better they get on the second-gen device.
These all look like good upgrades and as soon as I finish my review, I’ll let you know if they live up to Shokz’s promises. In the meantime, the company has dropped the prices of its two other open-ear models. The Shokz OpenFit is now $160 and the OpenFit Air drops to $100, making both even more appealing.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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