What are open earbuds? Here’s everything you need to know.

Table of Contents

As a professional headphones tester, the question people around me have asked me the most this year is some version of: What exactly are open earbuds? That often gets followed up with: Are they better than regular noise-cancelling earbuds?

The (somewhat) short answer to the first part: They’re one of the most popular earbuds trends. If you haven’t heard of them yet, you might have seen their other names: open-ear earbuds or open-ear headphones. This earbud type is unique in that no part of the earbud sits in your ear canal. Chances are, if you’ve seen one pair, you’ve seen the Bose Ultra Open earbuds, which, though great (I recommend them as one of the best open earbuds), are just one option of many on the market.