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Shokz wanted to equip its new flagship OpenFit Pro open earbuds with active noise cancellation, but that's not easy with open earbuds. Instead, it ended up dialing back expectations and calling the tech inside these new ear-hook style buds, "OpenEar Noise Reduction."
It's a good thing it did because, during my few days of testing the OpenFit Pro, they didn't reduce ambient sound nearly as well as the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. But they sound impressive for open earbuds, are comfortable to wear and have the premium build quality you'd expect from a set of earbuds that cost $250. Launched this week at CES 2026, the OpenFit Pro come in two color options -- white and black -- and are available for preorder today at Shokz and Best Buy.
Read more: Best open earbuds of 2026
Larger dual-diaphragm drivers
Formerly known as AfterShokz, Shokz made a name for itself with its bone-conduction headphones. But in recent years it's added several products that use standard drivers (Shokz markets them as "air conduction" headphones and earbuds) or combines a standard driver with bone-conduction technology, as it did with its OpenRun Pro 2 headphones.
The Shokz OpenFit Pro are Shokz best-sounding open-ear buds.
David Carnoy/CNETThe OpenFit Pro aren't bone-conduction earbuds. Shokz says they're powered by its first "SuperBoost" technology, which is built around an "ultra large 11×20 mm synchronized dual-diaphragm" driver. It says the design "expands frequency response up to 40 kHz while significantly minimizing distortion below 100 Hz, delivering more powerful bass, finer detail and a more authentic, stable sound in an open-ear design."
While I still prefer the sound of a good set of noise-isolating earbuds with silicone ear tips, the OpenFit Pro are among the best-sounding open earbuds I've tested. They have full-sounding bass along with good treble detail and clear, natural sounding mids. When I cranked the volume, I did feel some vibration from the bass, which was a little annoying. That said, I encountered only minimal distortion.
Noise-isolating earbuds in this price range (and some that cost much less) will deliver better overall bass performance. But the sound gap between open earbuds and noise-isolating earbuds is narrowing, and in quieter environments the OpenFit Pro perform quite well. They don't leak much sound, but they do let ambient sound in. While that's a nice safety feature for runners, bikers and pedestrians, if you're in a particularly noisy environment like the streets of New York, it can affect sound quality.
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The OpenFit Pro feature a physical button to control playback. I prefer it to touch controls.
David Carnoy/CNETNoise reduction takes the edge off ambient sound
While the AirPods 4's noise canceling isn't nearly as strong the AirPods Pro 3's, you can really tell when their noise canceling is engaged. When you turn on the OpenFit Pro's noise reduction (you can adjust the level of noise reduction in the app), you also notice a difference, but the noise muffling is more subtle. Sounds around me weren't dramatically reduced. I was still aware of them, but they weren't as sharp. They were dulled a bit and became less cutting.
Shokz says that the OpenFit Pro use a "triple microphone array, refined speaker design and Shokz's Ear Adaptive Algorithm to soften unwanted background noise." The key word here is "soften." The noise reduction doesn't eliminate background noise, it just tones it down a bit, taking the edge off. Some people will appreciate that, others will find it underwhelming.
Fairly full-featured
Splashproof and dust-resistant with an IP55 rating, the OpenFit Pro are equipped with Bluetooth 6.1 and also have a spatial audio feature, supporting Dolby Audio with Dolby Head Tracking (Shokz says they're optimized for Dolby Atmos). You can turn head tracking on or off in the Shokz companion app for iOS and Android and tweak EQ settings as well. Additionally, the buds have ear-detection sensors that pause your music when you take a bud off and resume playback when you put it back on.
Battery life is rated at up 12 hours with noise reduction off and 6 hours with it on, which is pretty big drop off. The case, which is a little heavy but feels solid and is well-designed, supports wireless charging and stores up to 38 hours of additional battery life with noise reduction off or 24 hours with it engaged.
In my tests in the streets of New York, callers said my voice sounded clear and natural (it didn't sound too digitized or robotic) and background noise reduction was solid. Overall, voice-calling performance seemed quite good, though, as I said, the buds do let ambient sound in, so it was a little harder for me to hear callers in noisy environments.
Shock OpenFit Pro early conclusions
Several new premium open earbuds are being released in early 2026, so I'm reserving final judgment on the OpenFit Pro until I have a chance to compare them to some of these new models. But I liked the design of these ear-hook style buds and thought they were among they top-sounding open earbuds I've tested. While I was less impressed with the buds noise-reduction feature, at least Shokz didn't try to position these as true active noise-canceling earbuds. That would have been a mistake and taken away from the buds' many likable attributes -- and perhaps angered some buyers.
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