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/CNET
The 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.
Enlarge Image The OpenFit Pro feature a physical button to control playback. I prefer it to touch controls. David Carnoy/CNET
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