via Forbes.com

Mark Sparrow, Senior Contributor
Technology journalist specialising in audio, computing and photography

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For some years now, earphone design has been mostly dominated by the in-ear or earbud styles that fit inside the wearer’s ear canal. For some people, this style is uncomfortable and they simply don’t like listening to music this way as it makes wearers feel cut off or isolated from the outside world. Indeed, the design has some issues, especially if you are cycling or running on public roads where being aware of your surroundings is so important.

Lately, there’s been a flurry of open-ear designs developed that sit outside the wearer’s ear canal where they are less likely to cause pain or discomfort. The design is also good for avoiding ear fatigue or, in extreme cases, ear infections. Indeed, there’s also a growing concern about the impact of using traditional in-ear earphones because, when played at high volume levels for prolonged periods, they can cause hearing loss.

To counteract these issues, quite a few earphone makers are developing open-ear designs that sit outside the wearer’s ear. One of the latest brands to do this is EMEET, a Chinese manufacturer that has just announced the EMEET AirFlow, its first-generation open-ear design.

EMEET claims to have carefully researched no fewer than 2,560 different shapes of ear to create the perfect shape of the AirFlow that EMEET says will suit lots of different ear shapes, offering a comfortable fit for almost anyone.

The air conduction tech used in the AirFlow places less pressure on the wearer’s ears and EMEET says it reduces the risk of hearing loss. The storage case for the earphones includes small UV-emitting LEDs that sterilize the AirFlow earphones each time they are returned to their storage case.

Another plus with open-ear designs is they can help conversations flow more smoothly because the AirFlow earphones have a detachable microphone boom that, when fitted, turns on a VoiceCore algorithm. VoiceCore was developed in-house by EMEET and has dual-channel noise cancellation up to 50dB. The result is clearer voice calls by reducing unwanted background sounds. The system can even reduce unwanted background sounds from the caller on the other end of the line.

Well, so much for the PR puff, how do these earbuds sound in real life? First off, the fit feels a little better for my problematic ears than most other open-ear designs I’ve tested. They’re not perfect but certainly better than most I’ve tried. I’m still not a huge fan of the concept, but I can see why some people might enjoy or want to use them.

The sound produced by EMEET AirFlow feels a little thin to my ears but you’re never going to get a thumping or robust bass because of the physics involved in an open-ear design. It’s not possible to produce those lower frequencies in the same way that in-ear models can. There’s plenty of volume pumped out from the AirFlow and that’s largely thanks to 16.2mm drivers which are much larger than the ones used in most in-ear earphones.

On the plus side, I quite like the UV sanitizing function although it’s probably less necessary than with a pair of in-ear earbuds. The EMEET smartphone app is well laid out and as soon as I fired it up it offered a firmware update. The app also lets you customize the EQ of the AirFlow so you can tweak the bass and treble a little, but not by a large amount.

A full charge of the AirFlow earpieces will deliver up to eight hours of continuous listening time. There’s a further 32 hours of backup charge in the storage case taking the total playing time to 40 hours. The earphones are water resistant to IPX5 standard and include support for the basic SBC Bluetooth audio codec. This probably isn’t too important as the AirFlow are designed for sporting use rather than audiophile listening. That said, they sound fine even without AAC or aptX support.

Verdict: The EMEET AirFlow are the first open-ear earphones I’ve tried that almost fit my ears. The sound is not bad at all but is limited by the physics of the design when it comes to bass. However, if you don’t like sticking earbuds in your ear but want the convenience of the earbud-wearing style over headphones, then the AirFlow might be for you. They are certainly a good idea for joggers and cyclists who need to be aware of their surroundings when exercising. If the idea appeals to you, give these a try as they are some of the best I’ve tried so far, even if they are slightly pricey.