If you’re looking for the best running headphones, you’ll no doubt gravitate toward in-ear buds — but there’s a revolution brewing.
Open-ear earbuds are growing in popularity, offering excellent audio quality without the potential discomfort of keeping them inside your ears for long periods.
Many designs have historically been less than secure for activities like running, but the Oladance OWS Pro, released in June 2023, handily buck that trend; they’re comfortable, capable, and won’t drop out of your ears as you chase a new personal best.
The open-ear nature comes with some inherent caveats. You’ll find audio bleed to your surrounding environment is more significant, and you’ll find them less impressive in louder areas.
Specs
Smart enabled/compatibility: Bluetooth
Waterproof: IPX4
Battery life: 16 hours or 58 hours with charging case
Charging time: 15 mins for six hours of playback
Noise-canceling: No
Includes: Earbuds, Charging Case, Charging Cable (USB-A – USB-C)
The benefit of open-ear headphones is that you’ll still be able to hear if someone in the office asks you a question or hear someone in the gym ask you how many sets you have left. We’d also feel happy walking/running in the dark with them. The fact you can still hear your surroundings makes us feel less vulnerable when out on our own at night.
Of course, the on-ear design means there’s no noise cancellation, although we were pleasantly impressed with the OWS Pro’s Focus Mode.
If you’re looking for something to help power your next run, the Oladance OWS Pro are definitely worth a look.
Oladance OWS Pro: How we tested
We tested the Oladance OWS Pro in as many situations as possible during the review period, ranging from running a 5K with them, going on longer treks in various weather conditions, to working out at the gym with assorted exercises to see how well they held on our ears in different scenarios.
We took them along while working in a nearby coffee shop to test the Focus mode and used them over several days working from home.
Oladance OWS Pro: Functionality
In terms of everyday use, the Oladance OWS Pro are easy to get your head around (or between).
Once paired using your device’s usual Bluetooth pairing mode, play your audio, select them as the output and you’re good to go. When it’s time to charge them, pop them in the case — it couldn’t be easier.
We’ll cover the case’s battery life later, but in terms of design, it’s wider than many alternatives, but it’s also flatter. It’s decidedly less bulbous than something like the Powerbeats Pro, and while not as pocketable as, say, AirPods, it’s still flat enough to slide into most trouser pockets.
Oladance OWS Pro: Set-up and design
You set up the Oladance OWS Pro as you would any other earbuds — open the case, and connect to them with the desired device (likely your phone). It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s pretty much what we’ve all been doing for over a decade now.
The Oladance OWS Pro come in black (as per this review unit), green (which looks more like luminous yellow to us), and white; each has a color-matched case, too.
Oladance OWS Pro: Controls
While the setup is simple, the OWS Pro come with a companion app to tweak settings to get your desired sound output. That allows for some EQ customization, as well as presets for bass and spoken word, but they’re the kind of adjustments that’ll fine-tune things — don’t expect them to drastically shift your audio experience one way or the other.
In terms of on-device controls, there are plenty. Many earbuds, like the Shokz OpenFit that we reviewed just before we did the OWS Pro, go for minimal options in this regard, but the Oladance OWS Pro offers the skipping and pausing of tracks via a touch-sensitive button, but they also have a power button, which is rarer than you might think.
The significance of this is that you’ll be able to deactivate either earbud to save battery if needed — for example — if you’re out and about and have left the charging case at home.
One quirk that you’ll need to get the hand of is switching between Music Mode and Phone Mode by sliding your finger across that touch panel, letting you switch between call controls and audio ones. If you’re only listening to music, though, you don’t need to worry about this.
Oladance OWS Pro: Fit
As you’d expect for open-ear earbuds, the Oladance OWS Pro are comfortable — there is nothing physically inside your ear to feel. You can wear them for hours without really noticing.
What surprised us, though, was just how secure they are. The “hook” that wraps around the back of the ear is nicely weighted, allowing for a snug, but not too tight, grip on the front of the ear.
They also feel more secure than the Shokz OpenFit we tested recently because their design holds everything closer to your ear. This means there’s a little less audio bleed, too, but it’s still there, as expected with such a design.
Oladance OWS Pro: Sound quality
The Oladance OWS Pro, as we’ve hinted at already in this review, sound great. Not just ‘good by over-ear standards’, not just solid, but great.
We’ve thrown some Hans Zimmer at them to check out their depth, we’ve thrown some metal at them to catch those furious mids, and also some lo-fi relaxing music that can fall flat on lower-quality headphones. But most impressive of everything was just enjoying some acoustic guitar noodling.
Everything sounds refined; every pluck and bend feels as though the instrument is in the room with us. It’s fantastic, and yet this isn’t the most impressive part of the package.
That accolade goes to the almost magical Focus Mode, which is the closest you’ll come to Active Noise Cancelation in over-ear buds. The challenge of designing over-ear buds has been to replicate the tight seal afforded by in-ear buds.
Oladance specifically tunes out constant, mid-to-high frequencies. That means it’s less attuned to, say, someone speaking nearby (so you won’t miss someone talking to you), but they do an excellent job at suppressing the hum of engine noise, a heating system or a fan nearby.
Oladance OWS Pro: Performance
The big surprise here is the battery life of the Oladance OWS Pro. We’re used to up to 24 hours of charge with a charging case, but these handily double that — reaching almost 60 hours in our testing (more than the manufacturer stated 58).
Each bud will afford you 16 hours (double a lot of its competitors), and the case carries another 42 hours of music playback.
While there’s no wireless charging for the case, it plugs in via widespread USB-C, and the buds offer an impressive six hours of playback after just 15 minutes of charging — perfect for a quick juice before a spontaneous run or gym session.
Oladance OWS Pro: User reviews
The Oladance OWS Pro boast a 4.3 out of 5-star rating on Amazon, with users being most impressed with the battery life, comfort, and audio quality offered.
Many are stunned by the “noise cancelation,” although as we noted, it’s not entirely correct to call Focus Mode that, though it does come close!
Should you buy Oladance OWS Pro?
If it’s definitely an open-ear fit you’d like, these are amongst some of the best we’ve tested. With the impressive audio quality, long battery life, and remarkable Focus Mode, it’s an enticing triple threat — and they’ll stay in your ears, too. They are erring on the expensive side of the market, but given that they were released a little over six months ago, this isn’t surprising.
If the Oladance OWS Pro aren’t for you:
In-ear buds will likely be preferable for many users since they bring you closer to your audio in a literal sense. Consider the Jaybird Vista 2 that are excellent value for money, with solid audio performance and an intuitive app.
If noise-canceling is at the top of your want list, take a look at the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro in-ear earbuds. They’ve been on the market for around three years now so you should be able to pick them up for a great price.
We’ve mentioned them a few times throughout this review, but we’d also happily recommend the Shokz OpenFit for their impressive audio and comfort. The only thing lacking is the impressive Focus Mode that the Oladance OWS Pro gives you.