For some reason that’s completely unfathomable to me, the world is going crazy over open earbuds. If you don’t know what open earbuds are, they are earphones that hook over the wearer’s ears and the speakers sit outside the ear canal. This is different from traditional earbuds that are pushed inside the wearer’s ear canal to create an acoustic seal and shut out the external world of sounds.
So why are open earbuds so fashionable right now? Partly it’s down to people not wanting to be cut off from what is going on around them. It makes sense in terms of security and if you don’t want to be immersed in the music and would prefer your own private pair of speakers that won’t disturb others or isolate you, then the design principle makes some sense.
The latest pair of open-style earbuds to appear on my desk are the SoundPEATS GoFree2. These recently launched earbuds support the high-res LDAC codec and use Bluetooth V5.3. The earbuds include a Bass Boost feature to give more oomph, plus they are water resistant to IPX5 and ideal for working out while keeping you fully aware of your surroundings.
I am not a huge fan of open-style earbuds because they rarely fit my elephantine ears. The speakers don’t seem to coincide with my ear opening no matter how I try to adjust them. I should point out that not everyone has this issue so don’t let my experience put you off as your ears may be just like Cinderella’s glass slipper and fit perfectly.
My first impression with the SoundPEATS GoFree2 is they feel incredibly well made for the money. These are some of the most affordable open-style earbuds I’ve ever reviewed and SoundPEATS is an earbud brand that makes some very good products that sound great for the money.
The earbuds slip over the wearer’s ears with a hook arrangement a little like old-style hearing aids. Each earpiece has touch controls for pausing music and altering volume settings just like any other pair of in-ear earbuds. Pairing the earbuds with a smartphone or computer is so easy and you should only need to do it once with each phone you use them with.
The first thing to notice about the sound produced by the SoundPEATS GoFree2 is how meaty the bass is for an open-style model. And if I could have aligned the earpieces better with my earholes, the sound would have been even more impressive. That said, the sound was pretty good anyway. Open-style earbuds have more volume than in-ear models, and that’s because they must overcome the external noises that are also entering the ears.
To test the fidelity of these earbuds, I held the earpieces in the place where they made the best sound and the audio quality was excellent. Sadly, as soon as I took my fingers off the earpieces, their positioning would change and the intensity of the sound reduce. But if you are lucky enough to have perfectly sized ears, the sound will deliver. I strongly suspect that the SoundPEATS GoFree2 are made for people with much smaller ears than your average Western adult male.
When it comes to voice calls, the quality was ok but only so long as the background noise wasn’t too loud. However, in a busy railway station or shopping center, then the quality dropped off for me and whatever noise reduction is used on the microphone, it just didn’t serve up the goods as far as I was concerned.
A full charge of the SoundPEATS GoFree2 should deliver up to nine hours of playtime. However, with the volume turned up to the levels needed in a noisy environment, that figure of nine hours dropped to something more like five hours for me. The backup power in the charging/storage case for the earbuds provides a total of 35 hours but that would translate to maybe 23 hours with realistic volume levels. Using the LDAC codec also impacts battery life. Incidentally, the charging case can’t be recharged wirelessly. This is strictly USB-C charging.
To get the best from the SoundPEATS GoFree2 you will need to download the SoundPEATS app. This provides EQ tweaks like Bass Boost and you can enable multipoint connectivity to the earbuds can be connected to two devices at the same time. For example, you could connect to your personal phone for music while also being connected to a work phone so you can take business calls.
Verdict: I am not a massive fan of open-style earbuds but the SoundPEATS GoFree2 do a pretty good job of producing good quality sound given the shortcoming of open-style earbud design for folks with larger ears. The SoundPEATS GoFree2 offer very good value for money and if you have ears of the correct size and you enjoy the idea of open earbuds, then these will suit you very well.
Pricing & Availability: The SoundPEATS GoFree2 are available now from Amazon and other retailers and cost $62.49 / £69.99.
More info: soundpeats.com
Tech Specs:
- Bluetooth: Version 5.3.
- Audio codecs: SBC, AAC, LDAC.
- Profiles: A2DP1.3/ AVRCP1.6/ HFP 1.7/ SPP 1.2/ GATT
- Chipset: WQ7034MX
- Battery capacity: Earbuds – 60mAh/Charging case – 450mAh.
- Charging port: USB Type-C.
- Wireless charging: No.
- Playtime for earbuds: Max 9 hours.
- Total playtime with case: 35 hours.
