OneOdio OpenRock X Open Ear Air Conduction Earbuds – Resolution Finally Here
OpenRock X is a $169 USD pair of Open Ear Air Conduction Earbuds Bluetooth earphones, with a long battery life, large dynamic driver, and with IPX5 Water resistance. Today we will review them and briefly compare them to the market, exploring whether the Air Conduction technology is finally here to bring us fun.
Introduction
While it is hard to know that OpenRock is a subsidiary of OneOdio, Emag Romania makes it very clear and notes the parent company on every page with an OpenRock product they have, and OneOdio is rather popular with music lovers who want to stay on a budget and enjoy good sound but can’t afford to spend a lot. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to OpenRock and OneOdio for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
PROs – Excellent design, Detailed and revealing sound, Crisp sound, Wide soundstage, to the point of being scattered, Instruments blend together naturally, and it has a long battery life even for bluetooth earphones standard. They sound better than most earbuds to my ears (the kind that do not enter your ear canal).
Cons – No passive noise isolation, low maximum volume, strong bass roll-off, variable performance that depends on the anatomy of the ear for getting the driver closer to the ear canal.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/46YoGzT
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DBOad8j
Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort
Open Rock X is a Bluetooth earphone with a solid charging case, and a large 14.2mm dynamic driver at the heart. The earbuds have a play time of 12 hours, and the charging case offers an extra 48 hours of playtime, which is insaenly high, but that’s measured listening at medium volumes, and in my experience, you’re more likely to get around 8 hours from the earbuds, the case bearing 4 full extra charges. You can get one hour of playback from 5 minutes of charging, and the case takes 2 hours and a half to charge, while the earbuds take one hour and a half to fully charge.
The charging port is Type-C, and control is allowed through pressing a button on each earbud. The earbuds are comfortable, made of high-end plastic and look like futuristic gadgets, but they only have AAC and SBC for the connection protocols, which will limit the maximum sonic quality possible with the Open Rock X.
For comfort, the earbuds need to be tweaked a bit with, the big part goes around your ear, while the air conduction part should align with your ears. There’s around 50 degrees of movement possible on the vertical fitting, and 45 degrees of freedom to approach the driver more to your ear canal and get the best sonic performance possible. If you can imagine absolutely no passive noise isolation, there is absolutely none with the Open Rock X, and they leak their sound very loudly to the outside. On the other hand, this is called Environmentally aware, and it is considered a feature, working well if you need something that allows all sound to pass through.
There is an app available for the OpenRock X, but the app is not great, it does not provide any extra features, and I would skip it entirely. There are three sonic modes in the app, Rock, Relax and Boom, but only Rock sounds good, and I was not able to create anything better using the Custom function, so we went with that for most of the review. To power the Open Rock X, I have used Samsung S23 Ultra and Huawei P30 PRO, but the results are very similar between the two modes.
Microphone quality is very good, and the person on the other end did not complain about hearing me, they said I sound clear and my voice comes through really neat, but some background noise is also transmitted. The microphone has a sensitivity of -38 dBV/Pa. There is a BassDirect Bass Technology, and LISO 2.0 Audio Algorithm, but neither provides that much bass. For gym enjoyers, OpenRock X has IPX5 Water resistance.
Sound Quality
Overall Signature – To be fair, most Open Ear Air Conduction IEMS sound rather far from what a HiFi Enthusiast wants, but OpenRock X sounds really detailed, musical, rich in the midrange, and bright in the treble, with a clear voicing, excellent detail, and a scattered, wide and pleasing soundstage. It is a pleasing tuning that works especially well with rock and even EDM tracks, but the bass has a very limited extension, while voices are generally present and easy to understand. Best sound can be had at medium volumes, as at high and very high volumes, both compression and distortion is present, up to clipping.
Bass – The bottom end starts at about 70 Hz, below which there is no bass to be heard. Above this point, the bass is warm, has quite a bit of punch and presence. The inherent disadvantage is that the driver has to struggle a lot to produce any audible bass as it sits quite far from the eardrum physically. This means that most low-end bass is lost along the way, even if the driver can physically and measurably produce it, it will never reach your eardrum in a realistic scenario.
Midrange – Mids sound sweet, detailed and very crisp, with voices sounding forward, and most other instruments being pushed far in the background. Especially slower music, like the Coffinshakers sounds sweet and pleasing, country, rock and slow metal will sound best through the OpenRock X. This is the first Air Conduction / Open Ear Earphone that has really good details and resolution, creating a really pleasing sound. I actually prefer the fitting, comfort and sonics over those of traditional earbuds, as earbuds do not stay in my ears, while the OpenRock X sits comfortably in my ears.
Treble – Quite different from the tradition of most Open Ear earbuds sounding rolled off, OpenRock X sounds detailed, crisp and has excellent extension, up to about 16 kHz, with strong energy and a good detail / resolution.
Dynamics / PRaT / Textures – OpenRock made the X sound rather detailed, quick, and the driver sure is capable, but as sound travels a long distance, you can hear some crisp information and details, but it is somewhat limited, so you can expect a rich sound with good details, natural dynamics and softer, smoother, fuller textures. The driver has to compensate for the distance it has from the ear, so it adds a lot of body and weight to sound, yet the final result is a bright sound with a warm midrange.
Volume Control – There had to be some sacrifice made somewhere, and for OpenRock X, the dynamic range is limited up to about 80% of maximum volume, above which there is heavy distortion and dynamic compression. This being said, when used at medium and low volumes, the amount of sound passing through Open Rock X feels as if I am not wearing earphones, which is impressive and pleasing. Unfortunately, exactly at the gym, even at maximum volume, they are far from enough to cover up the gym music or the sound of my breathing. So I find them super nice for a relaxing indoors evening, but the volume is not enough to paint over traffic noise or a noisy street in general.
Soundstage – If you’re looking for a wide soundstage, scattered and open, OpenRock X will offer it all the way, as they have one of the most open sounds you can hear. The scattering happens naturally, as the sound travels a long distance to reach your ear, so instrument separation is weak, and everything is blended together, a bit like it happens with speakers, especially larger speakers, creating an open and atmospheric staging. Voices are always forward, but even voices are a bit distant, allowing your ears to breathe and creating a wide sound.
Value and Conclusion
OpenEar and Air conduction Earphones have never been a favorite for audiophiles, and they still have a long road to travel, but Openrock X is getting closer, having resolution, warmth and clarity that’s usually not seen with this tech, so at least they can offer a similar, or better performance than earbuds, so it will be interesting to see what the future has in store for us. Value is average, there is no LDAC, only SBC and AAC, but the construction quality is great, details and resolution great, and OneOdio and OpenRock offers one of the best sonic performances for this tech, so they can price it a premium, if they will use the money to further develop the tech.
With a crisp call quality, revealing sound, and a warm midrange, wide and airy soundstage, and a high maximum loudness, plus a beautiful design, OneOdio OpenRock X offers it all, and has the reputation and record track to be easy to recommend for a lasting earphone that should be excellent in performance for a long time to come.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/46YoGzT
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DBOad8j
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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