If there’s one thing I’ve done loads of in 2025, even more than getting disturbed by weird viral food trends or scratching my head at the state of the world and phoning my mom, it’s testing the best open earbuds to review for TechRadar.
Open earbuds, or open-ear buds (or open-fit headphones or open ears) or whatever you choose to call them, are the stark opposite of noise cancelling headphones. They’ve been around for a few years now, but it’s been in the last half-year that they’ve absolutely exploded in popularity (at least, with lots of brands making them – I’ve actually yet to see a single pair in the wild).
If you’ve somehow clicked through to an article about open earbuds without knowing what they are: they don’t put the ‘music playing’ part of headphones in your ear but over it, which means you can hear your music but also other sounds for awareness and security. It makes them popular for people cycling or running on roads but has a knock-on on audio quality and also fit, with the buds mostly using a sports loop to stay in place.
I’ve tested loads of open-ear headphones – they probably constitute half of all the audio products I’ve tested in 2025. And with the big influx in options all in one go, and the relative lack of diversity in the area, I can understand how it’d be hard to figure out which to buy. So that’s why I’ve picked out my three best picks, to use as suggestions.
Earfun OpenJump
The Earfun OpenJump aren’t the best open earbuds I’ve tested by any stretch of the imagination, but I’ve picked them for one reason. There aren’t that many expensive open-ears, but there are few budget options really worth picking either, and the Earfuns are worth their nominal fee. They were released for $79.99 / £99.99 / AU$149.99 and I’ve already seen them for about a third off – scroll down to see the best deals new you.
Earfun is a stalwart maker of low-cost cheap-and-cheerful earbuds and headphones, and the OpenJump are more of that – just with a sports loop and an open design.
Audio-wise, these aren’t the absolute top of the pile, and the design felt a little cheap in areas, but these are two areas we commonly find makers will cut corners (subtly) to save costs, so the price justifies it.
I was also impressed with the battery life of the Earfun OpenJump. Long-lasting buds aren’t just good for music addicts – some athletes hit the streets for an awfully long time too.
There’s no getting around the fact that these are option number three of the three on this list, for me, with the other two much closer in terms of value and feature set. I put them at the top just because I think we all appreciate a budget-friendly buy – and if the options below are too pricey for you, this is your alternative pick.
Honor Earbuds Open
It’s really close between my top two open-ear picks and thankfully, they both do different things well. In the case of the Honor Earbuds Open, it’s the unique feature set on offer that really sets them apart.
Given that the whole point of open-ears is to let in more sound, I was surprised to see the Earbuds Open have noise cancellation to remove ambient sound, but I really appreciate it – it takes the edge off just how annoying it is to have a passing bus or loud gym grunter get in the way of your music.
The buds also offer a handy workout EQ mode and an AI translator app, although the battery life (which does fall within the ‘feature’ purvey for our reviews) wasn’t that great.
Audio-wise, these sound really good. They’ve got a bassy sound with a high max volume (a frequent issue in open earbuds) and sharp treble. And I found the fit impeccable too, with the case being the smallest in any of these picks on the list.
The ‘catch’, if you will, is that these are the priciest buds on the list. You can buy them for £149.99 / AU$380 (roughly $200) so they will set you back as much as decent non-open-ears would.
Huawei FreeArc
My favorite open-ear buds so far are also the ones I keep using when I don’t have any to currently test, and the ones that sit at the top of our best open earbuds buying guide for the form factor (at least, at the time of writing).
The Huawei FreeArc are the best-sounding open earbuds I’ve tested yet, by quite a margin – audio sounds balanced and detailed, which is how they stand apart from the Honors and also keep finding their way back onto my ears.
I also really like the fit of the Huawei, looking understated but sticking in position no matter whether I’m going on a run, cycling or at the gym. The case is pretty small – not as bijou as the Honor but still small – and protects the buds well.
It’s a shame the Huawei don’t have the full feature set of the Honor (or ANC, at least) because that’d make them perfect, but they suffer a little more for having a strange app installation process that sees you having to side-load it on Android phones.
That small issue aside, they’re pretty affordable, all things considered. You can buy them for £99.99 (roughly $130, AU$200) which puts them roughly in the ballpark of most other similar buds I’ve tested. Unlike the Earfuns at the top for this list, they’ve not seen a meaty price cut, but the biggest limiter is that they’re not on sale in many regions around the world.
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tom.bedford@futurenet.com (Tom Bedford)
