Affordable fitness buds with some unusually bogus features
The OpenRock S have an affordable price, a mind-bogglingly long battery life and a comfortable fit, and they're overall very easy and reliable to use. However the sound quality won't impress audiophiles, especially ones who may be working out in noisy areas thanks to the low max volume, and the carry case is a little unwieldy. Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you're buying the best. Find out more about how we test. OpenRock S: One minute review Audio brand OneOdio is back with its second-gen air conduction headphones – the OpenRock S are more affordable and longer-lasting than their predecessors the OpenRock Pro, but include quite a few extra features that unfortunately don't work too well. Air conduction is a tech intended to let you listen to music while exercising without impacting your awareness of your surroundings, and it features heavily in our guide to the best open earbuds (often called the best open ear headphones). While the AirPods Pro 2 have Transparency Mode to intentionally boost the sounds of your surroundings and Shokz has its bone conduction, OneOdio's solution is to dangle a mini speaker over your ear, so it's not blocking out all your surrounding noises but instead traversing a bit of open space and still getting the job done. While air conduction hasn't historically leant itself to fantastic audio fidelity, the feature works for its intended purpose, and you can enjoy music while also being aware of vehicles, people, aggressive dogs or other hazards. Too aware, perhaps, as one of the S' big problems is that its max volume is just too low. Lots of the time during my testing, music was all but drowned out by noises such as cars, treadmills or, as my parkrun testing will attest, the sounds of other runners! That's doubly true if you're riding a bike or somewhere windy, as the sounds of gusts of wind rushing past your ears will all but drown out your tunes. If you can…