OpenRock S2 Open-Ear True Wireless Earbuds

The OpenRock S2 Open-Ear Air Conduction Sport Earbuds offer remarkable sound for a set of out-of-ear earphones, especially when it comes to their bass capabilities. Wind noise can be an issue when cycling at speed, but at cruising pace or for all kinds of slower paced activities they are very good indeed.

> Buy now: OpenRock S2 Open-Ear Air Conduction Sport Earbuds for £79.99 from Amazon

I’ve ridden with earphones for as long as long as I can remember, well over 25 years for sure, and I’ve always gone with ones that fit inside the ear to combat wind noise when riding at speed. Any kind of bone-conduction device for me has never worked, as not only do you get the wind blowing over your ear, but also, I like to listen to music and be immersed in it. I want to feel the music while I’m riding, and bone-conduction setups have never delivered that for me.

Riding at speeds of over 15mph (24kph) wind noise does still become an issue for the S2s, especially when you add the sound of passing traffic into the mix, and for that reason I’ve gone back to standard in-ear earbuds when on the road bike, though the S2s do work better than other conduction earbuds I’ve tried.

Gravel go-to

Elsewhere, though, these OpenRocks have been my go-to option. They’re great for gravel riding or when I’m out on the mountain bike where the speeds are generally slower, with just the occasional fast downhill affecting things when the wind picks up. The sound on offer is very rich, and the bass is impressive considering how small the units are. In fact, when there are no other ambient sounds in the background it’s easy to forget I don’t have actual speakers in my ear canal, the sound is that good!

Fitment is a matter of looping them over the top of your ears and allowing the speaker section to sit inside your ear, but above your ear canal. The soundwaves that the speakers/audio drivers create vibrate in the air and that is what you hear.

I found the fit secure. There was a little bit of movement at times and I was initially worried that they might come off, but those fears have proved unfounded. I’ve had no bother when wearing them with sunglasses either. They are also incredibly light at 7g per bud, so are barely noticeable when you are wearing them.

All that said – I don’t really believe that cycling is their forte, like most conduction earbuds.

On-foot forte

I do a fair amount of trail running and hiking and this is where the S2s have really shone for me. The secure fit means that even when bouncing down technical descents they have never become dislodged from my ears, and obviously there is no issue with wind noise.

As for noise bleeding into the environment, I was impressed with this too – as there isn’t really any. When running or walking with others they said they could hear a very faint sound coming from them, but not to the point of being obtrusive.

So, in terms of performance I’m very much impressed – more than impressed, really. With that, let’s take a look at the tech specs to see how OpenRock has achieved it.

Tech specs

Each bud has a 12mm driver which incorporates OpenRock’s BassDirect, a design that adds bass chambers and ducts, which it says can channel low-frequency sound directly into your ear canal while minimising sound leakage.

You also get two microphones on each bud for AI noise cancelling, which generally works well on all but that wind noise I’ve already mentioned.

For connection the S2s use the latest Bluetooth 6.0 with a range of at least 10m between them and your phone easily achievable in all conditions. I had absolutely no issues with connectivity, plus you can pair the S2s with two different devices – handy if you have a work phone and a private phone, for instance.

> People’s Choice: Your favourite songs about bikes and cycling

If you’re into such things, the audio codecs (coder/decoders) on offer are LDAC, AAC and SBC, and the app allows you to switch between Hi-Res mode or multi-point connection and gives you the option to select things like Spatial Sound for a surround effect.

You can also set volume limiters, set them to automatically power off, or ‘find your buds’ if you’ve left them somewhere and can’t remember where. You can also get firmware updates.

To tweak your sound preferences there are three preset equalizer modes and the option to customise your own.

Water/sweat resistance

If you are going to be using the S2s for sports activities they are going to get wet at some point, either from sweat or rain. With the long, dry summer we’ve had the former was tested regularly, but as the body of the bud doesn’t sit inside the ear, sweat isn’t really an issue.

To give them a good test in rain, I managed to get caught in a thunderstorm which included about 20 minutes of torrential downpours. They lived to fight another day with no issues, backing up OpenRock’s IPX5 rating.

Touch control

Like many earbuds the S2s have touch controls which allow you to skip through tracks, adjust volume and answer your phone. You even get a remote camera control button which allows you to take a picture from your phone. I’m not sure how useful that is (it’s certainly not for me) but it’s there if you need it.

For voice calls, the microphone is great, with callers at the other end easily understanding me even when I was in a busy environment.

Battery life

Battery life is also good, with each bud giving eight hours of playback from a full battery, with another 16 hours on offer from the case.

A five-minute charge will give an hour of playback, and the case uses USB-C for charging.

You don’t get a cable in the box, but pretty much everyone has one lying around the house these days.

Value

The S2s are available through OpenRock’s store on Amazon for £79.99 (and it currently has a 20% voucher offer, valid until Monday 13th October), which considering the sound quality and everything else, is impressive.

SoundPEATS still shows the GoFree 2 Open Ear headphones as current on its US website, but they don’t seem to be available in the UK. We reviewed them in 2024, and they impressed Mike. They cost £75.99 and have slightly larger drivers at 16.2mm. If you can find some, they are worth a look.

> Have a listen to the road.cc Podcast

Other than those, we haven’t reviewed open ear buds from any other brand over the last year or so, but Shokz has a large following and its OpenFit 2 model is £169, or £179 for the OpenFit 2+ which incorporates Dolby Audio and wireless charging. The standard model boasts slightly longer battery life than the S2s and also has a similar weather resistance rating and comes with noise cancelling. They use Bluetooth 5.4. (We reviewed the bone-conduction OpenRun Pros in 2022.)

Conclusion

OpenRock has done a great job with the sound quality achieved by these S2s; I am genuinely impressed, especially for general multisport use or other applications where you want to listen to something without blocking out the rest of the world.

As with any conduction device they are susceptible to wind noise, so it’s not something we necessarily knock them down for. Overall, for the price these are excellent, and bang up to date on many of the specs.

> Buy now: OpenRock S2 Open-Ear Air Conduction Sport Earbuds for £79.99 from Amazon

Verdict

Some wind noise at high speeds, but great sound quality and tech specs make them ideal for multisport

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