Shokz OpenDots 2 reviewed: a second chance

While they’re not technically a pair of high-end earbuds, the Shokz OpenDots 2 could make you forget about needing those, with open-world sound that basically never stops.

When do earbuds stop being earbuds and start as an accessory for your fashion and your day and your regular life? That’s a question device makers are beginning to work through as earphones, earbuds, and headphones become a little more than they’ve ever been.

From glasses with audio tech built-in to neck-worn speakers, we’re beginning to see manufacturers challenge the idea of what a pair of earbuds can be.

One place earbuds have gradually started making their way to is one not everyone will be enamoured with, but could change how you go about your day: earrings.

It’s a category we saw first from Bose last year, with Shokz following it up shortly thereafter. A year later, it seems like every company is giving the category a crack, with jewellery earbuds from Oppo and Sony and Nothing and Honor, and even Hisense, and we suspect that won’t be the end of it.

As manufacturers look for more ways to entice buyers to upgrade from whatever they had before, it makes sense that we would see more take on this category, which aims to get people wearing earbuds like earrings.

In its second year, Shokz is more ready than some other brands, and is improving the tech from the OpenDots One in the unsurprisingly-named OpenDots 2. The numbering convention has gone from a word to a number, but there’s more going on than just a change in how the product is shown in a package.

What’s new here, and is it worth the $339 price tag?

Design and features

Largely built from last year’s design, the OpenDots 2 are very familiar to this reviewer upon first glance.

If you didn’t know the difference between the coloured models we had for review, you would probably think you were staring at the same earbud. But that’s not the case.

The design is very much the same, with a silicone design that encases a combination of parts, including the drivers, chips, and the titanium-nickel plate holding both sections — audio and technology — together.

Each earbud weighs a little over six grams (6.4g), built to be light and largely unnoticeable. Sporting an IP57 water resistance rating, they’ll survive a walk in the rain and then some, though most of the look is definitely familiar.

Under that look, however, there are some changes.

The bulbous sphere is still where the speaker sits, but it’s now a version “2.0”, as Shokz’s Bassphere becomes “Bassphere 2.0”. Marketing jargon aside, it’s a circle of two 11.8mm drives facing each other, there to cut back on distortion while still delivering big sound. It’s a concept we’ve seen before in sound, and tends to result in larger sound with minimal fuzz.

Three microphones sit on each earpiece, with two air conduction (regular) microphones and one bone conduction microphone, while the earpieces are also

Also along for the ride is Dolby Audio, a setting available in the Shokz app you might want to switch on, with a bunch of other settings in there, too.

In-use

Wearing the OpenDots 2 is a curious thing, because these earbuds actually tell you how to wear them. Instead of wearing them down around the bottom of your lobes, Shokz actually includes pictures in the app to guide you.

Officially, you are supposed to wear the OpenDots 2 with the earbud arm around the side of your ear, resting the earpiece — the sphere, basically — in the crevice of the ear.

That’s all well and good, except for one thing: this won’t suit every ear. It’s also a little strange for a company to put a big red X over every other way of wearing them in the in-app manual.

We’re saying this because throughout this review, we found Shokz’s approach uncomfortable and unable to get a decent sound. So we switched back to what worked for this reviewer: going against the in-app guide and wearing the earbuds around the bottom bit of the fleshy nub on our ears.

The moral of the story is that regardless of how Shokz tells you to wear the OpenDots 2, you should wear them for how they’re comfortable for you, and how they sound best for you. They are your earbuds after all.

When you finally find a way to wear them, you’ll find the earbud should rest comfortably outside of the ear, possibly a little closer if you can get the arm to snugly hug the fleshy exterior of your lobes. Then you can control them using the barrel bit on the end, slightly squeezing to pause, play, and change tracks.

They’re a cute take on controls: while most of the world is using touch or tap, Shokz is letting you give the barrel a slight squeeze. Kind of like the squeeze on the AirPods stem, but with a decidedly chunkier button.

Performance

Wearing and using the OpenDots 2 is one thing, but using them is another. Fortunately that’s why we run every earbud, headphone, and speaker and sound system through the Pickr Sound Test, which you can try for yourself.

As usual, that starts with electronic from the likes of Tycho and Daft Punk, where (once the fit is right) you’ll be treated with a little more bass than the earbuds before it, but more present mids than highs. There is a touch more bass than expected, but the effect isn’t what you would call “deep bass”, but rather “light bass”.

That’s one of the downsides of positioning the driver where it is, compared to going deeper in the canal, which would deliver a greater impact.

However, Shokz has managed a sound more formidable than expected, and a bass response that is definitely more obvious than its predecessor, and indeed other similarly open buds.

For Tycho, it means the deep drop in “Glider” is absent, but other bass elements can be picked up, while the punch of Daft Punk’s drums can be somewhat felt.

That vibe is largely consistent for the Dots, with a lack of depth in bass across either the pop of Carly Rae Jepsen or the soul of Marvin Gaye. You won’t live inside the bass, but the lows can deliver some depth, led by the mids with the highs and lows just behind.

In rock and jazz, though, where the sound can be a little less engineered, the impact across the parts of sound is there, offering a surprisingly wide sound with great separation.

Take the sound heard in tracks from David Bowie and Paul Simon, with a large offering that reads as detailed, each element ringing through even as you hear the outside world. They won’t compete with a large pair of cans, but they can deliver decent sound all the same.

Dolby Audio

One thing you won’t find is head-tracked spatial audio, though there is a degree of spatial, at least in the form of Dolby Audio.

It’s not true spatial in that you can move your head with it and have the sound travel with you. Rather, Dolby Audio is more of a change to the audio’s delivery.

Truth be told, Dolby Audio’s switch definitely improves the quality out of the Shokz Dots 2, and makes you wonder why it isn’t just switched on permanently. It’s a deeper and wider experience, with better bass overall.

The result from Dolby Audio may colour the sound — and it clearly will — but in a pair like the OpenDots 2, we’re not sure it matters. The sound from the pair is definitely better with this feature turned on, though the ear buds are still fine without it.

Battery

While using Dolby Audio is likely to dent the battery life in the Dots 2, they can still handle their own all things considered. Don’t let the small size of the Shokz OpenDots 2 fool you, because there is a maximum of 40 hours of battery life with the case, and roughly 10 hours per charge before you need to place them back in.

You probably won’t wear the Dots 2 all day, but you definitely can, with the 10 hour guide basically telling you it’s ready for all day performance. Using Dolby Audio will likely cut into that by a few hours, but if you wear the OpenDots 2 for several hours without thinking, it’s unlikely you’re going to think to need to charge them.

The battery life is just that good. It’s work-week good.

It’s “you might need to charge the case by Friday” good. And if you do, you can simply place it on a wireless charger, or plug it into a USB-C cable for a bit of extra speed.

Value

The one obvious red flag is price, which was overpriced last year at $339, and retains that price keeping them, well, still overpriced.

The sound is better, sure, but this price point feels more like it’s better skewed for earbuds attempting noise cancellation, and these don’t.

At $339, they’re $60 off the RRP from a pair from Shokz that does, the OpenFit Pro, and you can typically find them for between $330 and $360 if you look around.

While these are two very different pairs of earbuds, the idea is roughly the same: open audio that lets you hear the world and your tunes, but one is clearly superior. The OpenFit Pro has a modicum of cancellation, while the OpenDots 2 do not.

What needs work?

At $339, we still think the Dots 2 are priced too high. A maximum of $299 would make a lot more, and possibly lower. The cost of living is high enough without paying more for earbuds.

Fortunately beyond this, there’s only one thing that feels like it will divide: the look and fit.

If you’re attracted to the look of the OpenDots 2, you can already skip the first of these. The design will definitely have fans and haters, but every jewellery-inspired open-bud like these tends to look similar, so there’s nothing new here.

The fit is the one more likely to draw attention, and that’s thanks in part to Shokz telling you how to wear them. There seems to be a “correct” way to wear the buds, and depending on who you are and the size of your ears, the “correct” way may prove uncomfortable.

Our suggestion: don’t worry too much about the fit, and simply wear the Dots 2 however you can, in the way you deem them to be comfortable. It’s not as if Shokz is watching and nudging you about it. They’re your ears. This is more a non-issue in the grand scheme of things.

What we love

When you do find the fit you like, what we love about the OpenDots 2 is that they are a genuine improvement, delivering better sound in much the same design.

They still have water resistance, meaning they’ll survive a chance encounter with the elements on your daily commute, but they just sound better as you do it.

While Shokz’s OpenDots 2 still lack noise cancellation, you may not care. You’ll be able. to hear your music and the outside world, whether you’re walking, working, or exercising. And once they cling, they cling well, regardless of the ear you attach them to.

OpenDots 2 vs the competition

It’s worth noting that the jewellery style of earbuds and open audio has really grown in leaps and bounds. What kicked off last year with Bose and Shokz has become big for sure.

We’ve not seen an upgrade to Bose’s Ultra Open, but we have seen entrants from Sony in the LinkBuds, and from a bunch of other companies all looking to try an approach on this style of earbuds. If you needed a reason to look at competitors, there is definitely plenty to consider with jewellery-styled open audio earbuds.

That gives Shokz some real competition, with brands aiming to show they too have what it takes. We’ve not reviewed every pair, but the desk is beginning to look like we probably will for the next few months.

However, what potentially gives Shokz an edge is that this is the company’s version two, which is always a stronger starting point than simply releasing a version one.

As new companies launch into this category, Shokz is technically working at an advantage. Two generations in and with three models under its belt, the hardware is a little more refined. Sure, you don’t get bone conduction like in its high-end fitness earbuds, but given how these rest on the ears, you wouldn’t need it.

These are exactly what they need to be: a great little pair of earbuds that could be mistaken for earrings if you wanted. You can even attach some bling if you want. We didn’t, but you can.

Final thoughts (TLDR)

There is a fair amount of improvement in the OpenDots 2, with better sound overall and a slightly more firm approach to the design, especially inside the hardware.

More in the way of drivers means Shokz can flex a better audio response than it had in version one, and the OpenDots 2 feels like a genuine improvement as opposed to a new model because it’s a new year.

While the price still causes this reviewer to raise one eyebrow curiously, especially because Shokz has better open ear offerings for the price, anyone seriously looking at the jewellery-style of earbuds would do well to check the Dots 2.

Two generations in, the Shokz OpenDots 2 nearly nails it. We can’t wait for version three, hopefully with a better price tag. This is a second chance worth checking out.