TOZO Open Buds Review: Great Design

Last time we reviewed the T20 Earbuds from TOZO which came out to be pretty solid for their price point. This time, we are going to review the TOZO Open Buds which boasts a unique design, which is currently pretty trending.

Almost every TOZO product we have reviewed till now has passed our tests with flying colors and we hope that the Open Buds can impress us as the competition is growing fierce and not everyone can hold the first position for long.

Inside the Box

The Open Buds come in a well-packed box with protective foam that hosts the charging case and the charging cable. Apart from that you will get a Quick Guide and a User Manual if you want to get started with the Open Buds. Till now every TOZO earphone we have tested features the same functionality. So, we didn’t need any user manual for reference except for the crucial design changes.

Charging Case

The charging case is lovely and I find it more appealing than the traditional fat charging cases. It’s sleek and can easily fit in a small pocket. There isn’t much to it except for the white LED light at the exterior and a USB Type C charging port at the rear.

Upon opening the case, we find two pieces of earbuds resting horizontally. The earbuds’ LEDs blink with a Blue color once upon opening the case and then with a White color afterward. You will find a small Reset button inside that can reset the earbuds to their default settings in case something goes wrong.

Unfortunately, the charging case doesn’t show any battery status at all which is disappointing considering that the T20 also had this feature. Moreover, there isn’t any battery indicator for individual earbuds.

Earbuds Build Quality and Looks

The build quality is superb and the design is top-notch. There aren’t many earbuds out there that boast the same design as the TOZO Open Buds but they look even better than the OpenReal Earphones we reviewed previously.

The biaxial rotation design is definitely revolutionary which is made to fit the ears comfortably without any fear of falling off. These curved hooks can be adjusted at two different angles. You can either rotate them at 60 degrees or 90 degrees on the other side.

When worn, the earbuds rest perfectly on each ear. After the hooks are adjusted on the ears, the 60-degree rotation makes a perfect fit that grabs the ears comfortably yet with a good grip. This felt so much better than the OpenReal earphones.

Moreover, I did not have any problem wearing these when lying in bed because there wasn’t any obstruction that would make the hook loose. This was a 10/10 experience for sure!

Features and Technology

TOZO claims that the Open Buds are equipped with ORIGX Acoustic Technology as well as a 14.2mm Dynamic Speaker. Generally, the bigger the dynamic speaker is, the better the quality of sound will be. So, I expect it to be better than the T20 earbuds but slightly inferior to the OpenReal earphones.

The earbuds come with an IPX6 Water Resistance feature that is ideal for Sports and Outdoor Use. This makes them moderately resistant to small splashes of water and sweat. For connectivity, it features Bluetooth 5.3 Technology for stable wireless connectivity.

Lastly, the DSP Call Noise Cancellation is available for capturing the voice during calls more accurately and separating the background noise.

Connectivity and Ease of Use

With the Bluetooth functionality, the earbuds are straightforward to use. You just enable the Bluetooth mode on your phone and wait for the Open Buds to appear on the available devices.

Touch Features

Just like other TOZO earbuds, the Open Buds have default touch functionality on both earpieces. Touch features make using these a lot easier as you can control the media and calls however you want. You can take and hang calls or you can play/pause, increase/decrease the volume of any media file.

If you want to get used to it, make sure you read the user manual and use the earbuds for a day or two.

App

The app support is one of the best features of TOZO’s earbuds. Even though the charging case and the earbuds don’t have any external feature to show the battery status, you can check the exact battery level inside the official TOZO app.

You can also customize the touch features from the TOZO app and change the equalizer mode. However, unlike other TOZO earbuds we have reviewed till now, the Open Buds don’t feature a lot of EQ modes. Moreover, you don’t get the ability to manually tweak the EQ which is disappointing.

I mean, this shouldn’t be impossible for TOZO as the OpenReal earphones had a better support for EQ and even the T20 excels in it though it is cheaper.

Sound Quality

Let’s talk about the real stuff here! The sound quality of Open Buds is amazing. I didn’t expect the sound to be so good as the earbuds stay outside of your ears all the time. Even on the half volume, it was pretty loud, and on the full volume, it was more than enough.

Thankfully, the audio doesn’t distort even on the highest volume and you can distinguish between the Lows, Mids, and Highs of any audio file. The Open Buds felt slightly better than the T20 and the OpenReal earphones even though the latter features bigger dynamic drivers. It could be because of the earbuds design that makes them sit at the right position on the ears. Whatever the case is, these are now my favorite earbuds.

As for the Bass, I could totally distinguish the standard mode from the Bass+. I wish there was an option for customizing the base manually.

Microphone

You get the generic microphone quality, nothing too good, nothing too bad. But you do get the noise cancellation which is a plus point. There isn’t much to talk about it as these cannot be compared to dedicated microphones.

Battery Life

TOZO claims that the Open Buds can work up to 12 hours on a single charge in continuous operation and up to 42 hours with the charging case. As for the first claim, the earbuds didn’t work for 12 hours but up to 8 hours at full volume in continuous mode.

It’s possible that you can extend the battery life up to 10 hours by lowering the volume occasionally but it feels unlikely that the earbuds can work 12 hours straight on continuous usage. Still, pretty impressive as 8 hours is more than sufficient in a single charge and no sane person will use it for that amount of time.

Battery life with the charging case is difficult to test as there is no actual battery life monitoring feature for the charging case. However, I believe that it can surely help the earbuds stay alive for 30+ hours.

Final Verdict

Fantastic design, comfortable fit, impressive audio quality, app support, you have it all. For $69.99, the TOZO Open Buds are excellent but they do have some limitations due to which it can’t receive the GOLD or the Best Value Award.

Except for the limited app support and no battery life indicator, this is a solid choice for audiophiles who don’t want to tolerate the pain in the ears but still want that superior audio quality.

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