My biggest gripe about open-ear buds is that they’re rotten for loud city commutes. Cue a pedantic audiophile pointing out that the whole premise of open-ear buds is to not block out sound. Yes, yes. But the unfortunate truth is that often means if you want open-ear buds for one situation, you’ll have to buy a second pair for when the train is screeching along the subway tracks while the local mariachi band starts busking in your car.

So I was intrigued when Shokz reached out to say at CES 2026, its new $249.95 OpenFit Pro buds would have “noise cancellation.”

Technically, the correct term is noise reduction. Active noise cancellation requires a sealed ear canal, whereas the OpenFit Pro don’t do that. Instead, the buds have a triple microphone array, a tweaked speaker design, and an adaptive algorithm to dampen unwanted environmental noise. Two of the microphones monitor environmental sounds, while a third microphone next to your ear tracks what’s reaching the canal.

See that third microphone array? That’s what monitors sounds that actually reach your ear.

I was deeply skeptical when Shokz first briefed me on the product. I’ve tested several Shokz open-ear buds (not to be confused with their bone conduction headphones). While they’re great for staying aware at home or in quiet areas, they’re Not Great, Bob for commuting. I often can’t hear my music — even at maximum volume — and forget audiobooks or podcasts!

To my surprise, whatever dark magic Shokz is using in these buds works pretty well. The difference is very noticeable, especially if you turn the reduction setting all the way up in the Shokz app.

Don’t get me wrong. True ANC is still better. It’s always going to be hard listening to audiobooks if there’s a live mariachi band in my train car. (To be fair, ANC headphones also struggle against the power of mariachi.) But during less disruptive commutes, I had little problem listening to music and was able to listen to my audiobooks in more scenarios. I’d say these are best suited to moderately loud environments. Think cafes, not so much bars.

At home, I was surprised at how well the buds masked the ambient hum of my air purifier and fridge. Of course, it’s no match for the TV if you’ve got a show going on in the background, but that’s not really the point. This is more or less the kind of earbud that lets you focus on your content, but still hear when your spouse yell-asks from another room if you’ve seen their keys.

I’m much less fond of the fit. The hook is still quite bulky around the ear.

In another plus, bass quality — another weakness for open-ear buds — has improved as well. This iteration of the OpenFit Pro now supports a range up to 40kHz and reduces distortion below 100Hz. There’s also Dolby Atmos support with head tracking, but that felt sort of gimmicky when I turned it on. Nice if that’s something you like, but not all that necessary with open-ear buds.

The main issues I’ve had in the past few weeks of testing are, once again, fit and design. The hooks still feel bulky behind the ear, especially when I wear them with glasses. Oftentimes, I don’t feel they sit on my ears as securely as I’d like. The case is also large, though I do appreciate the extra 50 hours of charge it provides. (The buds last 12 hours on their own; that drops to six with noise reduction.)

This is admittedly a niche kind of earbud. It’s the rare person who would be able to fully replace their AirPods Pro (or any other pair of ANC-enabled buds) with these. However, as someone who likes to keep my wits about me when walking, commuting, or puttering around the house, they’re much more useful than previous iterations of the device.

Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.

• Victoria Song