TOZO OpenReal Review

TOZO OpenReal are an exciting new entry for air-conduction headphones, thanks to a considerable step up in sound quality compared to similar headphones. While they don’t pack as many features, they’re our new recommendation for outdoor activities.

UPDATE 5/3/2024: We added more tables and comparisons between different headphones we’ve tested.

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• List price (MSRP): $49.99
• Manufacturer: TOZO

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Category ratings:

Related: Best open-ear headphones – Best workout headphones – Best headphones for calls

Our Conclusion

Open-ear or air-conduction headphones have an important place in the market, as they ensure situational awareness by leaving your ear canal open and without sacrificing sound quality too much (as is the case with bone-conduction headphones).

However, TOZO OpenReal are the first headphones of this type that we were excited to try. Their clear, full, and natural sound for only $50 blew us away.

They’re also well made and boast above-average battery life and Bluetooth range.

On the other hand, headphones come with some flaws too. With the proprietary charging port being the biggest one. More on that later.

Discover what you can get for under $50 and why you should seriously consider getting a pair if you’re an outdoor sportsperson.

Pros & Cons:

Compare similar headphones

Our Analysis and Test Results

TOZO OpenReal have the best sound quality of any open-ear headphones we’ve tested. However, their volume is already loud at 10%, so they might be slightly annoying to use if you wish to listen to music and maintain awareness.

They’re also highly durable thanks to an IPX8, but use an annoying proprietary charger. They at least endure 12 hours per charge, fast charge with 2 hours of playtime in a 10-minute charge, and boast a robust indoor connection range of 65 feet.

Sound

TOZO OpenReal have a clear sound throughout, with nicely balanced default tuning. Minor EQ tweaks in the app add even more sparkle, making them a good fit for audiophile sportspeople.

Key points:

• Clear, balanced sound signature, especially after changing audio settings.
• Tight bass response but poor extension.
• Spacious sound with good imaging.

OpenReal use air conduction technology to transfer sound. To be honest. We first thought this type of headphones could only deliver adequate audio quality at best. Boy, were we surprised when we received TOZO OpenReal for a review.

OpenReal deliver the clearest sound we’ve heard from this type of headphones. It’s nicely balanced throughout the frequency range, with just a little darkness in the treble (which you can fix).

Bass: Natural in quantity, with decent control

Bass is usually the weakest part of open headphones, and OpenReal are no different. That said, it does its job better than competitors regarding clarity and control.

The bass is clear and tight. There is no muddiness that sometimes creeps up when drivers want to produce too-powerful bass. Still. you can hear some faint distortion from time to time, but it’s far less than in other air-conduction headphones.

In terms of quantity, there are enough lows to enjoy anything but the most bassy music genres.

Of course, anyone looking for a party headphone will be disappointed. Sub-bass extension is poor, too, as evident in the song “Thunderclouds” by LSD, but at least you get a decent amount of warmth.

Headphones are decent at maintaining control and speed. Still, fast double-pedal drumming can sometimes sound soft and undefined.

Midrange: Natural but needs some sparkle

Midrange sounds on-point right out of the box. But with some minor tweaks in upper mids, you can help acoustic instruments and vocals to clear up.

Electric guitars also sound better with some boost at 3.2kHz, becoming grittier and angrier. And what’s the best is that you don’t hear any sibilance whatsoever.

Treble: Pleasant but needs a little boost

On its own, treble is very polite and slightly darkish. You can hear lovely cymbal shimmer somewhere in the back, but you can’t make out the details.

Boosting the treble region by around 2-3dB, especially the 12.3kHz area, adds more shimmer and texture to the overall sound.

While audiophiles won’t enjoy listening to micro details (you can’t hear faint “vinyl” crackles at the beginning of “Cool” by Dua Lipa), the fact you can get such an airy and open sound out of $50 air-conducting headphones is admirable.

Speaking of openness, the soundstage is pretty expansive. You can hear sounds further away from your head, making these a good choice for watching movies (but not gaming, more on that later).

Surprisingly, despite the soundstage size, the imaging is pretty accurate. It nicely separates the sounds across the sound field. However, expect some blurriness due to drivers’ inability to produce fine details.

Sound Comparison

My conclusion

I never thought air-conduction headphones could excite me until TOZO OpenReal. They sound that good and just for $50.

Their sound isn’t replacing your regular headphones, nor are they competitors for the best bass headphones.

However, they will ensure a more pleasant outdoor music-listening experience during outdoor running or cycling.

Discover similarly awesome headphones that are suitable for sports:

• Best earbuds for running
• Best headphones for cycling

Comfort & Fit

TOZO OpenReal can stay on your head rock-steady and have a silicone-covered body to ensure comfortable skin contact. However, they start to fatigue a little after long listening sessions.

The design of the TOZO OpenReal is reminiscent of other air-conducting and bone-conducting headphones. Ear hooks support all the weight, but fortunately, they’re like a feather (1 ounce or 29 grams).

Furthermore, we found them very comfortable throughout the testing, more so than TrueFree F1. Also, due to the placement of touch and physical buttons, you don’t push the headphones against your skull when pressing them.

Compared to SoundPEATS RunFree Lite, which we consider incredibly comfortable, the OpenReal are also easier to place around your earlobes.

However, you somehow feel them more during usage. A potential issue with this is that after a while, you start “noticing” them more and more, leading to irritations or even headaches. Of course, that differs from person to person.

How the neckband part stays on your head is also different, being tilted slightly down rather than up, which could interfere with a cycling helmet size-adjustment wheel.

Potential problems aside, you can rest assured stability is top-notch. Headphones are made with sportspeople in mind, cycling included. No matter how hard you shake your head, they shouldn’t fall off your head.

Compared to other similar models

TOZO OpenReal are comfortable at first but tend to cause headaches (at least for me) after a few hours of use. Compared to the SoundPEATS RunFree Lite, the latter stay comfortable for much longer.

Durability

TOZO OpenReal feel dense and not plasticky at all, and their IPX8 rating ensures complete water resistance. But, unlike some competitors, they lack a protective carrying pouch.

The new OpenReal air conduction headphones are made and look like they cost more than they actually do.

Headphones have a minimalist design with a matte black/grey color scheme. They’re mostly covered in a soft silicone finish that feels gentle on the skin (except for the outsides and insides of the transducer module).

They’re also very flexible including the ear hooks. So they can accommodate bigger ears (at the expense of some comfort).

Regarding water resistance, there needs to be some clarification. The official page states TOZO OpenReal have an IPX8 rating, whereas the Amazon page says they have an IPX5. The difference isn’t negligible, so TOZO should provide more exact specs.

However, citing TOZO’s page, headphones are rated for an IPX8, meaning you can submerse them without any damage. You can even swim with them, although you might experience Bluetooth interference.

One thing that’s missing is a carrying pouch that would protect the headphones from scratches and drops. It would also make transportation much safer.

Are they suitable for…

• Wearing in the rain: Suitable.
• Running & exercising outside: Suitable, but avoid dragging them through the sand or fine dust, as they aren’t officially dust-resistant.
• Sweating: Suitable, IPX8 is fully water tight.
• Dipping underwater: Suitable, down to 3 meters in depth.

Durability comparison

TOZO OpenReal are among the toughest open-ear headphones, being the only ones to support IPX8 rating (apart from some bone conduction headphones).

If you seek headphones for swimming, take a look at these:

• Best waterproof headphones for swimming

Battery

TOZO OpenReal air-conduction headphones last up to 12 hours and 3 minutes, which is good but slightly less than advertised. The biggest annoyance is the proprietary charging port with weak magnets.

TOZO OpenReal battery comparison:

The OpenReal air conduction headphones have a good battery life that’s similar to many other headphones of this type. During our battery test, where we left them to play music at 50% volume, the headphones lasted:

• 12 hours and 3 minutes on a single charge

That puts them slightly above the competition, except for SoundPEATS RunFree Lite, which can endure 8 hours more (but also have quieter max loudness).

Twelve hours is also an hour less than the advertised 13 hours. Still, you get a sufficient music volume at 50%, so it should be enough juice for 2-3 days of use.

Headphones support fast charging:

• Adding 2 hours of juice in a 10-minute charge.

Unfortunately, you must use a proprietary charging port to charge the OpenReal.

We’re unsure why TOZO decided on a proprietary charger since many similar headphones use USB-C. It makes charging inconvenient, especially if you only own power bricks with USB-C outputs.

However, the biggest flaw are the magnets holding the charging plug and jack. They’re extremely weak and separate with minimal pressure.

You have to be very creative with how you want to hang the headphones to avoid unplugging the connector.

Here’s how OpenReal’s battery rating compares to ratings of similarly priced competitors:

Note: The battery rating considers battery life compared to alternatives, wireless charging support, and the speed of recharging.

Features

TOZO OpenReal boast physical and touch controls, app support for sound customization, and a call quality worthy of longer voice calls.

The new OpenReal headphones don’t have many features to brag about. However, the ones they have, work well.

TOZO OpenReal features:

• Customizable audio equalizer with EQ presets
• Battery percentage indicator
• Firmware updating

Most notably, the TOZO app enables you to customize the sound.

Custom EQ

Customizable audio equalizer has 10 bands with +/- 5dB adjustments. Despite the already balanced sound signature out of the box, you can further improve the sound with small tweaks.

If we nitpick, we prefer the highest band to cover 16kHz instead of 12.8kHz.

Controls

TOZO OpenReal operate via touch and physical controls. Only the plate on the right earphone is touch-sensitive, and it only covers essential playback and phone calls commands.

Note that you can’t control their features using voice commands nor do you receive voice prompts of the caller ID when receiving a call.

Under the right module behind the ear, you find 2 tiny rubber buttons (next to a charging port) that take charge of volume up/down and next/previous song commands.

• Play/pause music or answer a call – single tap on the touch panel on the right earphone
• Volume up – a single press of the “+” button
• Volume down – a single press of the “-” button
• Next song – hold the “+” button
• Previous song – hold the “-” button
• Reject a call or activate voice assistant – double tap on the touch panel on the right earphone
• End a call – triple tap on the touch panel on the right earphone

Microphone quality

TOZO OpenReal have a clear, albeit quiet voice quality that avoids distortion when exposed to loud background noises.

TOZO OpenReal microphone test:

It’s perfectly reasonable to use TOZO OpenReal someplace quiet and during video calls. The built-in microphone captures your voice clearly and with decent fullness (you don’t sound thin, as if your nose is clogged).

The only thing worth mentioning is that you don’t sound very loud, so others will have to raise their volume to hear you better.

Nonetheless, similar performance continues when you have to talk someplace noisy. However, keep in mind that the noise reduction for calls only works when you don’t speak.

In contrast, when you start talking, the others might hear cars passing by or other sounds. But we prefer this over overly aggressive noise suppression, which usually results in heavy distortion.

Features rating comparison

Noise Isolation

TOZO OpenReal offer good wind noise resistance for outdoor activities but suffer from relatively audible sound leakage.

When buying air-conduction headphones, you must be aware of the non-existent passive noise isolation. What matters is the unwanted noise the headphones create.

Fortunately, transducers are pretty aerodynamic, so they don’t create too much wind noise. Tiny openings up front can produce a faint high-pitch sound, but only when you’re cycling at higher speeds and when your head is slightly tilted left/right.

What about sound leakage?

TOZO OpenReal have a somewhat audible sound leakage from 50% volume and up. Of course, that mostly matters in what situations you plan to use them.

Sound leakage isn’t an issue during intense workouts in a noisy gym or outdoors. In contrast, we advise you against taking them to a library or any place where there’s quiet with many people around you.

Noise isolation rating comparison with other models

Bluetooth

TOZO OpenReal have an outstanding indoor Bluetooth range of around 65 feet, but they lack Bluetooth multipoint and gaming mode.

Using the latest Bluetooth 5.3, the OpenReal ensure a very stable close-range connection with zero hiccups.

Moreover, headphones use a stronger antenna, which helps with extended range. During our indoor range test, the headphones managed to work:

• 65 feet (20 meters), passing at least 2 brick walls, before starting to cut off audio.

That puts TOZO OpenReal among headphones with the longest Bluetooth range, like Apple AirPods Max, TrueFree F1, and Edifier W820NB Plus.

Unfortunately, here’s where impressive specs and features end. Headphones don’t have Bluetooth multipoint support nor the Game mode of the SoundPEATS RunFree Lite.

How do you pair TOZO OpenReal?

1. You simply turn them on when pairing them for the first time.
2. When pairing them to some other device, you first turn them off and back on while holding the power button for at least 3 seconds. You will hear a beeping sound from the headphones.

What Bluetooth codecs do they use?

TOZO OpenReal use SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, which is completely fine for retaining a stable connection and providing sufficient sound quality.

Is there any audio lag?

The lack of a dedicated gaming mode doesn’t ruin video watching experience. You get lag-free videos from YouTube and other social media apps.

On the other hand, there is a noticeable lag in mobile games. It’s passable for casual, slower games but unsuitable for fast-paced competitive titles.

Bluetooth rating comparison

Should You Get TOZO OpenReal?

If you’re searching for open-ear design headphones that provide full awareness but also sound really good, you can’t go wrong with TOZO OpenReal.

Pros & Cons

Who are these best for:

• For an active outdoor person who also enjoys music as faithfully as possible (like myself), these are a Godsent, as they don’t make me miss my regular audiophile headphones while running or cycling.

Who should avoid them:

• People who want a more versatile headphone that can also cover mobile gaming or deliver deeper bass.

How do TOZO OpenReal compare to the competition?

Here’s their value rating compared to similar alternatives:

Are they worth the price?

If you want to take your favorite tunes on your bike ride or outdoor run and enjoy it in high quality, then these are well worth their money at around $40 on Amazon.

TOZO OpenReal Alternatives

SoundPEATS RunFree Lite

SoundPEATS Air3 Deluxe HS

Mojawa Mojo2

What’s in the Box?

• TOZO OpenReal open-ear headphones
• Proprietary charging cable
• User manual & quick guide

Specifications