TOZO Open Buds Review | The Most Affordable Open Earbuds

For people with a unique ear design who can’t hold earbuds, there are open wireless earbuds that just sit around your ear. This also makes them highly breathable and improves situation awareness as well. Among such open TWS are today’s review products, which are the TOZO Open Buds selling for under $60. How well do they fit? How good do they sound, and how long do they last? We will be answering all this in this in-depth review.

First, summarizing the overall specs, the Open Buds features built-in biaxial rotating ear hooks, a huge 14.2mm dynamic driver, the latest Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, and a total playtime of 42 hours, including their charging case. 

With Open Earbuds going around $100, TOZO provides a much budget-friendly option with more volume and wider sound than any other open earbuds in this range!

TOZO Open Buds Review – Sharp Sound Profile, Tons of Premium Features

TOZO Open Buds Review – Specs Sheet

Model	TOZO Open Buds
Dimensions	Earbuds: 4.5 x 5.0 cm Charging case: 9.2 x 5.6 cm
Weight	Earbuds: 5 grams each Charging case: 62 grams
Waterproof/IP ratings	IPx6
Bluetooth version	V5.3
Range/Distance	10 meters
Connectivity Port/ Charging Cable	Type-C
Audio Decoding	AAC, SBC
Driver	14.2mm dynamic
Sound highlights	Bright, airy and wide
Speaker frequency response	20Hz – 20kHz
Speaker Sensitivity	N/A
Sound Pressure Level	N/A
Speaker Distortion	N/A
Impedance	16Ω +- 15%
Microphone	Yes, 2, DSP noise cancellation
Battery Capacity	Earbuds: 70mAh Charging case: 600mAh
Battery Life	Earbuds: 12 h (AAC, default setting, 50% volume) advertised Charging case: 2.4 charges (30 hours)
Charging Time	Earbuds: 1.5 hours Charging case: 1.5 hours
App Support	Yes (battery status, presets, custom equalizer)
Controls/Features	Play/Pause Next/Previous Volume Adjustment Answer/Reject/Hang up Call Voice Assistant
Accessories	Charging Case Type-A to Type-C Charging Cable Quick Guide User Manual
Price	$59.99

The Unboxing

Starting the TOZO Open Buds review with the unboxing, the earbuds come inside a white square-shaped box similar to their other earbuds, such as the NC series and T series. On the front, we have the glossy TOZO logo written along with the model name ‘OpenBuds.’ There’s this ORIGX written, which is one of TOZO’s tuning benchmarks.

On the back of the box, we have the highlights of the earbuds written in different languages. There are also certifications mentioned as well.

There’s a QR code to scratch and scan on the right side, for product genuine assurance.

The left side of the box has the company address and the product color option. TOZO Open Buds comes in only one black color.

Sliding the box upwards, we see ‘Designed by TOZO in California‘ written, which somewhat mimics the Apple AirPods box. Indeed, it’s an American company founded in 2015 in Seattle, Washington. However, it does have production/assembling in other countries,s including China.

Taking out the upper section, we can see the first impression of the huge Tozo Open Buds case with the earbuds resting in it. There’s a separate section for the cable as well, and I am glad that Tozo has marked it with what that section contains. Unlike the usual earbuds, this one only has a Type-C charging cable and no silicon tips since this is an open earbud.

Also, remember not to throw away the upper white lid section because it contains the user manual and quick guide (like an envelope). This time,e there’s no separate app pairing guide in it.

The Tozo Open Buds accessories include:

• A small charging cable (USB Type-A to Type-C)
• User manual
• Quick Guide

In short, the unboxing experience is ordinary, nothing amazing like the rest of their earbuds. Love the slide and then lid/envelope design with the ‘Designed by’ label and all the paper inside it instead of just putting it at the bottom. Also, the illustration of what you would find in the accessories section is quite helpful.

Design & Appearance

Tozo went with the dual-tone color plastic design for Tozo Open Buds. The front, where the touch panel and TOZO logo are present, is made of graphite grey matte similar to its charging case, and thankfully, it’s not a fingerprint magnet. The bac,k where the charging terminals and the driver opening is pure matte black. I know that glossy earbuds always have a premium look, but they are always full of smudges. No matter how many times you hold the Open Buds, they don’t get dirty at all. However, the plastic feels a bit cheap in comparison to its competitors like Shokz OpenFit and Soundcore AeroFit 2.

The size of the earbuds is also bigger than most open earbuds, which are 4.5 cm x 5 cm. Also, before using, remove the plastic sheet from the charging terminals as well as the front of the earbuds.

Speaking of the open-ear design, looking from the top, the Open Buds reminds me of the old Sony earphones design as the main body is missing the seamless integration of the ear hooks, but that too has pros which will be explained later.

Size-wise, they are bigger than most open earbuds yet the lightest as well weighing only 5.1 grams each.

The controls are touch-based, and the touch panel is around the black TOZO logo. It isn’t super sensitive to the touch, unlike my FIIL T1 Lite, which can experience frequent accidental touches, especially while in bed.

I like the front silver vent on them, giving them quite a vintage look and reminding me of those Sony Ericsson earphones. The most prominent aspect was the multicolor LED that lights up and can be seen through those vents.

TOZO Open Buds LED indications:

• White LED blinking – Pairing Mode
• White LED stops blinking and disappears – Paired/Connected
• Orange LED blinking (on the case) – Charging
• White LED followed by Blue LED and then again White – Auto connected after opening the lid.
• Orange LED on case blinking (without charging) – Resetting
• White LED blinking on the case – Almost charged

Overall, I loved the design of the earbuds, which look quite vintage. However, the feel and appearance do mimic cheap earbuds, which is okay for the price since these are not your $100 open earbuds but $60 ones.

Comfort & Wearing Experience

Moving further in this TOZO Open Buds review, these earbuds, despite their huge size, are quite lightweight, weighing only 5.1 grams each. So, they are almost the weight of the previous TOZO NC7. Honestly, I couldn’t even feel as if I was wearing them. The only thing that made me feel them was the main body touching my ear tragus.

Earbuds with ear hooks have the best grip, making them ideal for sports, and these earbuds are no exception. However, the ear hook design on the Open Buds is of the next level because of a metal hinge mechanism with a seven-stage adjustment and a 70-degree rotation as well. Probably the best fit out there and a must-have for people looking for open earbuds for sports like cycling and running.

TOZO Open Buds earbuds are not waterproof, so don’t use them in any water activity. They are, however, IPX6, making them usable in the rain and at the gym.

Since these are open earbuds, they are not recommended while in bed or sleeping because of their touch sensitivity and their huge size.

Charging Case

The Open Buds has a huge pebble-shaped charging case that measures 92mm in length and 56mm in width and weighs over 72 grams, including the earbuds. This won’t make it as pocket-friendly as the other competitors. However, since it’s a pebble design and doesn’t have any pointy edges, it won’t irritate you in your pants pocket, but you will feel its presence.

The earbuds case has the TOZO written in black. On the bottom are the details of the model, charging speed, and certifications.

On the lower front of the case, we have a single LED light indicating resetting and charging status. Sadly, one of the earbuds’ biggest cons is that this light doesn’t indicate the remaining battery capacity.

TOZO Open Buds charging case LED lights indication:

1. Orange LED blinking while charging cable plugged – charging
2. Red LED blinking – low charging
3. White LED blinking – almost charged
4. Steady white LED – case opened

The hinge is super tight and hasn’t loosened over 1 month of my use. It can be opened with the thumb, using only one hand. However, it gives quite a jerk when opening and closing, and you can hear the noise as well. Not the smoothest experience, but at least the hinge isn’t loosening over excessive use.

Behind is the USB type-c port, which is one of the highlights since we still see manufacturers putting USB type-A and micro USB ports under this price. But, almost 70% of the manufacturers have moved to Type-C charging.

The magnetism of the earbuds with the case is not strong at all. I accidentally dropped this several times, and the earbuds came out of the case when the lid was open. Even a slight jerk while opened makes them fall out of the case. However, when closed the hinge is so tight that the earbuds don’t fall out at all.

Overall, I would be giving the charging case 2.5 out of 5 stars because of the huge size and weight, tight hinge, no charging capacity on LEDs, and low magnetic attachment between the buds and the case.

Hardware & Connectivity

Moving to what’s on the board, TOZO doesn’t disclose what audio chip is used inside. However, we do know that each earbud features a 14.2nm dynamic driver. According to TOZO, this driver has been tuned by ORIGX 2.0 acoustic.

Moreover, TOZO doesn’t disclose the diaphragm details as well.

One of the highlights of these earbuds is that they also have the Bluetooth v5.3 version, which is the latest version to date. Bluetooth v5.3 provides better energy efficiency, range, and less distortion than the previous generations. Remember that the old version has Bluetooth v5.1. This will have a huge impact on battery life.

The range on the specs sheet is 10 meters without any physical disturbance between the source and the earbuds. I have tested the range and they are correct, however, it does depend on the battery status as well. When the battery gets lower to 15% the range is automatically reduced. Moreover, the sound quality gets really bad once you are 6 to 7 meters away.

Once you pair them, the connectivity speed is super fast. It can be compared to earbuds using QC 3040 and QC 3050 chipsets. It connects to the Apple iPhone 14 Pro within 2 seconds of taking it out of the case.

Thankfully, both earbuds can be used for master-slave connectivity. This means that you can either take out the left earbud or the right earbud to pair and run in mono mode and then take out the other one to automatically shift to stereo mode.

They connect when you open the lid. So, if the lid gets loose over time, this won’t cause any problems. Once put in the case, the earbuds will turn off.

I have tried connecting them to my Zenbook as well (Windows 11, Bluetooth 5.0) and they paired successfully.

The only downside is that they don’t have any Qualcomm chip inside to enable AptX and other features present in Qualcomm SoC smartphones. The only codecs it supports are AAC and SBC, which is fine since most of us don’t take advantage of AptX or don’t even have a supported phone for it. TOZO barely has such chipsets in their earbuds.

Latency & Gaming Experience

The Open Buds doesn’t have a low latency mode. While watching movies and videos I didn’t get to experience any kind of delay. While listening to music, there is almost no latency. However, things changed when I tried to use these while playing a competitive game called ‘PUBG Mobile.’ There, I would see a delay of at least 400ms.

However, the surrounding stereo effect coming from an open earbud is just amazing (super accurate footsteps sound and gun firing direction, won’t mix up and confuse you) thanks to the big 14.2mm dynamic driver. However, for competitive gaming, it is not recommended at all.

IDK if it is my unit, but while nothing is playing, there is a background noise (hiss) which makes it a bit annoying. Let me know if any of you have this.

Sound Quality

TOZO Open Buds sound highlight is a super loud, broad, airy, bright sound profile, with mids like vocals, very forward and clear, and a slight sub-bass thump.

Starting with the volume, the TOZO OpenBuds is super loud and you would mostly be using it at a volume level of 50 to 60%. In comparison, these are almost 2x louder than my FIIL T1 Lite, and slightly louder than TOZO NC7. On 100% volume, they control the sound well and it doesn’t get muddy. I was surprised by how rich and well-textured they sound as per open earbuds standards.

The lower frequency lacks a bit, however, it is the best in all open earbuds under $100. There’s sufficient sub-bass thump as well. However, the rest is just a bit down though can be improved via The Bass+ EQ preset. Not recommended for the bass heads out there but still the best option in open earbuds.

The mid-frequency (vocals and instruments), including the mid-mid and the high-mid, are in your face and one enjoys that, hiding the lower frequency (bass). Good for pop and country listeners.

Now coming to the high-frequency (treble) there is a bit of smoothing going with the sharpness. So heavy metal listeners might not feel like it is hitting hard.

The soundstage is where almost all open earbuds shine and the sound generated from these 14.2 mm drivers is huge. Probably the best under $150. One can feel the accurate instrument placement along with a wide stereo effect almost at the level of open-back headphones.

• Volume: 10 out of 10
• Clarity: 8 out of 10
• Bass: 5 out of 10
• Details: 6 out of 10
• High-Frequency Response: 6 out of 10
• Mid-Frequency Response: 8 out of 10
• Low-Frequency Response: 5 out of 10
• Soundstage: 9 out of 10

Songs Played On TOZO Open Buds Earbuds

Recommended genre for earbuds: Metal, New age, Funk

• Hootie & The Blowfish – Hold My Hand (Yes, PC Principal :D) – Super airy and wide. Good guitar and drum placement but the bass lacks depth. The voice is clear. The soundstage is incredible.
• Future – Mask Off – Honestly a song that I definitely don’t want to listen to on open earbuds. A bit flat since barely any bass. Only the sharp and clear voice is straight on your face.
• Imagine Dragons – Natural – The humming and the lead voice is so good on these and the brightness is the highlight.

Talking & Calling Experience

70% of the earbuds in the market I have tested are mediocre when it comes to microphones. And TOZO Open Buds is no exception.

Though the voice is hearable but a bit airy and robotic.

The background noise cancellation is bad. Indoor the call quality was still fine but once you turn on your ceiling fan go outside in the traffic or ride a motorbike, you will barely hear your voice in all that noise. This is a problem with most of TOZO’s microphones and even in Open Buds despite mentioning the ‘DSP call noise reduction feature’ it’s just too much background noise.

The audio pick (range) of the earbuds is medium, probably because of the right placement of the outer microphone.

Below is my recording:

I would recommend it for indoor calling but for outdoor calling it’s a big no.

Controls

TOZO Open Buds earbuds feature touch controls instead of physical buttons. The touch sensitivity is medium with some occasional accidental touch. However, they are super responsive. Probably one of the most responsive earbuds I have tested. You hear a sound while using them, especially when playing the next/previous song.

There is a variety of controls you can get on the earbuds and I am impressed by them.

Power on:

• Open the lid
• Tap the touch panel for 3 seconds of any earbud

Power off:

• Put the earbud back into the case
• Tap the touch panel for 5 seconds when not playing (you can’t turn it off while it’s playing anything)
• Auto-off when not used for 5 minutes

For music/video:

• Increase volume: Tap and hold the right earbud while playing to reduce the volume
• Decrease volume: Tap and hold the left earbud while playing to reduce the volume
• Next: 2 taps on the right earbud
• Previous: 2 taps on the left earbud
• Play and Pause: 1 tap on the right earbud while playing (you can’t switch it to the left earbud)

Incoming call:

• Attend call: 1 tap on any earbud to answer the call
• Decline call: Touch and Hold any earbud for 2 seconds
• Hold call: Touch and Hold any earbud for 2 seconds
• Cancel dialing: Touch and Hold any earbud for 2 seconds during calling or dialing.

During call:

• Increase volume: No option
• Decrease volume: No option
• Hang up: Touch and Hold any earbud for 2 seconds

Voice assistant activation (Siri and others):

• In standby mode quickly tap any earbud touch panel 3 times to activate the voice assistant

This is one of the few earbuds that has almost every control option that should be available for any earbuds. The controls are super responsive and simple to operate the earbuds.

APP Guide / Instructions

Open Buds supports the TOZO App available on the Play Store (Android) and App Store (iOS).

The features of this app include custom control settings and an equalizer with 5 presets (no custom one).

You can pair the earbuds from your app. After pairing the Open Buds, you have the main page where you have a gear icon for OTA updates and Touch control settings. The main page also mentions the battery of each earbud but doesn’t mention the case battery.

In the equalizer, we have these presets.

Unlike TOZO NC7, these Open Buds connect both to my iPhone 14 Pro and Xiaomi 10T.

Battery Life

TOZO Open Buds has a battery life which the company claims to be around 12 hours (50% volume, AAC) on a single charge and 30 hours on a fully charged case (3 charges). I wasn’t able to listen to them for long hours, however, I estimated it to easily surpass 10 hours.

The big driver does require some battery juice to get powered. I expected a bit more from the open buds at least the case because it is so big. However, 12 hours of battery on a single charge is quite good as well given that earbuds have around 6 to 8 hours of standard battery life.

It takes around 1.5 hours to charge the 70mAh earbuds from 0% to 100%. The charging case (600mAh) itself needs 1.5 hours as well to fully charge via its Type-C interface.

Our Verdict

Summarizing this review, the Open Buds are recommended as Open earbuds. It certainly checks the list that an Open earbud should be. Moreover, they have a better sound in comparison to the much more expensive Shokz OpenFit Air and a much wider and louder sound under $100. The wearing experience is also quite better because of the 90-degree rotation and 7-staged movements of the earhook. The angle adjustment also makes sounds better. They are lighter despite the big size.

Visually they might look a bit cheap, yet they remind me of the old Sony Ericsson earphones. The case is quite big and heavy. In short, they are incredible for the price.

TOZO Open Buds Comparison With Other Earbuds

TOZO Open Buds ($60) vs Shokz OpenFit Air ($120)

TOZO Open Buds has:

• Wider soundstage and higher volume and sub-bass
• Half the price
• Lighter
• IPX6

Shokz OpenFit Air has:

• Better awareness
• Slightly better microphone quality
• Looks and feels a bit premium

TOZO Open Buds ($60) vs Soundcore Aerofit Pro ($150)

TOZO Open Buds has:

• Lighter and comfortable on ears
• Cheaper
• Better placement because of the angle adjustment

Soundcore Aerofit Pro has:

• Way better microphone
• Cheaper
• Way more features

Soundcore has a more refined and silky sound while the Open Buds has better openness and sub-bass.

Price & Availability

You can buy TOZO Open Buds for a price of $50 to $60 USD. Here are the stores below with the best pricing.

TOZO Official Store

FAQs