Oladance Open Ear Headphones Review
If you don’t like the closed off feeling of traditional headphones then you may want to try some ‘open earbuds’. We give the Oladance Open Earbuds a full review…..
What we like about the Oladance Earbuds: Surprisingly clear and vibrant sound; Superb battery life; Great packaging and design; Quality feel; Easy controls; No earache.
What we don’t like about the Oladance Earbuds: Take a bit of practice to put on; The look may not be for everyone.
If you’re anything like me, your Bluetooth headphones are a godsend. I regularly slip on a pair of noise cancelling headphones at the campsite to escape from the world and listen to my favourite podcasts or music. However, sometimes you don’t want to isolate yourself from your surroundings – it can be downright dangerous if you’re crossing a busy road or cycling for example!
Open earbuds, which aim to offer a more immersive and natural listening experience, are a great alternative to closed or sealed earbuds or over ear headphones. They use mini speakers which dangle just outside your ear and direct sound inwards so that you can hear it extremely clearly, but people close to you can’t. Open earbuds are ideal for outdoor activities because they allow some external sound to pass through, in contrast to traditional earbuds that block out external noise.
We recently got hold of some Oladance open ear headphones to play with, and were taken aback with how good they sounded. After several months using them in a range of different environments, we thought we’d put our thoughts down on paper and give our verdict on their performance.
Oladance Earbuds – Key Features
The Oladance earbuds are very nicely presented when they arrive through the post. The box and packaging are extremely high quality, and the whole shebang feels like a premium product – a bit like Apple products do.
The actual device is very simple – you get a small case which holds the earbuds. The case has a USB-C charge socket on it, and so you can charge the Oladance buds using the supplied cable via a mobile phone charger.
The buds themselves are clipped into the case using magnets, and it feels reassuringly secure when they are slipped back into the case and lock into position.
Battery power
In the version of earbuds I bought, the case itself does not contain a battery which means that they don’t get a charge when they’re put back in the case unless you plug them in. In my view, this is not a problem because the Oladance earbuds have fairly large 160mAh batteries which can last a whopping 16-20 hours. As a result, it is no great problem to plug them in every week or so for a quick charge if you listen a few hours every day.
That being said, you can buy a separate travel charging case if you want to extend the battery life to around 94 hours in total between charges. Impressive!
Earbud design
You can buy the Oladance buds in four different colours:
- Cloud white
- Interstellar blue
- Martian orange
- Space silver
I went for the Martian orange because I liked the look of it and thought that it would help the Oladance buds stand out from my regular black closed earbuds.
Each earbud is comprised of three main components. First there is the 160mAh battery section. This sits behind the ear and basically keeps out of the way. Extruding from this is a titanium wire loop which transfers the battery power and sound to the main driver section which sits above your ear hole. The wire loop also acts as support – you loop it over your ear, and this keeps the earbuds in place securely.
I found that I could jump up and down and jog with no problems – the earbuds didn’t fall off. This is often a problem with my ears as I’ve got fairly big lugholes, and Apple airpods regularly slip out of my ears which can be annoying.
One thing to note is that there is a definite left and right earbud. There is no way of putting the left earbud on your right hand ear due to the symmetry of each. It can sometimes take a second or two to work out which ear the bud is for when you pick it up.
The Speaker Drivers
The part of the Oladance buds which sits in front of your ear canal is known as the driver section. This is the loudspeaker part, and Oladance use 16.2mm drivers for these buds. They are some of the biggest drivers on the market for mini earphones like this, and dwarf the Apple Airpods for instance which only use 5mm drivers. Yes, using big drivers does add to the overall size of the Oladance buds, but the trade off is that the sound quality is amazing.
Pairing and Control
Pairing the buds with your phone via Bluetooth is simple. Literally set your phone to start searching for a new device, and then take the buds out of the case. There is a little touch button on the side of each bud which you press for two seconds on each ear. A light starts blinking slowly, and your phone should see the Oladance. Then just connect, and you should hear a confirmation.
Those little touch buttons can also be used to control your music playback or answer a phonecall – yes the Oladance have both speakers and a microphone to allow you to conduct phone calls. If someone rings you, just tap the touch button once and the call will be answered. Equally, if music is playing and you press the button once, it will pause your music until you press it again.
Alternatively, you can tap twice on the left ear to go back to your previous track, or on the right ear for the next track. This is great if you’re running or walking and don’t want to scramble around for your phone or stop what you’re doing.
You can also turn the volume up or down remotely from the buds by sliding your finger up or down. Very nice!
Open Earbuds vs Bone Conduction Earphones
You may have heard of bone conduction headphones which use bone conduction technology to deliver sound to the inner ear. Unlike open earbuds (like the Oladance) which use speaker drivers to produce sound that is delivered to the ear canal, bone conduction headphones use vibrations that are sent through the bones in the skull to the inner ear.
The two technologies are actually quite different, and in my experience there is no comparison in terms of sound quality – open earbuds win hands down. I have tried multiple bone conduction headphones before and have been vastly underwhelmed. They can be useful for deaf people who don’t have functioning hearing because the body can then pick up the sound itself internally. However, if you’re interested in sound quality then I would recommend open earbuds.
Oladance Earbuds – In Use
I really wasn’t prepared to be as blown away by the sound quality of the Oladance earbuds as I was. These are excellent sounding headphones, delivering crystal clear music into your ears, whether you’re in the house or walking, running or cycling outside.
Putting the buds on can be an interesting experience until you get used to it – it definitely takes practice, or even getting someone else to help you at first. They just loop over your ear, but it feels a little strange because it’s different to normal ‘in-ear’ buds. Once you get used to the technique though it’s no problem.
I tested the Oladance at full volume in a quiet room of my house with my wife Ali stood next to me. It was very loud in my ear (the sounds from the Oladance, not my wife!), but she could barely hear them. Yes there is a bit of sound leakage out from the earbuds, but it really isn’t noticeable – if people don’t see the headphones then my guess is that they won’t know your listening to anything from the sound alone. It’s that quiet.
For phone calls they’re great, and I’ve even used the buds for conference calls at work. Very convenient because you can walk around the room whilst chatting, and even go an make a cup of tea without getting cut off!
Comfort
One problem I have with ‘in-ear’ closed earbuds is that after an hour or so of wearing them I start to get earache. This is not a problem with the Oladance buds because nothing is actually in your ear. I got no pain during a three hour drive whilst I caught up on my weekly podcasts. This a major plus point for them in my opinion.
‘The Look’
We can’t wrap up this review without mentioning the look of the Oladance buds. It might not be for everyone, especially in the bright orange colour that I chose. They can look a little big on the ear and are not as discreet as some of the smaller in-ear choices. At my age, this is not a problem in any way, but I thought it’s probably worth mentioning. I think the dark blue colour buds might be a better choice if you want to blend into the background.
Overall Verdict
There is no doubt in my opinion that the Oladance open earbud headphones are a quality product and definitely worth considering if you have any reservations at all about using closed in-ear headphones or traditional over-ear headphones.
The sound quality is exceptionally clear and persuasive, helping you hear all sorts of detail in music or voice recordings. I was particularly loving listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon through them.
Being able to walk along the street whilst hearing both traffic and music is very liberating, and really helped make me feel safer than when using my normal phones. Comfort is also definitely improved.
When you look at the battery life you’re getting, the sound quality, the touch controls and the great design, I really feel like the Oladance is worth a look for you. Go for it!
