Open earbuds support many of the same features found in traditional earbuds like multipoint pairing to connect to multiple devices at once, sensors for auto-pause, water-resistance, and even spatial audio. Most provide an app for extras like EQ or an earbuds finder, and you’ll find onboard touch or push controls. Because of the limitations of their physical designs, open earbud controls are often more limited or less effective than those on traditional earbuds, but the best pairs work around these constraints for convenient control

One feature you shouldn’t look for in open earbuds is noise canceling, which relies on a mix of passive sound isolation and microphones to measure your environment and reverse the polarity of exterior sound frequencies to “cancel” them out. The basic physics of the process requires a good seal to work effectively. While it’s true that some semi-open earbuds like the AirPods 4 and even some fully open earbuds offer noise canceling, it’s generally very limited with only lower frequencies seeing any noise reduction. If you need noise canceling, you’re better off with options like the AirPods Pro, Bose’s top-ranked QuietComfort Ultra, or any of our other noise-canceling favorites.