For so long, I’ve been a bit of a headphone snob and only considered headphones that shut out the world, so that there is nothing else but me and my music but because of this, I’ve been hesitant to wear my headphones exercising, or while walking around in public areas, because I won’t be aware of my surroundings. So when Kevin, my editor offered me a chance to review the Tozo OpenEgo‘s, I was intrigued to see how a set of open earphones would perform and if they could sway me in my thinking.
Tozo are one of the newer kids on the block, having been established out of Seattle in 2015. Since then, they’ve sold an impressive 20 million units globally, sell 33 different headphone products and have also ventured into other consumer electronic devices, such as smart watches and portable speakers. Retailing for $59AUD currently, there aren’t too many open earphones that compete in this price range, so let’s dive in and see how the Tozo OpenEgo’s stacks up up.
Design
The OpenEgo’s come with a sleek matte white storage box which doubles as a charger and is adorned in a stylish chrome strip which also hides a pretty neat LED display that shows the charge status of each ear piece, as well as the storage box itself.
Open the box, and the OpenEgo’s come to life, with a melodic chime and some flashing status LED’s as they instantly connect to each other. The earphone body is a mix of plastic and a silicon-rubber material to aid in gripping to your ear and have a nice sleek appearance.
User Experience
If you’re used to having earphone buds in your ear, the OpenEgo’s will take some getting used to, as if you’re anything like me, you’re used to having in your ear. The OpenEgo’s, by comparison almost feel like there’s almost nothing on your ear, similar to wearing a pair of sunglasses.
Being comfortable with the fit took me some time to adjust to, and Tozo do provide easy instructions on how to get a good fit. They also come with a pair of “stablisers”, which act like little silicon socks that sit over the ear pieces to add extra grip, which is especially useful if you’re going be exercising while wearing them. In some ways, it’s easier to get a good fit with the OpenEgo’s because with earbuds, you may need to find the right size bud to fit your ear canal. The only downside with the socks is that the earphones don’t fit properly in the charging case with them still fitted, so they will need to be removed if you want to close the list
Once you’re happy with the fit, there is minimal movement from the headphones while performing vigorous activity. You could be doing burpees, running, jumping or upside down and they won’t fall off and given the OpenEgo’s are IP5x rated, they’ll handle sweat and rain without a problem
In saying that, I kept wanting to touch and adjust them, as initially, I wasn’t sure had the best fit, and annoyingly, it kept pausing my music.
This is because the OpenEgo’s have touch controls hidden away in the earphone body and one touch pauses your audio source.
App
The good news is, this can be resolved (in a way) thanks to Tozo’s Smartphone App which allows you to customise the several different touch commands for each earphone (such as, do nothing if you touch it once).
The app also features an equaliser, allowing you to personalise your mix, choose from 16 different presets and you can even download custom equaliser profiles from other users in the Tozo community, which is a great idea. If you need to update the firmware on your headphones, this can be done via the app (over the air) too.
Audio
This was the area of performance with the Tozo’s I was particularly curious about.
Initially, I had my doubts about how these would perform with sound, given their open nature. How good would the sound quality be, and how immersive would it be? Can open be as good as in-ear or on ear?
Frankly, I was really pleased with how good they were, especially when you take price into account.
Firstly, It’s a bit of a surreal sensation actually, and by that, I mean, being able to listen to music without the feeling of buds in your ear of cups on or over them. I could get used to this- especially when it comes exercising.
If you’re planning to exercise with the OpenEgo’s, you may be wondering how they perform given they aren’t planted in your ear like a conventional well-fitting ear bud, and the answer is, “admirably”
In terms of the sound quality, it’s suffice to say the OpenEgo’s punch above their weight. The 16.2mm drivers are bigger than virtually all other earbuds on the market (and bigger is usually better), but given the distance from your ear canal, this may be needed to compensate but a bigger driver can also be accommodated because there are less design restrictions from the ear. They also feature ORIGX acoustic technology which Tozo say optimises the performance of vocals and midrange, delivering more immersive and realistic sound through clear layers and rich vocal music details.
The open nature of these earphones translates to an expansive stound stage, that in turn allows the music to breathe, with impressive separation and depth between instruments.
The Bass is a little lacking in punch for my liking but still strong enough that you won’t be disappointed. Interestingly, I find the sweet spot for richness regarding bass is one of two notches from max volume, where the tone feels a bit beefier because for whatever reason, the bass at max volume feels like it constricts, so to speak. It could be that this is by design to wave off too much distortion.
The mid-range frequencies feature a nice warm richness to them, and when combined with the crisp nature of the high-range and separation from the vocals means the OpenEgo’s deliver a rather nice presentation of sound. If I’m marking harshly, there is a hint of oscillating distortion in the mid-range frequencies when several instruments are playing at once with the vocals in the mix. This can overwhelm the OpenEgo’s but I had to listen hard for it, but it seemed to only appear at higher volume levels. It will depend on how busy the track is in the lows/mids/highs that your listening to
Listening to “The Way That I do”, by Durand Jones and The Indications, the bass is nicely pronounced, with that nice big sound stage evident. Vocals, Brass, Percussion and Strings all nicely spaced and pronounced. “ARAWA” by Electric Youth on the other hand flooded the OpenEgo’s across all frequency ranges and allowed that oscillating distortion to creep in which disrupted the vocals and instruments somewhat in different parts of the track (usually the chorus).
Phone calls
Tozo say that they that the OpenEgo’s are also good performers in phone calls too and I’d agree. The dual microphones work to cancel out ambient noise, allowing your voice to be front and centre, and Tozo look to have nailed the brief. I was out in the yard on a call with a mate while the kids where squealing in the background, and when I apologised for the ruckus in the background, to which he replied, “what noise?”. I consider that a solid pass. The open nature of the design means you can also be comfortable while on those longer calls too.
The quality of the sound and microphone on the OpenEgo’s also make these suitable for office use too, especially with the active background noise cancelling. If anything, these are far more subtle than your conventional office headsets, when you’re on video conference. If you’re worried about details of your call leaking out to nearby listeners, don’t be. The OpenEgo’s speakers are engineered in such a way that the sound is projected straight at your ear canal, minimising the chance of anyone hearing anything legible.
Battery Life
At the time of publishing, Tozo hadn’t provided information about the battery life on the OpenEgo’s but it’s safe to say it’s similar to the Open Buds that we reviewed earlier this year, which offered approximately 12 hours off one charge, and up to 30 hours if you include the charging case they live in.
This rings true for me, a I spent hours listening without depleting then, but because they live in their charging case when not in use, they were always ready to go again when I took them out. The LED info display on the case does give you an idea of energy reserves through the level of charge left, though (for the charging case itself).
In A Nutshell
The Tozo OpenEgo’s are a really good value packed proposition for those who are looking for an alternative to conventional earbuds to wear while exercising or struggle to find the right fit with in-earbuds or find them uncomfortable.
In saying that, these wouldn’t be my go-to in every situation, mainly because open earphones can’t reduce ambient noise if desired. There are a couple of minor quibbles (no multi-point Bluetooth) and the fact that the carry case can’t stay shut if you’ve fitted the stablisers to them, but these are minor things. For exercising or being in any scenario where you need to be aware of your surroundings, the Tozo OpenEgo’s offer a compelling case thanks to their good sound quality and aggressive price.
The Tozo OpenEgo is available for AUD$59.99 as a limited time deal on Amazon at time of publishing.
DRN wishes to thank Tozo for the review unit.
