Emeet Airflow review: Air conduction earbuds made for the office

Emeet Airflow: One minute review

If you haven’t heard of Emeet before, you’re not alone. Previously, the company only made other work-based tech products, like cameras and speakers. It also has two pairs of over-ear headphones, but the Emeet Airflow are the brand’s first pair of earbuds.

The Emeet Airflow have an open-ear design, which uses air conduction tech by positioning a small speaker on the outside of your ear, not in your ear canal like most of the best wireless earbuds . This style has become popular over the last few years. Our best open-ear headphones guide is filled with options to suit a range of budgets. Smaller audio tech brands are introducing open-ear designs, and big tech companies like Bose are getting in on the action.

Open-ear headphones are appealing because they free your ear canals, enabling you to listen to music while still hearing sounds around you. The complete opposite proposition to the best noise-cancelling earbuds and best noise-cancelling headphones . Ideal for runners, cyclists or people who generally would like to be more aware of their surroundings in any situation. Like those who need to be on hand at an office or listen out for their kids as they work at home.

They also appeal to people who don’t like the feel and fit of other kinds of headphones. Some people don’t like the stuffed-ear feeling they get from wearing a pair of the best true wireless earbuds in their ear canals. Or the pressure of the cups and headband when they’re wearing over-ears.

But although there’s a lot of appeal to this design, it’s not always easy to get right. I tested many of the buds in our best open-ear headphones guide, and several were a little fiddly to put on when I was also wearing glasses or were unstable when I wore my hair down. So, how did the Emeet Airflow compare?

Surprisingly well. I initially had some minor fit issues when I had to position them behind my ears alongside glasses. But otherwise, they’re a secure and comfortable fit that I prefer over bigger name brands. The audio on offer here isn’t perfect. But for a pair of open ears, the sound is clear, can get loud, and is ideal for a work-based setting.

A couple of added features make the Emeet Airflow unique, including a detachable mic – a bonus for upgrading work calls – and a charging case that claims to clean the buds with UV light.

As long as you’re not expecting sonic excellence – which isn’t really possible where air conduction is concerned – the Emeet Airflow are a surprisingly solid choice of open-ear buds. They’re especially good if you’re looking for a pair of buds predominantly for the office or for making work-based calls, as they straddle the line between buds and a headset.

Emeet Airflow: Price and availability

• Cost $179.99 in the US
• £129.99 in the UK
• About AU$272 in Australia (actual pricing tbc)

The Emeet Airflow cost $179.99 / £129.99 / about AU$272, and they’re available now.

How do they compare to rivals? This price makes the Emeet Airflow a little cheaper than the similar 1More Fit Open Earbuds S50 , which cost $149.99 / £149.99 / around AU$290, and a similar price to the JBL Soundgear Sense at $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$231.

The Shokz OpenFit are significantly more expensive at $179.95/£179.99/AU$289. Although the Shokz OpenFit are one of my favorite pairs of open-ear buds, so the elevated price does make some sense.

With this in mind, they’re priced in the mid-range, and I’d say performance-wise that adds up. I think it is possible to find better and cheaper true wireless buds, but if it’s the air-conduction style you want, this price represents good value.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Emeet Airflow: Design

• Stable fit compared to rivals
• Comfortable
• Simple design

Looks-wise, the Emeet Airflow have a basic design that I’d describe as quite corporate. That’s probably because they strike me as a buds-meet-headset offering. That’s not to say they look bad or you can’t wear them outside of the office and, again, this is down to personal preference – in fact a few people I spoke to liked the more “serious” look and feel of these buds compared to sportier ones.

There are two large, shiny circles on the buds with the Emeet logo. This is the area you can tap to use touch controls. These worked well, especially because I managed to achieve a secure fit. This means activating a touch control doesn’t throw off the stability.

The buds have large hooks to sit behind your ear and position the speaker next to your ear canal. These hooks have a 1mm titanium memory steel wire inside, which makes them flexible and skin-friendly silicone on the outside. These buds also have stabilizing fins, which you can add for an even more secure fit.

Weighing in at a mere 8.5g per bud, they’re incredibly light and on par with their competitors. The combination of their design, materials, and lightweight form made the Emeet Airflow a joy to wear, especially after I had adjusted them to my liking at the start – a process that took only a minute or two.

Once I had them on, I found myself forgetting about them several times. The Emeet Airflow's design and fit make them perfect for work, but their comfort and stability also make them a great choice for sports and walking. There’s a little movement, but not enough to be a concern.

The only time they moved a little was when I took them to the gym and used the cross trainer – then again, these aren’t explicitly for workouts, and they still fared exceptionally well on a rowing machine, while lifting weights and doing some functional fitness. They also have an IPX5 rating, meaning they're sweat-proof. But although sweat won’t damage them, it might have caused the fit to become a bit loose when I tested them.

This comfortable fit experience elevates them above some key rivals, particularly the 1More Fit S50, a decent pair of open-ear buds that were just not crafted for smaller ears like mine.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Emeet Airflow: Features

• Multi-point connectivity
• Detachable mic
• 40-hour battery life

The Emeet Airflow has some handy features onboard, cementing them as a solid choice for offices, work and calls.

The most interesting is the detachable mic, which easily slots into a port at the base of the buds – you can pick either side – making them more of a headset-meets-earbuds hybrid. This mic is small and thin, but there’s a little spot for it in the charging case, so you can keep it safe when you’re not using it.

Battery life is good at 8 hours from the buds and 40 hours from the case. This is more-or-less exactly the amount of time I got from them during testing; this varied a little depending on how many calls I made. The more calls, the quicker the battery seemed to drain.

For comparison, the Shokz OpenFit have 7 hours of battery in the buds and 28 hours in the case, so the Emeet outperform them. Then again, the OneOdio OpenRock Pro have an exceptional 19 hours of battery in the buds and 46 hours from the case, so it is possible to get better if long-lasting power from this form factor is a priority.

The charging case isn’t small by true wireless earbuds standards, but it is slim and pocketable. It has a premium look and feel despite feeling like plastic. The case has an added trick up its sleeve as it cleans the earbuds as they charge. Emeet promises the case can sterilize 99.99% of common bacteria. This isn’t common, but I’ve seen similar tech in other true wireless bud cases – given they go into your ear canal it’s probably more necessary there. I doubt anyone would favor the Emeet buds over a rival for this feature, and it is hard to quantify whether it works, but this is down to personal preference.

The Emeet Airflow come with a small USB dongle. This allows you to connect them to a laptop. The process felt a little fiddly and annoying compared to the easy experience I had connecting them to my phone.

Emeet Tune is the accompanying app. It has many simple features, such as showing the status of the buds, allowing you to tweak the EQ, and customizing some on-ear controls.

• Features score: 4 / 5

Emeet Airflow: Performance

Sound quality here isn’t excellent, but it’s surprisingly good considering the design of the buds. Music sounded clear and detailed with some richness and even bass – especially at higher volumes, likely due to the large 16.2mm drivers.

Tracks like ‘Back on 74’ by Jungle and ‘Got It Bad’ by Leisure sounded clear and melodic across the range, with bright vocals and pleasing drum beats, even at the highest volumes. Overall, I felt the Emeet Airflow were really well-suited to tracks like this, which are soulful and a little poppy with smooth basslines.

But don’t expect strong bass here or the feeling of immersion you’d get from a different, closed design. I noticed this lack of immersion most distinctly when it came to heavier rock or punk tracks, like ‘Beat Your Heart Out’ from The Distillers and ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ from Queens of the Stone Age, which sounded fine, but flatter and less lively than other kinds of buds, especially at high volumes.

Emeet says the buds are designed to be anti-sound leakage. I tested this and had to ask a friend to get close to hear the sound. Playing ‘Burn The Witch’ by Queens of the Stone Age at full volume stood around 1 meter away; they could make out sound in that sort of tinny, distant way. To some extent, it’s impossible for no sound leakage with a pair of open ears but I felt like this performance was impressive. This makes me confident to recommend them for wear in most offices – just be wary about cranking the volume up to the limits.

As you’d expect, calls here sound great. This is thanks to the detachable mic, which improved clarity and made calls way more pleasing overall. But it isn’t necessary for decent call quality if you don’t like it because there are two built-in omnidirectional microphones in the buds, too.

Emeet also offers what it calls a “VoiceCore algorithm,” which can filter out noises on both sides of the call up to 50dB. I definitely felt like taking calls with these buds was better than with other air-conduction earbuds I’ve tested.

• Performance score: 3.5 / 5

Emeet Airflow: Scorecard

Emeet Airflow: Should I buy?

Buy it if...

You want earbuds for the office
These buds are great for work, sitting between buds and a headset. The design is simple, the mic makes calls better and the open-ear design is handy if you need to be readily available.

You’ve been meaning to try an open-ear design
They’re not budget, but they’re an affordable option if, for whatever reason, you want to see whether open-ear buds are for you.

Calls are important
The detachable mic elevates calls, making them clearer. You don’t need to use it for calls either. There are mics in the buds.

Don't buy it if...

You need them for working out
These buds fared surprisingly well on walks and at the gym, but there are more secure options available from the likes of Shokz, as well as bone conduction options, which might suit high impact sports better.

You want audio excellence
For a pair of open-ear buds, they perform well. But if you’re wanting top-tier sound or ANC or anything else you’d expect from a higher-end pair of buds, you’ll need to adjust your budget and look elsewhere.

You want a stylish option
It’s not that these buds look bad, but there’s a corporate vibe to them that makes them a little less cool and sleek-looking than other options I’ve tested.

Also consider

Shokz OpenFit

These buds deliver good sound, awareness of your surroundings and a solid fit that should suit most people. Go for these if you’ll solely be wearing them for working out.

Shokz OpenFit review

OneOdio OpenRock Pro

You'll get a huge 19 hours of battery from these buds, and 46 hours if you have the charging case with you, making these the best choice for all-day wear.

OneOdio OpenRock Pro review

How I tested

I wore the Emeet Airflow buds every day for three weeks. This gave me the chance to use them in different situations.

I used them to listen to music and podcasts while I was walking around a few different cities and the countryside. As well as on jogs along the beach and when I worked out at the gym.

I paired them with an iPhone 14 Pro and mostly used Spotify and Apple Music to test them. I paired them with a laptop and used them to listen to movies on Mubi and Disney Plus.

I’ve tested lots of different headphones and earbuds over the past 12 years, especially devices that are designed for fitness. I’m particularly interested in audio tech that prioritizes comfort and ease of use.

First reviewed: July 2024