1More Fit Open Earbuds S50 Review
A pair of sports air conduction buds that struggle to stand out from the crowd
Verdict
The 1More Fit Open Earbuds S50 struggle to stand out from sporty air conduction earbud crowd with far from dazzling sound and a slightly fussy design
Pros
- Good weight
- Solid battery performance
- Largely good fit
Cons
- Sound quality for the price
- Fit when wearing with glasses
- Touch controls aren’t great
Key Features
- DLC DiaphragmFeatures a molecular structure similar to diamond for a balanced, accurate audio reproduction
- Ear HooksEarphones loop around the ear for a secure fit
- Battery life38 hours of battery with charging case
Introduction
The 1More Fit Open Earbuds S50 are truly wireless sports earbuds that embrace air conduction to deliver audio in a safer manner than more invasive in-ear earbuds.
These air conduction buds promise detailed, well-balanced sound from a design that’s light and can withstand long periods of use and give you battery life that goes the distance when you need to.
There’s certainly no shortage of sporty buds to pick up these days, so are the S50 worth picking up and putting in your ears? Here’s my verdict.
Availability
The 1More Fit Open Earbuds S50 is available to buy directly from the 1More website for $149.99 / £149.99, though is currently reduced to $119.99 / £129.99. You can also purchase them from Amazon for the regular $149.99 / £149.99 price.
To put that into context with other open-ear, air conduction sports buds, that’s cheaper than the Shokz OpenFit, but pricier than the JBL Soundgear Sense and not quite as budget as the Sivga S01, Trusted Reviews Sports Headphones of the Year for 2023.
Design
- Comes in grey and silver looks
- Uses touch controls
- IPX7 sweat resistant design
The S50 aren’t your typical-looking sporty earbuds that take a traditional earhook design and slightly tweak it. You’ve got a long, thin, and flexible earhook component that wraps around the top of the ear, positioning the rest of the bud vertically in front of your ear, while the ‘sound loops’ as 1More calls them, sits closer to the ear than I’d anticipated. It’s definitely a more invasive positioning than most of the air conduction headphones I’ve tested.
Those sound loops, which look a bit like ear tips if you pushed them through, have sections cut away and do come in small, medium, and extra small sizes.
The buds themselves are light at 10 grams per bud and the fit in general has been good, though I found it more challenging wearing them with glasses and with a cap on where you need to give up a bit more ear space.
It’s always good to see that there’s some added protection against moisture with an IPX7 rated design ensuring it can handle some sweat and rain. I’ve used them for sweatier workouts and in a serious downpour and they’ve not caused the buds to malfunction or stop working.
That protection doesn’t extend to the charging case, which isn’t the smallest and does feel a bit on the cheap and plasticky side. The earbuds do at least sit securely inside with a charging notification light up front and a USB-C charging port around the back when you need to power up the case.
1More does also find room for dual microphones to let you take calls with them and speak to your phone’s smart assistant. There are some touch-based controls here that you can double and triple tap to play and pause audio, adjust volume, or end calls, but these aren’t great examples of touch controls. Hitting the sweet spot to activate them is a frustrating experience and that’s even when you’re not working out with them.
Features
- Up to 11 hours battery life
If you want to use them to deal with calls, I wouldn’t describe them as best in class. The dual mics setup and AI-enabled ENC algorithm to block out outside noise to hone in on voices no doubt helps here, but the overall call quality isn’t exceptional either indoors or out.
The battery performance is good overall. You’ll get up to 11 hours off a single charge and 38 hours in total. A 5-minute quick charge mode also gives you 2 hours of listening time to play with.
Volume is a factor here and how close you’ll get to that maximum 11 hours, but with that fast charge feature available, they can comfortably get through a week’s use if you’re using them an hour or two a day and have a pretty fully charged case to drop them into.
Sound Quality
- 1More PurePower Dual Magnet Driver
- 12 EQ presets available in companion app
The S50 adopts an air conduction approach to delivering sound to our ears. It won’t entirely block up your ears to deliver power, a balanced sound profile, which is one that you can tweak as well.
There’s a 1More PurePower Dual Magnet driver powering that performance and while there’s pure and power in the name, I’m don’t feel those are necessarily the qualities I’d associate with what the S50 delivers.
Ultimately it feels like these buds try to cover all the bases and ends up feeling a bit middle of the ground across the board. They can go loud but in terms of giving you that pleasing balance, the bass is what I’d describe as a little muddy, the mids have a slightly boxy quality and trebles feel a touch grainy too, which some might appreciate but collectively these buds deliver fine but not standout audio.
There is a set of 12 preset EQs available in the 1More Music smartphone app, though I wouldn’t say they really elevate or dramatically alter what you get out of the box in its preset Studio mode.
As far as delivering that middle of the road audio when you’re competing with more sounds in your environment, it’s really banking on that overall loudness and that slightly more invasive air conduction design to achieve a good balance between your sound and exterior sound. I think it does a good enough job, but I think there are other air conduction headphones like the OpenFit that deliver a better sensation of awareness in comparison.
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Should you buy it?
You want a light and durable pair of open ear, air conduction sports earbuds
The S50 comes in a durable design and is light enough to wear for long periods.
You want the best sounding air conduction sports earbuds
You can pay less or a little bit more and get yourself a set of open ear sports earbuds that will deliver more pleasing audio to your ears.
Final Thoughts
The 1More Fit Open Earbuds S50 a pair of air conduction headphones that sadly don’t better the competition. Particularly on the sound front. They certainly have some nice qualities here, like a lightweight and pretty secure design, but in terms of delivering where it matters, especially given the price, there are better alternatives out there.
How we test
We test every set of headphones we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy
Tested with real world use
Tested across several days
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FAQs
Battery life for these wireless air conduction headphones is 11 hours per charge, and with the charging case it is 38 hours in total.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
