While noise-cancelling headphones are great for cutting yourself off from the world, the best open-ear headphones let you listen to your music and podcasts while remaining fully aware of your surroundings. They’re ideal for outdoor exercise – or for anyone who simply doesn’t like the sensation of in-ear headphones – and use flexible clips or hooks to hang just outside your ears, projecting audio into the ear without creating a seal.
Because of their open design, there’s an unavoidable dip in sound quality compared to in-ear and over-ear headphones, but you’d be surprised by how dynamic the best models sound. They tend to offer better sound quality than bone-conducting headphones while ensuring that you can hear outside noise.
