Oladance OWS Sports Review – Open Has Never Been More Fun

INTRO

The Oladance OWS Sports represents a new category of earphones we have reviewed in the past called Open Wearable Stereo. The OWS concept was first pioneered by the former Bose Team and inspired by the need for user safety and awareness, Oladance OWS Sports adds another product to their lineup of well received products such as the OWS Pro. My fellow co-bloggers had high praises and recommended I try them out since it is a different concept and one that is executed in a most excellent way.

I found them so curiously odd and different that I shared them with friends and everyone over the holidays. Priced at $179 they are a unicorn in a field of crowded options.

BACKGROUND

Oladance is a nod to Leonard Euler, the love of mathematics and invention to achieve something wonderfully new that allows us to enjoy sound while moving throughout the world.

They are quick to point out these are NOT bone conduction (more on that later) and can help those who do not enjoy wearing other types of headphones either for medical reasons and or physical reasons.

In engineering, projects or products should solve a need. The Oladance OWS Sports aims to allow people to enjoy music while staying active, yet be aware of their surroundings and not damage their hearing or nerve endings.

Bone conduction aims to solve this problem, but can also introduce new problems. At the very least avoiding bone conduction can reduce the pressure on the temple and comfort can be improved. There are some claims that long term bone conduction usage can damage nerve endings of which I can neither confirm nor deny. The hearing aid industry would probably be a better source for this information, but the Oladance OWS Sports removes this possibly by using Air Conduction instead.

There is a haptic feel while holding them from the oversized 23mm dual drivers, but since they do not make contact it is mostly the result of the large divers trying to deliver the required output to your ears.

With careful tuning and directing sound towards your ear openings without blocking them, it is like someone whispering in your ear in a clear manner. Due to the fact they are not completely sealed to your ear canal, there is some loss of low end bass similar to PA speakers not covering the bottom end or another closer analogy would be a soundbar for your TV or a small set of 3” bookshelf speakers. It covers the midrange and lower midbass, but the treble and sub-bass are present in lower quantities and not as detailed as in ears.

The Oladance OWS Sports can be used in a wide range of activities although primarily geared to walking, running, and cycling. I found them useful while cleaning out my storage room late at night. They did not fall off while moving around, did not bother my family members and were extremely comfortable. I wear glasses and had no issues with interference from my glasses either. 

I also have a co-worker that primarily uses bone conduction so he still has awareness while working. These would also work excellent in this situation, especially in cases where normal earphones are not allowed. After using them for hours, my ears did not feel fatigued or tired from listening.

Oladance did a phenomenal job of creating a set of earphones with balance and comfort, there are no sharp edges, they are lightweight and the soft materials are very skin friendly. The wrap around strap can be used to quickly hang them off your neck for further attention when needed.

The Oladance OWS Sports are also IPX8 water resistant which means workouts and light rain can be tolerated. IPX8 is supposed to mean it can withstand water immersion of at least 1m/3ft, but time-frame and depth is up to the manufacturer. In this case Oladance states 10 seconds of direct rinsing of the speaker port should not cause damage. Oladance is quick to point out these are NOT for swimming.

For medical purposes, the Oladance brought awareness to me about two key things: Nerve Damage and Vertigo. I had never considered bone conduction can cause nerve damage, and although I have an extended family member that suffers vertigo, I had not realized wearing headphones could cause them trouble. The Oladance OWS Sports offers a solution for those unable to enjoy portable sound.

Personally, I enjoyed the Oladance OWS Sports outside while walking the dog. I can hear vehicles approaching with ease, and also a windy day was a good test. Normal in-ear or even earbuds introduce edges for the wind to catch and then since they are touching inner parts of your ear they tend to amplify the wind noise in unnatural ways.

The Oladance OWS Sports on the other hand with its rounded form factor and floating design combined with noise reduction technology handled it with no sweat. Everything was clear and there was no additional amplification of the wind noise. Bravo.

With the open wearable aspect of the Oladance OWS Sports, it solves the sweaty ears problem of over ears, and the ear insertion and pressure of in-ear, and the falling out problem of earbuds with the wrap around strap. On-ears can be uncomfortable due to extra pressure on the ears, and foam pads get yucky after many uses.

It trumps all categories in terms of situational awareness, even for the noise canceling types that offer transparent modes that sound unnatural. It will not replace noise canceling obviously for that use case, that is not what they were designed for.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

Oladance OWS Sports offers multi-point device connections. That means you can have it connected to a music device or your computer for work and a phone at the same time. This comes in handy also for people who might have to carry around two phones, one for work and one for personal use. Switching back and forth was seamless.

EQ presets are Default (best sound), Surging Bass (muffled muted mids and treble), Pure Voice (focus on midrange lo-fi experience), Custom offering access to 5 equalizer bands (160Hz, 440hz, 800Hz, 2.7khz, and 8khz)

Default Button Controls (The Oladance App allows customization)

Battery life is advertised at 15 hours and while I did not keep track of how long before needing a charge, I did not have to charge amongst the on and off nature of testing the last month. It should provide increased battery life over bone conduction since those have to excite the body to make sound, they are rather in-efficient. 

The rather large hard case is flocked with felt/cotton that appears to be water resistant, even the zipper is covered by rubber when zipped. It was easy to use when placing the headphones and cable into it, however my wife was quick to point out it would never fit in her cross-body bag. It is clearly meant to fit into a backpack, work bag, or gym bag. Even medium sized purses would be an issue. It is about half the size of an over-the-ears type case.

While the charging cable utilizes an easy magnetic connection,  I am a little disappointed it does not offer a standard USB-C cable. I can see both sides to this argument however. A USB connection adds bulk to the earphone and may be harder to protect against water intrusion.

The Oladance OWS Sports solution makes the connection shallow and quick. I should point out that the case does not offer wireless charging either, and there is no included charging power supply.

SOUND

So I slapped these on the year end gear list because they offer a unique solution and sound good while doing it. Bass is limited but has a full warm sound, punch is soft due to limited extension and sub-bass is not really present. Treble is soft and yet clear. I liken it to full range speaker treble in that it reproduces the spectrum of sound but ultimate articulation is slightly lost due to the transmission distance from the output to the ear.

Cymbals are extremely smoothed while woodwinds and brass have an environmental airiness given the open nature of the earphones. There is just enough percussion available for Piano sound natural. There is no peakiness or sibilance. Midrange sounds clear and open, rather spacious and wide like listening to speakers in the nearfield up close.

Acoustic guitar has warmth and plucks are easily picked out and defined, but does sound a bit tubby, the best part is that I get a sense of being in a room versus just listening to earphones. It’s such an interesting listening experience that is half nearfield speaker, half open back earphone is the best way to describe it. Depth and width are excellent, the staging presentation is done very well.

WRAPPING UP

Comfort, cannot stand other types of earphones, awareness of surroundings and active lifestyle are all excellent reasons to buy these Oladance OWS Sports. If your focus is on sound quality and full frequency reproduction look elsewhere. The lack of bass would turn off normal users. They are unique and designed purposefully so therefore I can recommend them for specific applications mentioned previously.

Disclaimer: Oladance provided these gratis with only wanting to make sure we understood they were not bone conduction, and the reasons why. Audioreviews extends a thank you for allowing us to experience this new form factor.

SPECIFICATIONS

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DISCLAIMER

Get it from Oladance Shop, the kickstarter recently closed.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.