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When it comes to listening to audio, you have no shortage of choices for how to listen. You could go with over-ear or on-ear headphones, wired or wireless earbuds, true wireless earbuds, and then all manner of earbud (and earbud tip) styles. One style we’ve not really spent much time with has been the “open” style. That is, until the 1More S31 open earbuds landed on my desk.
1More S31: what they are
At first glance, the 1More S31 look pretty similar to other earhook earbuds. You’ve got a small pod that holds the drivers and bluetooth components, and then a hook that goes around your ear, so you’re not relying on friction and pressure to hold the earbuds in place.
A closer look reveals something different, though. There’s no tip that juts out from the pod to stick into your ear, nor are there any replaceable eartips. In this, the 1More S31 is a bit more like the open air sunglasses we reviewed last year. Rather than blocking up your ear canal to get the sound in, these rely on directing the sound towards your eardrums.
What this means in practical terms
This means that, while the 1More S31 is certainly capable of reproducing sound with decent fidelity (full specs below), you are not going to get that crisp audiophile experience, if that’s what you’re going for. Bass is decent (though nothing approaching punchy), and the treble highs are good (as these smaller drivers are generally good at), leaving the midrange coming across well.
Where things shift around a bit is due to the fact that these drivers are setting in your ear, rather than in the ear canal. This allows the outside noises to come in. In a noisy environment (say, next to traffic) that means whatever song or podcast you’re playing, well, you might need to crank it up a little bit more.
But this is the benefit of open earbuds like the S31s – you can actually hear what’s going on around you. Sure, when you’re at the office or in your workout, you might just want to focus in on what you’re doing and tune out the world around you. However, if you’re out on a walk and dealing with traffic, or just getting chores done and needing to hear when the kids send something crashing to the ground, these are the earbuds you want.
Using the 1More S31
I primarily used the 1More S31 when I’d go out for a walk at the park, which allowed me to hear traffic when I was on my way there, as well as other people in the park as we crossed paths. Music worked well enough, but I found they worked particularly well for podcasts (and presumably, audio books would shine as well). Another scenario that I wasn’t thinking of when these came in was in the car.
I drive a car that’s a few decades old, so there’s no hookups in my stereo for my phone. Most of the time, it’s the radio or CDs for me. However, I’ve got some scenarios where I’m getting one of my kids to a lesson, and then on the way there (or back) I need to get on a call for work. Standard earbuds – especially noise-cancelling ones – are a problem in a car, because you need to hear what’s going on around you. So, I would tend to use just one earbud to be on those calls as I drove.
With the 1More S31, however, I could wear them both. This helped me to hear what was going on in the call that much better, while I still had awareness of what was going on around me (need to move out of the way for sirens, my friend). Call quality held up pretty well here, too, with no complaints of me coming across to quietly or anything like that.
Wrapping things up
To be sure, the style of earbuds that the 1More S31 are is not going to be a perfect fit for everyone. And that’s ok – get the earbuds that work for how you need to work and go about your day. If that includes being able to hear whatever is going on around you, be it at the park, out on the road, or in the home, then these are an excellent, and quite comfortable, route to go. While the MSRP on the 1More S31 earbuds is $69.99, we found them over on Amazon for under $50. You can check out all the details, as well as the rest of the 1More lineup, over at 1More.com
1More S31 Tech Specs
| Model | S31 |
| Earbud weight (Single) | 8.2 g |
| Case Weight | 63.6g |
| Gross Weight | 80g |
| Earbud Dimension | 44.52 ×46.84 ×13.61 mm |
| Case Dimensions | 684.52 X 62.3X 27.81mm |
| Earbud Battery Capacity (Single) | 60 mAh |
| Case Battery Capacity | 600 mAh |
| Earbuds Charging Time | 90 mins |
| Case Charging Time (Wired) | 120 min |
| Speaker Impedance | 16 Ω |
| Bluetooth Range | 10m (Open space) |
| Bluetooth Version | Bluetooth® 5.3 |
| Bluetooth Protocols | HFP / A2DP / AVRCP |
| Input | 5V=0.5A |
| Working Temperature | 0℃ ~ 45℃ |
| Frequency Range | 2.400 GHz ~ 2.4835 GHz |
