Wireless earphones offer convenience, portability, and the ability to avoid the dreaded wire tangling problem. But many wireless designs come with issues, especially if they rely on bone conduction to deliver their sound.
And let’s face it – most wireless earphones aren’t particularly comfortable, and often have really mediocre battery life to go with that.
With the Oladance Wearable Stereo (OWS), Oladance set out to create wireless earphones with an open ear design that solves these problems. In this article, we dig into the key features of OWS, why these features make them the perfect earphones for daily life, and the benefits they have compared to bone-conducting earphones.
What Makes OWS So Special?
Oladance markets the OWS earphones as offering a combination of unrivalled sound quality and extreme comfort. But to know what that means, you have to dive deeper into what these open-ear wireless earphones have to offer.
Feature No. 1 – True open-ear design
Comfort is such a major problem with many wireless earphones.
You’ve probably felt this yourself. You pop your earphones in, ready for a long drive or workout. But after an hour or so, you get a nasty ache in your ear. The weight and shape of the earphones cause fatigue and you end up having to take them out. No more music for you. And to make matters worse, many wireless earphones come with tips that you have to shove into your ear canal. Again, you’re asking your ears to do a lot of hard work, in addition to potentially causing long-term damage.
OWS solves this problem with a true open-ear design. Created to fit the natural curve of your ears, these earphones offer a snug and comfortable fit without ever going inside your ear. The design is so good that OWS received the Red Dot Award in 2022 for how well the earphones fit. You can wear OWS earphones for hours without your ears feeling like they’re about to fall off.
OWS’s transparency feature also allows you to hear your music and the world around you simultaneously.
For example, let’s say you work from home and enjoy having some music playing while you work. But your partner’s taking care of the kids in another room, which means you can’t have a speaker blaring out at high volumes. Plus, you want to keep an ear out for your family in case they need you for anything.
OWS wireless earphones offer a transparency setting that ensures you can hear everything. You can listen to music or take care of work calls easily. And if your family calls out, you’ll be able to hear them too because the open ear design allows sound to travel around the earphones.
Feature No. 2 – 16-Hour charge
Picture the scene.
You’ve just boarded a long-haul flight and you need to escape into your own world for a few hours. You pop your earphones in and start playing some music. But after a couple of hours spent enjoying whatever you’re listening to, the music stops. That interruption doesn’t come from another passenger. It comes from your earphones running out of charge.
Now, you’re left with the less than soothing tones of a plane’s engine for the rest of the journey.
You won’t have that problem with OWS. The 160mAh battery in these wireless earphones lasts up to 16 hours per charge. Compare that to the AirPods Pro earphones, which last just 4.5 hours. With OWS, you get more than three times the battery life so your long music listening sessions don’t end prematurely because your earphones ran out of juice.
Feature No. 3 – Clear calls and exceptional sound quality
OWS comes with huge 16.5mm premium dynamic drivers that create a concert-like audio experience. Your ears get to capture everything, from a track’s crisp highs to its belly-rumbling bass lows.
But every type of wireless earphone claims great sound quality. What makes OWS so different?
Those 16.5mm dynamic drivers are over three times the size of the drivers used in most other brands of wireless earphones. Again, take the AirPods as an example. Apple’s premium device uses 5mm drivers that simply can’t match OWS for sound clarity or quality.
This clarity comes into effect when you’re taking calls. With other wireless earphones, you have to deal with crackling voices and drops in audio quality that can make it difficult to hear what the other person is saying. But OWS ensures the caller’s voice comes through with crystal clarity. That means no more embarrassing work situations where you keep having to ask a colleague or client to repeat themselves when you’re on the phone. And when you’re done with your call, you can immerse yourself back into a musical experience that delivers everything your chosen artists wanted you to hear.
Feature No. 4 – Waterproof and sweatproof
OWS is made for the movers and shakers of the world. If you love getting out and about, these are the wireless earphones that you can trust to keep working flawlessly no matter what happens.
Imagine you’re halfway through your workout at the gym. The sweat’s starting to flow as you prepare your body for a more intense second half. With traditional earphones, it’s right about this time that you start feeling that nasty moist feeling building up inside your ears. You’re not comfortable anymore, so you remove the earphones to deal with the sweat. No more music means you’re not as pumped up as you could have been.
The sweatproof design of OWS solves that problem. No matter how hard you push yourself, these earphones remain as comfortable as they were when you first put them on.
What about if you’re on a hike and the heavens open? The rain comes pouring down and gives you an absolute soaking. You may be wet but your OWS earphones will keep plugging along. No matter what the elements throw your way, you can trust OWS to maintain stellar sound quality without being damaged by the rain.
Why Are OWS Earphones Better Than Bone Conduction Earphones?
You need to know what bone conduction is before you can understand why OWS offers a better solution from both the audio and health perspectives.
Bone conduction technology transmits sound vibrations directly to your inner ear bones. By doing this, they stimulate the bones and allow you to hear sound without blocking your ear canal. In other words, the sound doesn’t have to pass through your eardrum, making bone conduction a bit of a hearing shortcut. This concept is also responsible for some modern hearing devices.
So far, this is all sounding like great news. However, there are a few features of standard bone conduction earphones that make them inferior to OWS.
Issue No. 1 – Comfort
Bone conduction headphones usually have a wraparound design that results in a lot of pressure being placed on your temples. Some users report dizziness and headaches with prolonged use.
With OWS, you get earphones that rest directly on the ears. The result is less irritation and no pressure placed on any other part of your head. You also don't have to deal with a strap dangling around your head, which is so handy.
Issue No. 2 – Hearing Health
The biggest issue with bone conduction earphones is that they stimulate your inner ear bones, including your cochlea. This direct stimulation of these vital bones can still cause damage, especially if music is blasted at high volumes.
The smart design of OWS means that sound is outputted into your ear canal so your ears can process it properly. There are no shortcuts in play, which means there’s less chance of damaging your cochlea with long-term use.
Issue No. 3 – Sound Quality
While bone conduction headphones have a novel way of delivering sound to the user, they often struggle to maintain high sound quality. You may find that these earphones can’t deliver sounds near the edges of audible frequencies, which means you’re missing out on the little things your tracks have to offer.
OWS solves this problem with its huge dynamic drivers, which deliver far superior sound quality to most bone conduction devices. With OWS, you hear everything while staying completely aware of your surroundings.
Issue No. 4 – Battery Life
Most bone conduction earphones last for between six and eight hours before they need recharging.
OWS doubles that with a 16-hour maximum life per charge. If you’re looking for earphones that can go the distance, OWS is the clear winner when compared to bone conduction technology.
Choose OWS
The concept behind Oladance's OWS was to create earphones that offer the best sound quality possible while providing the benefits of open-ear design. With OWS, you get improved comfort, amazing sound, and the ability to hear the world around you while you’re absorbed in your music.
Think of OWS as the next evolution of earphones. No matter the situation, OWS provides the power, comfort, and transparency you need.