Clip-on earbuds fixed my biggest issue with open-ears

The concept of open-air music listening has fascinated me since I first tried basic open earbuds and smart glasses. They were easily the worst-sounding audio products I owned, but they were the only ones that I could comfortably wear all day without fatigue, pressure, or discomfort. There’s a new subset of open earbuds known as clip-on earbuds that, as the name suggests, clip onto your ear lobes for a more secure fit. I’ve tried them, and they feel like the final form of open earbuds.

Compared to hook-style open earbuds or bone-conduction headphones, clip-on earbuds are designed to position the audio drivers exactly where they’re meant to be. The speaker units sit just outside your ear canal, improving sound quality. At the same time, because clip-on earbuds don’t enter your ear canal or make a physical seal, you won’t feel the same discomfort as you might when wearing in-ear headphones. After using Motorola’s Moto Buds Loop and Sony’s LinkBuds Clip, I’m convinced clip-ons are the only earbud style I’d choose for all-day wear.

Clip earbuds offer stability without the pressure

Before we dive into what makes clip-on earbuds so great, you should know about the various earbud styles and their differences. The most common type of in-ear headphones enter your ear canal and create a physical seal with silicone or foam ear tips. These are excellent for sound quality, passive isolation, and ANC power — but they can cause discomfort, especially during longer listening sessions. Another category of earbuds are unsealed, like AirPods (excluding the Pro models). These are similar, but lack ear tips, creating a slightly more open listening experience.

Then, there are open earbuds. Think of them like mini speakers for your ears. They live just outside your ear canal, usually resting on or outside the part of your ear called the concha. Many of them have hooks that wrap around your earlobe for security, reminding me of my favorite workout earbuds, the Powerbeats Pro 2. Unlike such sporty earbuds, open earbuds lack stability.

Without ear tips keeping hook-style open earbuds near your ear canal, they can shift as you go about your day. They can leave you constantly readjusting your earbuds to get the right fit. Clip-on earbuds solve this problem by using a cuff-like design to latch onto your earlobe. The part of a clip-on earbud that contains the audio driver rests right inside the concha. This is outside your ear canal, so you still aren’t feeling pressure. However, the benefit of the clip design is stability and security.

Some clip-on earbuds feel better than others, as you could say about any category of earbuds. The larger size of the Moto Buds Loop helped them sit perfectly outside my ear canal, with virtually zero movement. The LinkBuds Clip are smaller, and depending on your ear shape, you may need to use silicone stabilizers on the clip to create a secure fit.

I was able to wear the Moto Buds Loop for long runs, and they stayed in my ear as well as the Powerbeats Pro 2. Wearing clip-on earbuds during workouts immediately revealed their advantages. My ears didn’t get clogged with sweat a few miles into a distance run, like they would have if I wore the Powerbeats Pro 2. I was able to stay immersed in my environment, navigating cyclists and pedestrians on my local bike path, without having to rely on transparency mode.

The clip positions the driver where it belongs

Open earbuds sacrifice sound quality for comfort. Earbuds with silicone or foam ear tips can cause pressure and discomfort for some users, but those ear tips are also what makes them sound good. The ear tips create a seal inside your ear canal that keeps unwanted external noise out and directs audio playback from the drivers into your ear. Open earbuds sit outside your ear canal, so there’s no pressure — but there’s also no sound isolation.

This is why you might find open earbuds to be quieter or tinny compared to traditional earbuds. Without a proper seal, low-end frequencies never make it into your ear. Additionally, hook-style earbuds without the stability of regular earbuds might shift as you wear them, sending the sound in a different direction. Clip-on earbuds still won’t sound as full or loud as in-ear headphones, but they’re much better than hook-style open earbuds.

The stability and fit of clip-on earbuds impact their sound quality, too. Take the Moto Loop Buds, for instance — they have an orb-shaped audio driver that is perfectly shaped to match the curvature of your concha. The design forces the Moto Loop Buds’ speaker unit to be positioned toward the opening of your ear canal. Since the Moto Loop Buds gently clamp onto your earlobe, they don’t move around as you wear them.

Clip-on earbuds take the best parts of in-ear headphones and open earbuds, combining them to provide relief for those who suffer from pressure or discomfort during long listening sessions. Your ears can enjoy better bass reproduction through clip-on earbuds because their drivers are physically closer to your ear canal. They’re louder and generally crisper than open earbuds that live further away.

Clip-on earbuds are fantastic for specific situations

Clip-on earbuds make for a superb secondary pair of earbuds. If you can only afford one pair of earbuds, I suspect a traditional pair like AirPods Pro 3, Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2, or Sony WF-1000XM6 will serve you better. For specific situations, there’s no better option than clip-ons. If you need to wear earbuds for the entirety of an eight-hour workday or during a sweaty workout, clip-on earbuds may be the ideal solution.

They are not without flaws, though. Aside from the drawbacks we’ve already covered, clip-on earbuds offer worse sound quality than their price might suggest. Premium options such as the Bose Ultra Open earbuds or the Moto Buds Loop will cost you $300, and you can certainly find better-sounding earbuds cheaper than that. Additionally, if active noise canceling is at all important to you, the very nature of open earbuds, including clip-ons, rules them out.

Clip-on earbuds have the same pros and cons as hook-style open earbuds, but are stronger audio products overall. Instead of buying regular earbuds with transparency mode or hook-style open earbuds, consider giving clip-on earbuds a shot.