These earbuds can help you be more productive - Viaim OpenNote review

The viaim OpenNote are built for the person whose calendar looks like a wall of back-to-back meetings — the consultant, the researcher, the founder, the PM — and who has quietly given up on taking good notes in real time. These are open-ear earbuds with a real productivity play: tap to record, and the viaim app spits out a transcript, a summary, and an action-item list by the time you’re walking to your next meeting. At $170, these sit in premium open-ear territory, and whether it earns that spot depends on how much you need AI transcription in your ears.

What’s it like to use the viaim OpenNote?

The viaim OpenNote are open earbuds, but they do so much more than just play music. For two weeks, these sat on my ears through 1:1s, online meetings, and my morning commute. In addition to replacing my regular earbuds, the viaim OpenNote also helped me organize my life through the excellent note-taking features. Here’s everything you need to know about the viaim OpenNote.

Design

The OpenNote uses a hook-style open-ear design: each bud perches just outside the ear canal, held in place by a flexible 0.8mm titanium memory wire that wraps behind your ear. Each bud weighs 10.5g, which is noticeable but not distracting. I wore them for six-hour stretches with glasses on and never felt pinched or fatigued — the weight distributes along the hook rather than pressing against any one spot.

The charging case is the part that earns a second look. It’s wrapped in leather-textured material and is slim, so it easily slides into any pocket. The hinge feels tight, the magnets snap the buds into place confidently, and the LED indicator on the outside lets you check charge without opening the lid. Controls are pinch-based rather than tap-based — an intentional choice that mostly eliminates the accidental triggers you get when you bump an open-ear bud against glasses frames or a pillow. After a day, I stopped second-guessing the gesture.

In terms of durability, the earbuds have an IP55 sweat and dust resistance rating. This durability, combined with the open design, makes them ideal for taking on outdoor runs.

Features

This is the section where the OpenNote justifies its existence. The viaim companion app is the command center, and nearly everything interesting about this product lives here.

The headline feature is FlashRecord: pinch and hold a bud, and the earbuds start recording whatever you’re hearing and saying, even if your phone isn’t nearby. The recording syncs back to the app when you reconnect, and from there, the OpenNote transcribes, summarizes, generates action items, and optionally produces a mind map. I tested it on a 45-minute strategy call and a 20-minute in-person coffee meeting, and the transcripts in both cases were accurate enough to be useful — and the summaries make it easy to remember what was discussed without listening back to a full recording.

Translation is the other big pull. viaim offers support for 78 languages with 145 accent variants. Whatever words you say, the earbuds can instantly transcribe and show in another language. You can also set the earbuds to translate in your ear the incoming audio from someone you are talking to.

The free tier includes 600 transcription minutes per month, which is enough for occasional daily use. The Pro plan runs $9.99/month (or $79.99/year) for 1,800 minutes, and an Ultra plan at $19.99/month (or $159.99/year) unlocks unlimited minutes for those seeking all-day transcription.

How does the viaim OpenNote connect?

The OpenNote runs Bluetooth 5.3 and supports SBC, AAC, and LHDC codecs. LHDC is the interesting one here — it’s the high-res codec you’ll want if you’re on a compatible Android device.

Multipoint is supported (two devices simultaneously), and it worked reliably in my testing — I had the OpenNote paired to both a MacBook and an iPhone, and calls routed to whichever device was ringing without me having to fiddle with settings.

The buds enter pairing mode when the case is opened with no prior devices connected, and reconnection to previously paired devices is fast and automatic. I noticed no connection dropouts during my testing, including during walks through a dense urban environment.

How long does the viaim OpenNote’s battery last?

viaim claims up to 19 hours on the buds alone and 53 hours total with the case. In practical use, the claimed endurance tracks. I went four full workdays of mixed listening, recording, and calling before the buds needed a top-up, and the case barely dipped below half. Quick charging is supported: a 10-minute charge delivers about three hours of playback, which is genuinely useful when you realize five minutes before a meeting that you forgot to dock them last night.

How well do the viaim OpenNote block out noise?

The viaim OpenNote don’t block out noise, and they’re not trying to. The OpenNote is a fully open-ear design with no active noise cancellation for playback. There’s also no transparency mode, because there’s nothing to be transparent against — the openness is the default state.

How do the viaim OpenNote sound?

As with all open design earbuds, the viaim OpenNote don’t offer a ton of bass. On the other hand, the viaim OpenNote offer clear mids and treble, and the open design offers a more immersive listening experience than in-ear style earbuds.

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

Can you use the viaim OpenNote for phone calls?

The microphone array that drives the transcription pipeline does double duty for calls, and the call-noise-cancellation algorithm is aggressive enough that people on the other end consistently remarked that I sounded clear — noticeably clearer than I typically do on open earbuds.

viaim OpenNote microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

Should you buy the viaim OpenNote?

If you frequently take meetings, travel often, or just want to keep track of your notes and ideas, the viaim OpenNote are a handy virtual assistant. The open design lends itself well to people who want to stay aware of their surroundings or don’t like to shove ear tips down their ear canal. On the other hand, these earbuds are not built for audiophiles, or those who love bass.

If you are interested in the transcription and AI features of the OpenNote, but would prefer a more traditional in-ear earbud design, make sure to check out our viaim RecDot review.

viaim OpenNote price history