nwm ONE Wireless Open-Ear Headphones | Prevents Sound Leakage with PSZ Technology (Bone Conduction Alternative) | Bluetooth 5.3 | Multipoint | 20-Hour Battery Life with Microphone | Dark Gray

Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wish I had background music playing at all times”? I have! I love music—it really helps my productivity and mood which is super important for my neurodivergent brain. But for me, and I know for many others, finding the perfect way to do that can be challenging. That’s why I’m so excited to review the nwm One Open Ear Headphones.First off, this isn’t a sponsored review—I paid for these headphones with my own money, and I want to give you my honest opinion. Spoiler alert: I love them!For those who don’t know, I’m hard of hearing and wear hearing aids in both ears. While I’m grateful to have hearing aids, they aren’t perfect. Bluetooth hearing aids, for example, allow me to listen to music and make phone calls, but the connection isn’t always reliable. I have to hold my phone near my mouth for calls, and if I put my phone in my pocket, the music cuts in and out—super annoying. Plus, when you use the Bluetooth function, it mutes the mics on the hearing aids, so I can’t hear what’s happening around me. It takes a moment to switch back to hearing mode, which can be frustrating, especially if someone starts talking unexpectedly. Not to mention, it drains the battery quickly.As for comfort, I’ve been using over-ear headphones (Beats Studio 3), which are noise-canceling. While that can be nice, it also means I can’t hear anything around me, which isn’t ideal when you’re hard of hearing. The over-ear design squishes my hearing aids, which can cause feedback (not fun) or just general ear pain—especially since I also wear glasses.That’s why I’m so impressed with the nwm Ones. They’re so light, you’ll forget you’re even wearing them! If you wear glasses and hearing aids like I do, you’ll appreciate these even more. The circular ear pads fit comfortably around my behind-the-ear hearing aids, and I didn’t have any trouble wearing them over the ear tubes (even with hearing aid charms on). Over-ear headphones can also trap moisture in your ears, which isn’t great for hearing aids or for preventing ear infections (which I’m prone to). The open-ear design of the nwm Ones allows for airflow which is better for the hearing aid microphones because they need to stay dry. The airflow means less worry about trapped moisture, and that’s really such a game-changer for me.I’ve tried bone-conducting headphones before, but they didn’t fit well with my hearing aids. They pushed the behind-the-ear part off and got caught in the tubing, which was both annoying and painful. I also found the sound quality lacking severely.Another reason I wanted these headphones is for situational awareness. I work in an office and like to listen to music, podcasts, and audiobooks while I work. However, I need to be aware of people approaching my desk or walking into the office. I also take meetings and phone calls on my laptop. The nwm ones make all of this possible. You can even connect them to multiple devices, so I can have both my phone and laptop connected at the same time!I called three different people to test the call sound quality, and they all said they could hear me perfectly—no one even realized I was using headphones. My Nana used to complain she couldn’t hear me when I used my old headphones to call her so nwm ones passed the Nana hearing test too! While on the phone, I did have to turn up the volume a bit to hear the other person, but I haven’t played around with the nwm app yet which has different sound settings so that might make a difference. Even so, once I turned the volume up I had no issues hearing the other person (around 60% volume). This was still a huge improvement compared to my Beats and airPods, which needed to be at around 90% + volume for me to use without hearing aids, which isn’t good for ear health.Working in a bigger city, I also appreciate the safety aspect of these headphones. No longer will I have to choose between listening to my music and being aware of my surroundings on the bus or walking around at lunchtime. I live about 15 minutes outside of the city I work in, and love to walk my dogs. Living on a busy residential street in an area where we have speeding cars, loose dogs, deer, and even bears (yes really) so I am grateful to be able to hear my surroundings!Sometimes, muting the world around you isn’t a good thing, and these headphones live up to their promise of “unmuting the world.” Sound leakage is minimal—even at max volume, my husband could barely hear me blasting “Bling-Bang-Bang-Born,” and the bass quality was great for an open-ear design!With a 20-hour battery life (and 1.5 hours to fully charge), plus the ability to get an hour of use from just 5 minutes of charging, these headphones are perfect for all-day use. They even come with a cable to use as wired headphones if needed. For more tech details, check out the nwm website.I just have to say—I haven’t been this excited about a piece of tech since the Nintendo Switch. Japanese designers have truly outdone themselves with this innovative product. While I know people who wear hearing devices weren’t the target market, Bob Ross would say “this is a happy accident”! It would be a lie to say that these didn’t bring me to tears when I first tried them. These headphones are exactly what I needed and wanted. As someone who has unique needs and challenges, I can’t recommend them enough, and I hope you give them a try too!

Sound:Highs and mids are good. Instrumentals sound good. Violin concertos and vocals are about similar to my Sennheiser 558's, but it's even more open on the NWMsBass is ok, but it's even more open than a Sennheiser so I'm not sure why anyone would expect otherwise. An example would be Mt.Woe by Ford Mustang at 2:00. You can tell that the highs are great, but the bass has no presence.However, you can tell it can work with psytrance bass like in Kazabubu by Infected Mushroom at 4:32-4:44 but again, no presence.At the same perceived volume, the leakage is significantly less than a Sennheiser 558. I can hear my 558's yapping from 4-5 feet away with no problem, but the NWM's are whispering.Small adjustments to headphone fitment will drastically change the sound. The drivers also swivel inwards so they point at your ear canal instead of being parallel to your head. The height needs to be adjusted to your liking. All these make an impact.The headphone gets plenty loud and will hurt your ears if you let it. If you think it's not loud enough, maybe try googling "bluetooth volume not loud enough" and read up on known issues regarding media volume sync or absolute volume.Microphone:Definitely has some sort of DSP that filters out random noises like table taps, mouse clicks, and typing. Works well enough for me. I'm not sure you'd want to be using it in a noisy environment anyway because these aren't noise cancelling.Build:Good quality overall, but ear cups are poorly designed. I've attached pictures to show how fragile the wiring is. The ear cup pivot has no stop. It's movement is limited by the wire, which itself is fragile.You should treat the headphones delicately and always hold both ear cups at a time. If you take off your headphones one ear cup at a time you will stress the wiring and connections.Comfort:Pretty comfortable for my average head. There is no padding in the rubber ear "pads". It's extremely light at 185 grams, which is half the weight of airpod maxes.Accessories:None, but it'd be nice if they gave a clamshell case since the headphones would probably get destroyed in backpack.They're not just AKG 1000's? It looks uncomfortable! Isn't this just an open back headphone?Nah, they're different and if you're looking for something come close to your Sennheiser 558's from 2015, need bluetooth, cooler ears, and are willing to pay a premium then this will probably work.Unfortunately, the sound quality isn't that amazing so I will be returning these. The fragility of the wiring is also something I'd be very worried about as well.It's a 3.5/5 for me

This product is a solid 5/5 *IF* you are in a situation that requires it. I work from home, use slack huddle audio calls, take cell phone calls, listen to youtube/twitch/music, chat with my wife, and listen for deliveries or people knocking on my door. I've been looking for this product forever. It's light weight, sounds fine, seamlessly switches between my Mac and iPhone, and lasts a full day no problem. It's not uncomfortable to wear, and keeps your ears cool unlike many headphones.There simply aren't any open back, over the ear, wireless headphones on the market -- I've looked for years. This might be your only option.If you want serious music listening headphones, these aren't it. If you want to travel and need cancelation, these aren't it. These are for people who wear headphones 8+ hours a day while working from home and want an unobtrusive solution that works effortlessly.Sound quality is far better than expected, albeit lacking bass slightly. But the functionality of these, given the above examples, is where they cannot be beaten. If you work from home, give these a shot. If you work from home and share an office with someone else, you MUST buy these. Completely impressed and happy with my purchase.