Truefree sent me their new O2 open-ear sports headphones, basically the successor to the O1 I reviewed before. These are $60 wireless ear-hook “air conduction” style headphones that sit just in front of your ear so you can still hear the world around you while you’ve got music or a podcast going. In this video I go over the big trade-off with this whole form factor: it’s convenient for safety and awareness, but it’s also a pretty hard limiter on sound quality compared to more conventional headphones or IEMs. Sound-wise, the O2 doesn’t really extend in the bass or upper treble, so a lot of it comes across thin—more like a small speaker than a full headphone. The positioning matters a lot too: if the driver shifts closer or farther from your ear, the sound changes noticeably, and these can move around a bit while you’re active. Compared to the O1, I hear less bass and lower mids (the O1 was muddier; the O2 is more nasal), though in my own listening it didn’t feel quite as bass-less as the graph suggests. I do like the physical design improvements: smaller case, slimmer footprint, more comfortable and stable fit, plus water resistance. The big problem is the app/EQ situation—on iOS I couldn’t even get past the account registration screen, and I’m not a fan of needing an account just to use basic EQ. If they fix the software and tweak the tuning, there’s potential, but as-is I can’t recommend them based on my experience.