Allway OE10 Open-Ear Earphones Review – TWS Earbuds That Let The World In

Open Earbuds are growing in popularity, especially with those who enjoy sports and outdoor activities where they don’t want to lose all of the surround sounds around them.

Earbuds in the true wireless space (TWS), like the AirPods Pro, do typically offer a transparency mode now with their Active Noise Cancelling features but many feel it’s still not ‘transparent’ enough.

Bose really pioneered this open-earbud space with their Sports Open Earbuds but has since decided to discontinue them.

Some challenges with fit and function and the inclusion of new players in the market like Allway who are offering a great product at a much more affordable price have meant they have moved out. 

This doesn’t mean that the space has shrunk at all though as more and more people who are outdoors and sporty are looking for a solution like the ones that these Open Earbuds offer.

Allway sent me these to try. And I’ve spent some time with them to tell you what we really think.

First Impressions

Out of the box, they come in a kind of fabric casing with a zipper around the outside.

In the back, there’s a USB-C charging port, and when you open up the unit, inside there’s a hard white plastic mounting shell and charging case, as per the photos in the gallery above.

This is certainly different from what we’re all used to receiving these days, which are pretty much hard plastic shells, and it’s a nice touch.

The unit is quite a low slim form factor but is quite large overall – long and wide. This is really to accommodate the shape and size of the earbuds themselves, which are certainly not very petite.

You also get a quickstart guide with QR codes that you can scan to download the Allway app and a USB-C charging cable. 

The box isn’t overwhelming, but the case itself is of really high build quality, and the units themselves are also really nice.

Build quality 

When you take these out of the case, there is a really nice feel to them.

They’re not just a hard, glossy plastic, but rather a slightly almost silicone external material. 

They are still hard, but there is just a bit of a soft touch to them and almost svelte feel.

The magnetic mounting in the charging case itself is really nice, and they fit in the case very, very well. 

The earbuds with the drivers in them and the hinge on the unit are also really nice with a slightly matte finish and really precision machining – this should give you a lot of confidence in the money that you’ve spent on them.

Fit and comfort

These are not the most comfortable earbuds I have worn.

But as they are open-ear, they have the challenge of trying to hold on to your ear while allowing you to hear the world around you and still hold on while you’re undertaking your sports activities.

I’ve given these the mosh pit test (shaking my head like I’m listening to Teen Spirit for the first time) and have also taken them camping and out and about with me, and I’ve never felt like I was going to lose them or that they were going to fall off.

There are two fitting elements to these. 

One is the rotation of the earbud, which presses in against your ear, and the second is the ability to slightly rotate the ear hook on the back of your ear.

The ear hook is not flexible, but there is a curvature to it that allows you to slightly rotate it if you need to to try and find a better fit.

I didn’t find these uncomfortable, but I also didn’t find them comfortable, and the fact that I noticed that I was wearing them, and this only increased over time, means that comfort is a challenge for these units.

They’re quite large, which means that you definitely know that they’re there, and while they’re not very heavy, they do have to pack in a bit of battery power to keep the driver going.

I wouldn’t take them into water sports, but I could see the appeal for cycling, running, or any other outdoor activities where you would still like to hear a bit of the world around you.

As Bose also experienced, they are more of a challenge with glasses.

Allway OE10 Microphone and Audio Test

What is the listening experience like?

Strangely, when I was wearing these, I could hear everything around me, but the music was also quite strong.

And so I’m not sure that, even though it could hear around me, I was doing so actively.

I think my brain was a little bit confused about whether I should be listening to my surroundings or listening to my music, and my brain usually will choose to listen to the music.

I think this works especially if you’re running, and you just wanna make sure that your brain picks up that there’s a truck coming down the road or someone’s gonna run you over in their car.

But when I was trying to have conversations with people with the music playing, I just found it a little bit difficult.

It’s not that I couldn’t hear them, although there were times it was even difficult to do that depending on the volume, it was just a little bit hard to do two things at once. Maybe that’s just a problem.

Sound quality

Bass

Surprisingly, these have bass. It’s not super deep or impactful, but it’s there.

And that’s a real surprise. Considering how these things are arranged in the ear and the fact that there’s no seal in the ear canal, I’m pretty impressed overall with the fact that these do produce some bottom end.

The audio is quite directional, and depending on what you’re playing, there’s enough there to really enjoy it. 

It kind of reminds me of being on a construction or building site with someone having a radio playing, where it’s providing some decent audio for what you’re doing but may not be a complete audiophile experience.

It can truly be said that there is a lot more musicality than something like a bone-conducting headphone, which doesn’t offer nearly as much dynamic contrast in the music you listen to.

Mids

The mids are definitely the more prevalent in the range of frequencies with the Allway OE10.

If you listen to rock music or vocals, these definitely stand out really nicely with all those mid-range frequencies really quite bright and definitely a strong force in your ears.

Listening to the new album by The Architects with the track “All the Love in the World,” there’s a nice, full sound coming to my ears as much as I can say a full sound.

There’s enough full sound that it would be motivating and can help you get into the zone with whatever sporting activities you’re undertaking.

Treble 

The treble is not exactly dynamic.

It’s there, and it’s a little bit peaky, but it kind of just blends in with the whole sound signature that these produce.

Depending on what you throw at these, the treble can be less screechy. 

Tracks like “Sword From the Stone” from Passenger actually sound really nice in the higher registers.

Overall comments on sound

Overall, as I’ve mentioned, these present more than I expected and sound pretty good.

It’s certainly not gonna be the earphones were loading up the Beast Mode playlist on Spotify is going to get you absolutely amped, but there’s loads of musicality in them and enough of a full soundstage that you will feel it.

Tech specs

These are designed to take a little bit of weather and sweat and have an IPX4 rating.

So you can get them a little bit wet during a run if you’re in the rain, and they can take a little bit of splash of water, but I wouldn’t subject them to too much more than that.

The battery life is up to about 6 hours of listening on a single charge, and you can get 16 hours of playtime in total with the addition of the charging case.

There are two mics with a proprietary noise cancellation solution, which improves phone calls and the overall avoidance of external noise coming into your ears. 

Conclusion

For less than $100, you’re getting open-ear earbuds with a decent quality case and a decent-sounding music experience.

The challenge that I have with them is the comfort is a little bit difficult to get right. And there are times when one of the earbuds comes slightly out from my ear.

And while that doesn’t mean it feels like it’s going to come off, it feels like it just isn’t as snug as it could be, and I might even be missing out on some musicality from these.

The charging case is great, and the build quality is great.

I downloaded the app, but it kept crashing on my phone. And even when I restarted my phone, it continued to do so, so persevere with that.

The app really just gives you access to the battery. You can change the smart assistant settings on the unit and change some of the other touch customizations with the unit.

I think if you’re wearing them for anything less than an hour, then they’re going to be more than suitable, which is probably about what you need for a decent run or a game of tennis.

The ability to hear while wearing them is certainly a bonus. And it’s nice to have music that’s worth listening to and still be able to hear as opposed to some of the bone-conducting headphones.

This post was last updated on 2023-03-21 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.