Oladance is a wireless earphone with an open-ear design and is attached to the ear using a flexible titanium wireframe ear hook. The creators prefer to call it wearable stereo speakers rather than earbuds due to this open-ear design.
The Oladance earphone is currently available on Kickstarter and has received overwhelming support from 634 backers with 52 days to go. It will also be launching on Indiegogo soon.
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Summary: Although we have doubts about using the Oladance for sports and running, we do like the super-long battery and the open-ear design for daily use other than sports. Besides that, the Oladance has a good price and a one-year warranty. Let’s hope the creators can ensure the quality of the product and delivery on time, and there will be an Oladance version 2 in future. |
We did not list the benefit of taking away “ear pain and hearing loss” from in-ear earphones because that is not a widespread hazard that we know of.
Among the advantages listed above, we opine the three main reasons to buy the Oladance would be the battery life, the open-ear design and price.
The other comment is regarding the size of the speaker driver. We doubt the larger driver would guarantee a better sound quality, but it should deliver a louder sound and stronger bass than the smaller drivers.
What is an open-ear design?
An open-ear design means that the speaker driver is placed just outside the ear facing the Concha (see below), but does not seal up the concha area or stick any earbuds into the ear canal. As such, it is an open concept because the external source (blue lines) can theoretically be heard since the ear canal and concha are not sealed.
Due to the adjustable titanium wireframe design, we opine it is not considered a “true wireless” design, but almost as good since there is no wire running between both earphones.
Battery Life and Weight
Oladance has a stunning 16 hours battery life and 94 hours including the charging case. Currently, the best earbuds in the market have a maximum of 8 to 9 hours with ANC on, which are already impressive due to their size since the batteries are so smaller. Examples include:
- Sony WF-1000XM4 (8 hours + 16 hours with casing)
- Sony WF-SP800N (9 hours + 9 hours with casing)
- JBL Reflect Flow Pro (8 hours + 16 hours with casing)
- Jabra Elite 7 Active (8 hours + 22 hours with casing)
Read also: Best True Wireless Sports Earbuds
Oladance has double the battery life on the earphone and another 5x charge from the casing, making a total of 94 hours which makes it the highest in terms of endurance.
As the design is based on an open-ear concept and comes with an adjustable ear hook, there is no need to worry about ear fitting or falling off during a run. Each earphone weighs 12.7 grams and is more than twice the weight of other true wireless earbuds which is usually between 5 to 6 grams each.
As we know, heavy earphones are prone to shaking and falling out during a run, but the marketing video of the man running with the Oladance looks secure.
Points for Future Improvements
Almost all sports earbuds we have reviewed before are certified to at least IP57 for protection against dust and water ingress including submerging up to 1 meter. As such, we will not consider the Oladance for serious sports at this time.
For the price of $98 only, we can forgive the omission of wireless charging for the charging case. However, the creators should consider adding this feature in future upgraded models.
Conclusion
Although we have doubts about using the Oladance for sports and running, we do like the super-long battery and the open-ear design for daily use other than sports.
Besides that, the Oladance has a reasonable price and a one-year warranty. Let’s hope the creators can ensure the quality of the product and delivery on time, and there will be an Oladance version 2 in future.
3 Responses
thus Oladance wearable stereo can be used for phone call just like earbuds?
I was considering buying a pair, love the design, but after reading some reviews, I’ve changed my mind, some people saying they quit charging, or quit working totally!
That is true, one earbud stopped charging after 1,5 year. And i couldn’t buy a replacement for the broken one.