They do sound good in open mode. When they’re not covering your ear canals, the Aerofit 2 Pro rank among the best open earbuds in their price class, with an airy sound signature that naturally focuses on the upper registers. While no open earbuds I’ve tried accentuate bass as well as regular buds, the Aerofit 2 Pro have more resonance down low than most, accompanied by splashes of keen instrumental detail and clear stereo separation.

Wandering Noise

The biggest issue I have with these “best of both worlds” earbuds is noise cancellation that’s not only limited but also unstable and inconsistent. This is almost certainly due to the lack of eartips, which prevents a proper seal. There’s a reason all our favorite noise-canceling buds come with multiple eartip sizes to conform to your ear canals; a good seal is paramount to effective noise canceling.

High-register noises and midrange sounds are the worst offenders, especially voices. During one of my wife’s video calls, her voice seemed to constantly migrate from one ear to the other as the noise-canceling struggled to adjust to my head’s natural movements. It’s was a disorienting experience, listening as the onboard microphones work to quell the noise like sailors bailing out a leaky ship.

Low-frequency drone sounds like bathroom fans or the din of a refrigerator fare better, but I continued to experience issues in key use cases like bringing in my garbage cans, where the rumbling of the wheels kept fading in and out.

Soundcore’s PR team was quick to point out the Aerofit 2 Pro’s limitations, saying the experience is “highly fit-dependent” and “not intended to replace fully sealed in-ear ANC earbuds in extreme noise environments.” That’s fine, but it does beg the question: What are we doing here?

The Aerofit 2 Pro are a fair pair of open earbuds, but their hefty design works too hard for a feature that can’t compete with even average noise cancellers. It’s hard not to think of noise-canceling open buds as a solution looking for a problem, especially when you can get a solid pair of regular open earbuds like the Acefit Air for as low as $30. On the other hand, the Aerofit 2 Pro get frustratingly close to working. Could eartips crack the case? Honestly, I hope we get a second generation to find out.

If you can only buy one pair of earbuds, it should not be the Aerofit 2 Pro. It’s the AirPods Pro, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, or any of the scores of more affordable ANC buds that effectively keep out environmental sounds and offer solid transparency modes for hearing the world around you when you want to. Better yet, you could just get a good cheap pair of each. Open earbuds have many benefits, and the idea to give them noise canceling is a good one in theory, but the Aerofit Pro 2 have too many compromises to be your only pair.