I’ve been down this road before: I look at something in front of me, snap a photo and ask AI services for advice about what I’m looking at. I’ve done it with Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and countless others, but this time I was wearing a pair of over-ear headphones with a camera in each cup at Razer’s CES 2026 demo suite.

Project Motoko is Razer’s latest wild stab at new gaming tech at this year’s CES, but it’s actually not as wild as I expected. I mean that in a good way. Motoko is meant to be worn while gaming, or doing anything else. Why these over smart glasses? You don’t have to deal with wearing glasses at all, and the promised battery life with AI-connected services switched on is 36 hours. That’s way beyond what any pair of smart glasses I’ve worn can do.

The headphones use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip inside, although I wasn’t told which one. It’s something that will likely change when this idea becomes an actual product. And reps at Razer I spoke to say that’s definitely happening, at some point, at a price that would be competitive with smart glasses. Right now, Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses start at around $300.

There are dual Sony 4K 12MP cameras on Project Motoko, good enough for photos or video (although how good they’d look, I don’t know). I also don’t know how good Motoko sounds as headphones, since my demo was entirely focused on using the microphones to ask AI questions while a nearby speaker broadcast the answers.

Motoko could connect to a PC or a future mobile app, and the plan is to make the headphones AI-agnostic, plugging into whatever platform you want. That’s another advantage they have over current smart glasses, which generally funnel you to one AI service.

I’m glad I checked these out, because I don’t think this will be the last time I wear headphones with cameras in them. Qualcomm is often a harbinger of new tech products to come, and a lot more people wear headphones than glasses. It’s likely a sign of what could come next in the ongoing wave of camera-enabled AI wearables. Now I’m wondering when we’ll see this technology in earbuds.

A good pair of everyday wireless earbuds is a must-have for most of us. They’re great for listening to music, podcasts and more, and there’s no shortage of options for you to choose from. If you don’t need all of the fancy audio features some earbuds tout, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a decent pair. Case in point, Amazon is currently offering the popular JBL Vibe Beam earbuds for as little as $30. Note that this deal only applies to the black version, though.

These earbuds have a battery life of up to 8 hours on a single charge, or up to 32 hours with the case. And when you’re in a hurry, just 10 minutes of charging will score you up to two hours of playback. They’re also IP54-rated dust- and water-resistant, making them a solid pick for wearing on your commute, during workouts and anywhere else. As for sound, 8mm dynamic drivers offer a stronger bass than other budget earbuds. And there’s a built-in mic for taking calls.

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Why this deal matters

These earbuds were already competitively priced at their usual $50 retail price, but with 40% off, they’re even better. You’ll also get 90 days of Amazon Music thrown in to sweeten the deal, too.

Shokz wanted to equip its new flagship OpenFit Pro open earbuds with active noise cancellation, but that’s not easy with open earbuds. Instead, it ended up dialing back expectations and calling the tech inside these new ear-hook style buds, «OpenEar Noise Reduction.»

It’s a good thing it did because, during my few days of testing the OpenFit Pro, they didn’t reduce ambient sound nearly as well as the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. But they sound impressive for open earbuds, are comfortable to wear and have the premium build quality you’d expect from a set of earbuds that cost $250. Launched this week at CES 2026, the OpenFit Pro come in two color options — white and black — and are available for preorder today at Shokz and Best Buy.  

Read more: Best open earbuds of 2026

Larger dual-diaphragm drivers         

Formerly known as AfterShokz, Shokz made a name for itself with its bone-conduction headphones. But in recent years it’s added several products that use standard drivers (Shokz markets them as «air conduction» headphones and earbuds) or combines a standard driver with bone-conduction technology, as it did with its OpenRun Pro 2 headphones. 

The OpenFit Pro aren’t bone-conduction earbuds. Shokz says they’re powered by its first «SuperBoost» technology, which is built around an «ultra large 11×20 mm synchronized dual-diaphragm» driver. It says the design «expands frequency response up to 40 kHz while significantly minimizing distortion below 100 Hz, delivering more powerful bass, finer detail and a more authentic, stable sound in an open-ear design.»

While I still prefer the sound of a good set of noise-isolating earbuds with silicone ear tips, the OpenFit Pro are among the best-sounding open earbuds I’ve tested. They have full-sounding bass along with good treble detail and clear, natural sounding mids. When I cranked the volume, I did feel some vibration from the bass, which was a little annoying. That said, I encountered only minimal distortion. 

Noise-isolating earbuds in this price range (and some that cost much less) will deliver better overall bass performance. But the sound gap between open earbuds and noise-isolating earbuds is narrowing, and in quieter environments the OpenFit Pro perform quite well. They don’t leak much sound, but they do let ambient sound in. While that’s a nice safety feature for runners, bikers and pedestrians, if you’re in a particularly noisy environment like the streets of New York, it can affect sound quality. 

Noise reduction takes the edge off ambient sound

While the AirPods 4’s noise canceling isn’t nearly as strong the AirPods Pro 3’s, you can really tell when their noise canceling is engaged. When you turn on the OpenFit Pro’s noise reduction (you can adjust the level of noise reduction in the app), you also notice a difference, but the noise muffling is more subtle. Sounds around me weren’t dramatically reduced. I was still aware of them, but they weren’t as sharp. They were dulled a bit and became less cutting. 

Shokz says that the OpenFit Pro use a «triple microphone array, refined speaker design and Shokz’s Ear Adaptive Algorithm to soften unwanted background noise.» The key word here is «soften.» The noise reduction doesn’t eliminate background noise, it just tones it down a bit, taking the edge off. Some people will appreciate that, others will find it underwhelming.

Fairly full-featured

Splashproof and dust-resistant with an IP55 rating, the OpenFit Pro are equipped with Bluetooth 6.1 and also have a spatial audio feature, supporting Dolby Audio with Dolby Head Tracking (Shokz says they’re optimized for Dolby Atmos). You can turn head tracking on or off in the Shokz companion app for iOS and Android and tweak EQ settings as well. Additionally, the buds have ear-detection sensors that pause your music when you take a bud off and resume playback when you put it back on.  

Battery life is rated at up 12 hours with noise reduction off and 6 hours with it on, which is pretty big drop off. The case, which is a little heavy but feels solid and is well-designed, supports wireless charging and stores up to 38 hours of additional battery life with noise reduction off or 24 hours with it engaged.

In my tests in the streets of New York, callers said my voice sounded clear and natural (it didn’t sound too digitized or robotic) and background noise reduction was solid. Overall, voice-calling performance seemed quite good, though, as I said, the buds do let ambient sound in, so it was a little harder for me to hear callers in noisy environments.

Shock OpenFit Pro early conclusions

Several new premium open earbuds are being released in early 2026, so I’m reserving final judgment on the OpenFit Pro until I have a chance to compare them to some of these new models. But I liked the design of these ear-hook style buds and thought they were among they top-sounding open earbuds I’ve tested. While I was less impressed with the buds noise-reduction feature, at least Shokz didn’t try to position these as true active noise-canceling earbuds. That would have been a mistake and taken away from the buds’ many likable attributes — and perhaps angered some buyers.