Xiaomi: Open earphones with large drivers and touch control cost no more than $20

The I68 are earphones from Xiaomi that now also available globally. They are completely wireless and open earphones (as opposed to in-ear earphones), meaning they are not held in the ears by contact pressure, but instead an ear hook is used.

As is not uncommon for open earphones, large 16 mm drivers are installed and are advertised as providing high quality bass reproduction. Unsurprisingly, active suppression of ambient noise is not provided, so users are advised to keep background noise to a minimum if possible in order to ensure good call quality. 

The charging case has its own display, which shows the battery level of the charging case as a percentage and the charge of the two headphones in several stages. The maximum battery life is estimated at 40 hours. If the headphones are only charged for 10 minutes, they can be used for another two hours. Touch surfaces are installed, which allow you to control music playback or accept or reject calls, for example. IPX5 certification is advertised.

The model is currently available for direct import at a price of around $12.

A possible alternative: Buy the truefree O1 at Amazon.