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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-23 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
• Awaiymi 1's biggest strength: in-ear silicone-tip fit with 13mm dynamic drivers, 36 hours of total playtime and a lightweight 0.1 oz build per bud — plus touch controls that handle calls, volume, tracks and voice assistant.
• Awaiymi 1's biggest trade-off: in-ear sealing means you hear less of the room, and the big driver plus closed fit is a different listening philosophy than an open-ear set.
• Monster Open Ear AC317's biggest strength: open-ear hook design that never blocks your ear canal, Bluetooth 5.4, AI noise reduction for calls, 24 hours total and IPX5 sweat resistance.
• Monster Open Ear AC317's biggest trade-off: shorter total battery life than the Awaiymi 1 and a design that prioritizes awareness over isolation, so it won't shut out a noisy commute the same way.
• Who Awaiymi 1 is for: kids and small-eared adults who want an affordable, shareable in-ear set with long playtime and tap controls.
• Who Monster Open Ear AC317 is for: runners, cyclists, office workers and anyone who wants music in their ears but the outside world still in earshot.
The Awaiymi 1 is an in-ear touch-control earbud set built around a simple idea: get the fit right, then let your finger do everything. Each bud weighs roughly 0.1 ounces, which is genuinely light, and the rounded silicone tips are shaped around a curvature that mimics the human ear. That matters more than it sounds. In-ear buds live or die on fit, and the silicone cap design here is aimed specifically at children and adults with smaller ear canals — a group that usually gets squeezed by one-size-fits-all earbuds.
Battery is the headline number. You get about 6 hours from a single charge, and the charging case adds roughly 30 more, for a total of 36 hours. The case itself refills in about 1.5 hours over USB-C. For a kid taking online classes in the morning and gaming in the afternoon, or for an adult using these across a commute and a workday, that's a genuinely forgiving cycle. You're not chasing a charger every evening.
Touch control is the other centerpiece. Instead of physical buttons, there's a tap area on each bud. Tap to answer or reject a call, hang up, skip tracks, play or pause, wake the voice assistant, or nudge the volume up and down. The pitch is simple: no fumbling for a button when your hands are full, whether you're driving, running, or halfway through a set at the gym. The 13mm dynamic drivers and the 15ms audio latency figure suggest this is tuned for everyday listening and video rather than critical music sessions — lip-sync stays tight, and the low end is present thanks to the driver size. IPX4 handles sweat and light rain, so outdoor play and workouts are fair game.
Who should buy it: parents who want a gift-friendly set that kids can actually wear, small-eared adults who struggle with standard tips, and anyone who wants a spare pair to share with family. The package is split into two pairs, so sharing is baked in. Who should skip it: anyone who needs to hear traffic, coworkers or announcements while listening. In-ear means in-ear, and IPX4 is splash resistance, not swimming.
The Monster Open Ear AC317 takes the opposite approach. Nothing enters your ear canal. Instead, the buds sit outside your ear on a flexible ear hook, with a balanced weight distribution that Monster designed for a soft but secure grip. If you've ever had an earbud pop loose mid-run, that hook geometry is the whole point. It also means you keep your surroundings audible while music plays — useful on a bike, on a busy street, or in an open office where someone might say your name.
Bluetooth 5.4 is the newest version in this comparison, and the practical payoff is a fast, stable connection with low latency, so video and audio stay synced. Monster pairs that with a digital audio processor and professional drivers tuned to lift the mid and high frequencies. That tuning makes sense for an open design: because the buds don't seal your canal, bass leaks away, so pushing clarity in the mids and highs is how you keep vocals and detail present. A unique nozzle design redirects sound toward your ear and limits leakage, which helps both sound quality and privacy in quiet rooms.
Calls get real attention here. AI noise reduction is built in to cut background distractions on your end and keep your voice clear on the other end, which is the difference between a usable call on a windy street and a call where you give up and type instead. Battery is 7 hours per charge and 24 hours total with the case, with the case refilling in about an hour via USB-C. IPX5 sweat resistance is a step up from IPX4, so heavy sweating and rain are less of a worry. Bluetooth range is listed at 10 meters, and the set ships with a 180-day warranty.
Who should buy it: runners, cyclists, gym-goers, delivery drivers and office workers who need awareness as much as audio. Who should skip it: anyone who wants deep isolation for flights, loud trains or focused study, where an in-ear seal simply wins.
• Best for long battery life → Awaiymi 1. 36 hours total versus 24 hours on the Monster, and the case charges in 1.5 hours versus 2 hours.
• Best for situational awareness → Monster Open Ear AC317. Open-ear hook design keeps your canal clear, so traffic, coworkers and announcements stay audible.
• Best for the newest Bluetooth → Monster Open Ear AC317. Bluetooth 5.4 against Bluetooth 5.3 on the Awaiymi 1.
• Best for kids and small ears → Awaiymi 1. Rounded silicone tips, 0.1 oz per bud, and a split two-pair package built for sharing.
• Best for sweaty workouts and rain → Monster Open Ear AC317. IPX5 versus IPX4.
• Best for call clarity in noisy places → Monster Open Ear AC317. AI noise reduction is a spec the Awaiymi 1 simply doesn't list.
• Best for passive noise blocking → Awaiymi 1. In-ear silicone tips physically seal the canal; open-ear buds by design do not.
• Best for low-latency video and gaming → Awaiymi 1 on paper. The sheet lists 15 ms latency; the Monster sheet claims low latency but gives no figure.
In my opinion, the Monster Open Ear AC317 is the better pick for most adults buying for themselves, because the open-ear hook, Bluetooth 5.4, IPX5 rating and AI call noise reduction solve the problems people actually complain about with earbuds — fit, awareness and phone calls. I'd recommend the Awaiymi 1 instead if you're buying for a child, for someone with small ears, or if you want the longest possible playtime from a set that two people can split. Neither is a compromise pick; they're just built for different ears and different rooms. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since both sit in very different budget brackets depending on the day.
Touch control replaces physical buttons with a tap-sensitive area on each earbud. On both the Awaiymi 1 and the Monster Open Ear AC317, a tap handles music play and pause, track skipping, volume, calls and the voice assistant, so you don't have to reach for your phone.
Most touch-control earbuds, including these two, don't include a hardware switch to turn the touch panel off. The usual workarounds are to check the companion app if the brand offers one, or to let the buds sit in the case while you use your phone's own on-screen controls instead.
Because the buds are paired over Bluetooth and are sending media and call commands, which is exactly what touch control is designed to do. An accidental tap on the touch area can pause music, change volume or trigger the voice assistant, so it's worth learning the tap map in the manual.
No. Both the Awaiymi 1 and the Monster Open Ear AC317 list touch control as a built-in function of the earbuds themselves, so the taps work once the buds are paired, without any app required.
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