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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-20 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
• JVC HA-S23W — biggest strength: A conventional on-ear headphone with a 17-hour rechargeable battery, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 3-button remote with microphone. It folds flat and swivels for compact storage.
• JVC HA-S23W — biggest trade-off: It's an on-ear design with no noise cancellation and no headphone jack. It sits on your ears rather than leaving them open, so it's less suited to all-day wear in a quiet shared office.
• QJF Open Ear Earbuds — biggest strength: An open-ear, skin-tone design with Bluetooth 5.4, a listed 50-hour battery figure, IP54 rating, and touch controls tuned for clear business calls.
• QJF Open Ear Earbuds — biggest trade-off: Open-ear audio means you hear your surroundings, which cuts both ways — great for awareness, less ideal if you want to block out a noisy room. It relies on touch controls, which not everyone loves.
• Who each pick is for: JVC HA-S23W suits someone who wants a familiar, foldable headphone for music and calls on the move. QJF suits someone who lives on calls all day and wants something barely visible.
The JVC HA-S23W is a straightforward wireless on-ear headphone. It uses Bluetooth 5.0, has a 16-ohm impedance, and a dynamic driver covering a 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz frequency range. In plain terms, that's a standard full-range tuning rather than something exotic — fine for pop, podcasts, and video calls. The 3-button remote handles volume up/down, play/pause, and answering calls, and it's voice-assistant compatible, so you can trigger your phone's assistant without pulling it out of your pocket.
The standout practical feature is the foldable flat design. The earcups swivel and fold, so the whole thing collapses down for a bag or a drawer. If you commute, travel, or just want a headphone that disappears into a backpack, that matters more than any spec sheet number. The soft ear pads and adjustable headband are there to keep the fit secure, and JVC lists a 1-year warranty.
Who should skip it: If you need active noise cancellation, look elsewhere — noise control is listed as "None." If you want to keep an ear open to your surroundings, an on-ear design covers your ear canal area more than an open-ear model. And there's no wired fallback: no headphone jack at all. Battery-wise, 17 hours is solid for a single charge, but it's a single-charge figure — there's no case or charging compartment mentioned to extend it.
QJF Open Ear Earbuds: Who It's For
The QJF Open Ear Earbuds (model M95) are built around a very different idea. They sit outside your ear canal rather than over or in it, using air conduction to deliver sound. The skin-tone color is the headline design choice here: the whole point is a low-profile, almost invisible look for the office, client meetings, or anywhere you'd rather not have obvious headphones on your head.
For call-heavy work, the spec list is aimed squarely at that use case. There's a built-in microphone tuned for voice clarity in quiet to moderate environments, Bluetooth 5.4 for a stable connection to a laptop and phone with quick switching, and a listed Bluetooth range of 15 meters. The battery figure is listed at 50 hours, and the product description also mentions an 8-hour figure with a charging compartment bringing total playtime higher — either way, this is a design meant to get you through long days without a charge anxiety loop. It recharges over USB-C.
Comfort is the other pillar. The open-ear shape is specifically pitched at avoiding ear fatigue over long shifts — the description references use across 9-hour workdays — and the frame is described as lightweight with a soft silicone cushion and a flexible fit. There's also IP54, which covers commuter sweat and light rain. Controls are touch-based: different tap counts adjust volume, answer or reject calls, and wake the voice assistant.
Who should buy it: Office workers, remote workers, and anyone on back-to-back calls who wants to stay aware of colleagues and announcements while listening. The discreet skin tone plus the open-ear design makes it a natural fit for a professional setting.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for long single-charge listening → JVC HA-S23W. 17 hours on one charge, no case required.
• Best for all-day and multi-day wear → QJF Open Ear Earbuds. The open-ear shape is designed to reduce ear fatigue, and the battery figure is listed at 50 hours.
• Best for discreet, professional looks → QJF. Skin-tone, open-ear, barely visible in a meeting.
• Best for travel and packing → JVC HA-S23W. The flat foldable swivel design collapses for a bag.
• Best for clear calls in an office → QJF. The mic is tuned for voice clarity in quiet to moderate environments, with Bluetooth 5.4 for switching between laptop and phone.
• Best for staying aware of your surroundings → QJF. Open-ear means you hear colleagues and announcements; JVC's on-ear fit does not.
• Best for physical controls → JVC HA-S23W. Three buttons for volume, play/pause, and calls, plus voice assistant support.
• Best for light rain and sweat → QJF. IP54 covers commutes and workouts; the JVC has no listed water resistance.
If I had to pick one, I'd buy the QJF Open Ear Earbuds for a work-and-calls life. In my opinion, the combination of the discreet skin-tone look, the open-ear comfort story, Bluetooth 5.4, IP54, and the listed 50-hour battery figure makes it the more versatile choice for someone who wears headphones through a full workday. I'd pick the JVC HA-S23W instead if I wanted a classic foldable headphone with real buttons for music and travel — it's simpler and more familiar, just less suited to all-day open-ear wear. Match the pick to how you actually use headphones; both are reasonable, they just solve different problems.
By the listed figures, the QJF is rated higher, at 50 hours, versus 17 hours for the JVC. The JVC's 17 hours is still a full day of listening on a single charge. Check the current price on Amazon via the button on this page to weigh cost against that difference.
Yes, that's exactly what the QJF is designed for. The open-ear shape keeps you aware of colleagues and announcements while you listen, and the skin-tone finish keeps things low-profile. The trade-off is that open-ear lets background noise in, so it's better in quiet to moderate environments than in loud ones.
No. Noise control is listed as "None," and there's no headphone jack either, so it's wireless-only. Its strengths are the foldable on-ear design, the 17-hour battery, and the 3-button remote.
The QJF is built around that use case — the open-ear design is specifically meant to reduce ear fatigue over long shifts. The JVC is a standard on-ear fit with soft ear pads and an adjustable headband, which is comfortable for typical sessions but sits on your ears rather than leaving them open.
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