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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-27 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
• WIVTAK biggest strength: A true open-ear C-clip hook design — nothing enters your ear canal — plus up to 50 hours of total playtime and four mics with ENC call noise reduction.
• WIVTAK biggest trade-off: Because the ear canal stays open, you get no active noise cancellation for yourself; the ENC only cleans up your voice for the person on the other end of the call.
• Thunelec biggest strength: Pro-grade active noise cancellation rated up to 45dB, a transparency mode for awareness, and a full-color touchscreen case that handles music, calls and settings directly.
• Thunelec biggest trade-off: It's an in-ear design, so you're sealing your canal with silicone tips — comfort and awareness depend on picking the right tip size, and it doesn't support direct volume control on the buds themselves.
• Who WIVTAK is for: Runners, cyclists, commuters and anyone who wants their ears open to the world all day without pressure or stuffiness.
• Who Thunelec is for: Flyers, open-office workers and noisy-commute riders who want to block out the environment first and let awareness in only when they choose.
The WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open are built around one idea: your ear canal stays completely open. The ear hook is wrapped in soft silicone and shaped into a C-style clip that hugs the outside of your ear, and each side weighs only a few grams. That combination is the whole pitch — no pressure, no stuffiness, no "plugged up" feeling after an hour. If you've ever taken earbuds out at the two-hour mark just to let your ears breathe, this is the category that solves that.
For sound and calls, WIVTAK gives you three EQ profiles — Bass, Music and Hi-Fi — and you switch them by tapping the touch area on either earbud four times, without pulling out your phone. There are four HD microphones paired with ENC environmental noise reduction, which targets wind, traffic and crowd noise so your voice comes through clearly on the other end. One thing worth understanding clearly: ENC works for your caller, not for you. You'll still hear the street. That's the point of an open-ear design, but it's also the honest limitation. Battery is listed at up to about 50 hours of total playtime with the case and a 2-hour charge time, and the case has a smart digital display that stays hidden until you open the lid, then shows numeric battery status. IPX5 waterproofing covers sweat, light rain and splashes. Bluetooth 5.3 handles the connection. The color is Nebula Purple, and the clip-on form is framed as a gift-friendly, wearable token — a detail that matters if you're buying for someone else.
Buy it if you run, cycle, lift, walk city streets or work in a space where you need to hear what's happening around you, and you want something so light you forget it's there. Skip it if your main goal is silencing a plane cabin or a loud office — this product was never designed to do that, and no amount of EQ tapping will change it.
Thunelec Earbuds go the opposite direction. These are in-ear buds with silicone tips in three sizes (S/M/L), and the headline feature is active noise cancellation rated up to 45dB, which the specs describe as blocking roughly 90% of distractions like blower noise, traffic and office chatter. Upgraded ENC handles your voice on calls and suppresses static so you don't sound muffled or chopped up. If your commute is a train, a bus or a loud open-plan office, this is the tool built for exactly that.
Then there's the case. The charging case has a full-color touchscreen, which means you control playback, track skipping, calls and noise-canceling modes with a tap on the case rather than digging for your phone. It also handles 7-language switching, wallpaper customization, screen brightness, a headphone search function and a timer. One honest caveat from the specs: the earbuds don't support direct volume control, so you adjust volume on the case screen or your connected device. Audio comes from 14.2mm bio-carbon fiber dynamic coils with bass down to 50Hz and five EQ modes — standard, classic, jazz, rock and pop. Battery is 6–8 hours per charge, up to 48 hours total with the case, and the case itself charges in about 1.5 hours. Bluetooth 5.4 is the newest version in this comparison. IPX7 waterproofing is a step above IPX5 — it handles sweat, rain and splashes with more headroom. The transparency mode is the awareness feature here: it pipes your surroundings back in while you're on a call or walking, so you get safety without pausing your audio. Color is Pink, and the warranty is listed as a 30-day unconditional refund plus 2 years.
Buy it if you want to choose when you hear the world — noise cancelling on for the flight, transparency on for the crosswalk. Skip it if you hate the feeling of anything inside your ear canal, or if you want to keep both ears fully open at all times without switching modes.
• Best for all-day open-ear awareness → WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open. Nothing blocks the canal, so awareness is constant, not a mode you toggle.
• Best for blocking out noise → Thunelec Earbuds. Active noise cancellation rated up to 45dB versus no ANC on the WIVTAK.
• Best for total battery life → WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open. Up to about 50 hours with the case, versus up to 48 hours on the Thunelec.
• Best for long single sessions → Thunelec Earbuds. 6–8 hours per charge beats a single-charge session on the WIVTAK, though the WIVTAK wins on the case total.
• Best for water and sweat resistance → Thunelec Earbuds. IPX7 versus IPX5 — more protection for heavy gym sessions or a rainy commute.
• Best for controlling without your phone → Thunelec Earbuds. The touchscreen case handles playback, calls and noise-canceling modes directly.
• Best for call clarity in wind and crowds → WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open. Four HD mics with ENC aimed specifically at wind, traffic and crowd noise.
• Best for newest Bluetooth and stable pairing → Thunelec Earbuds. Bluetooth 5.4 versus 5.3.
• Best for a gift with a story → WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open. The clip-on form and Nebula Purple finish are explicitly framed as a wearable token of closeness.
My Verdict
how to turn off aware mode bose headphones
On Bose headphones, awareness or aware mode is toggled through the Bose app or the noise-control button on the earcup, cycling between quiet and aware. This page isn't about Bose — but if you're here because you want that toggle behavior, the Thunelec Earbuds are the closer match, since they pair active noise cancellation with a transparency mode you switch on demand. The WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open has no aware mode to turn off because its open-ear clip never blocks your canal in the first place.
how to turn on aware mode on bose headphones
On Bose models, you switch to aware mode via the app or by cycling the noise-control control on the headphones. The equivalent concept here is the Thunelec Earbuds' transparency mode, which lets you hear your surroundings while you're on a call or walking — useful for crossing streets safely without pausing your audio. The WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open doesn't need an aware-mode step: ambient sound reaches you continuously through its open-ear design.
how to turn off aware mode on jlab headphones
On JLab headphones, awareness mode is typically cycled through the on-ear controls or the companion app. The general rule across brands is that awareness or transparency is a mode you toggle on and off, which is exactly how the Thunelec Earbuds work — transparency on when you want to hear the street, off when you want the 45dB active noise cancellation. The WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open takes the opposite approach and skips the toggle entirely.
what is ambient aware on headphones
Ambient aware, transparency or aware mode is a setting that uses the microphones to feed outside sound back into your ears while you're listening. The Thunelec Earbuds include this as a transparency mode, alongside active noise cancellation rated up to 45dB and passive noise cancellation from the in-ear seal. The WIVTAK Clip-On Earbuds Open doesn't simulate awareness with a mode — its C-style clip leaves the ear canal open, so you hear your surroundings naturally at all times.
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