It seems everyone is jumping on the open-ear earbuds bandwagon and, as of today, that includes Beyerdynamic. The German audio company best known for its high-performance collection of wired, open-back studio headphones has released the Verio 200, a set of open-ear earbuds that let you hear your music, calls, or podcasts while remaining fully aware of your environment. They’re priced at $220 and come in a choice of black, cream, or a black/orange combo known as the sport option.
Each Verio earbud sports a 16.22mm custom-designed graphene neodymium driver, which the company says will deliver precise sound and excellent bass, while the design of the earbuds minimizes sound leakage. To give people more control over the sound, Beyerdynamic is also launching a new version of its app with a five-band equalizer. We noted in our review of the company’s first wireless earbuds — the Free Byrd — that a manual EQ would have been a welcome addition to the existing EQ presets, so we’re glad to see this change for the Verio 200.
Helping out in the audio quality department is the availability of the aptX Adaptive codec for compatible Android phones, in addition to SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs for all other devices, including iPhones. The Verio 200 use a Bluetooth 5.3 connection, which can maintain contact with two devices simultaneously thanks to Bluetooth Multipoint. Beyerdynamic hasn’t indicated if these earbuds will get support for LE Audio or Auracast.
Two integrated microphones will ensure crystal-clear speech intelligibility in any environment, according to the company, and they’re aided in this task by ambient noise detection and filtering. Compatible Android phones may get even better performance on calls thanks to included aptX Voice technology.
Battery life on the Verio 200 is pegged at up to 8 hours per charge, with the charging case providing an additional 27 hours, for a total of 35 hours before you need to plug the case in to recharge. A 10-minute quick charge gives an additional 60 minutes of listening time.
You also get decent water and dust protection with an IP54 rating, which should keep the earbuds from being affected by sweat or rain as long as you wipe them down after use.
