If you’ve been on the fence, or even just mildly curious, about the whole open-ear headphone trend, Best Buy has a deal so good it borders on absurd.

Let’s cut to the chase. As one of its limited-time “Doorbuster” deals, the retailer is selling the JLab JBuds Open Sport wireless earbuds for $19.99. This isn’t a typo. That is a full $60 off their regular $79.99 list price, a discount of 75%. To put that in perspective, Amazon is currently listing them for around $40, which is still a 50% discount. This Best Buy deal is, frankly, in a league of its own.

But the price isn’t the real story here. The real story is that for the cost of a couple of fancy coffees, you get to experiment with a technology that is fundamentally changing how people listen to audio, especially while on the move.

The “why” of open-ear audio

For decades, the goal of headphones was isolation. From bulky, foam-cupped cans in the 70s to the rubber-tipped earbuds of the 2000s, the mission was to create a seal, block the world, and immerse you in sound.

The open-ear design flips that entire concept on its head.

These JLab buds don’t go in your ear. They don’t even go on your ear. They rest just in front of it, secured by a flexible, comfortable earhook. This leaves your ear canal completely, 100% open.

The result? You hear your music, your podcast, or your phone call, but you also hear everything else. It’s a seamless blend of your digital life and your physical environment. For runners, this is a safety revolution. You can hear traffic, cyclists, or anyone approaching from behind. For office workers, it means you can have background music playing but still hear a colleague ask you a question. For parents at home, it’s the ability to listen to an audiobook while keeping an ear out for the kids.

It’s audio as an overlay, not an escape. And it’s a category that has exploded in popularity, led by brands like Shokz (formerly AfterShokz). The problem? Most high-quality open-ear models start at $130 and go up from there. This JLab deal gives you a taste of that revolution for twenty bucks.

Air conduction vs. bone conduction: What’s the Difference?

When people talk about open-ear audio, they often mean “bone conduction”—a technology that sends tiny vibrations through your cheekbones directly to your inner ear, bypassing the eardrum.

It’s important to know: the JLab JBuds Open Sport are not bone conduction.

Instead, they use a technology JLab calls “air conduction.” In simple terms, this means each unit has a tiny, precisely aimed speaker that fires sound toward your ear canal.

This approach actually has a few advantages over bone conduction. First, some people find the “tickling” vibration of bone conduction at high volumes to be unpleasant; these have none of that. Second, the audio can sound a bit more “natural” or “speaker-like,” since it’s still traveling through the air as nature intended. The main trade-off is sound leakage. At high volumes in a quiet room, someone next to you might hear a faint “tst-tst-tst” sound. But for their intended use—outdoors, in a busy office, or around the house—it’s rarely an issue.

What $20 actually gets you

A rock-bottom price often means fatal flaws. But JLab has a reputation for packing value into its products, and these are no exception.

The fit is the first win. The soft, flexible earhooks are secure enough for intense workouts and, according to many users, are incredibly comfortable for people who wear glasses—a common pain point for over-ear headphones.

Then there are the features. The battery life is rated for 7 to 9 hours on a single charge, with the charging case bumping that up to a total of 26+ hours. That’s not just good for the price; that’s just plain good.

They also have an IP55 rating, which means they are resistant to sweat, dust, and light rain. You can’t swim in them, but you can absolutely sweat all over them on a long run without a second thought.

The real show-stopper, however, is Bluetooth Multipoint. This means you can connect the earbuds to two devices at the same time—say, your laptop and your phone. If you’re listening to music on your laptop and a call comes in on your phone, the earbuds will automatically switch over. This is a premium feature that is often missing on earbuds costing five times as much.

How do they sound?

This is the most important question, and it requires managing expectations.

If you are an audiophile looking for deep, thumping bass and the rich, detailed mids of a $200 pair of sealed earbuds, these are not for you. You simply cannot get booming bass when your ear canal is wide open. That’s just physics.

But that’s not the point of them. The sound is surprisingly clear, with a strong focus on vocals and midrange. This makes them absolutely fantastic for podcasts, audiobooks, and taking phone calls. Music is perfectly listenable—ideal for a workout playlist or background tunes—but it will sound “lighter” or “thinner” than what you’re used to. You are, by design, trading that skull-rattling bass for total situational awareness.

If you’ve been “open-ear curious” but couldn’t justify spending $150 to find out if you’d even like it, this is your moment.

At $80, the JLab JBuds Open Sport are a solid budget entry into the category. At $40, they’re a smart buy.

At $19.99, they are an absolute no-brainer. This is the perfect price for a “second pair” of headphones—the ones you dedicate to running, the ones you leave at your desk for Zoom calls, or the ones you toss in a bag as a backup. Even if you only use them a few times a month, you’ve gotten your money’s worth.

This is a Doorbuster deal, which means it’s designed to get you in the door and won’t last long. If you’re interested, this isn’t one to “think about.” This is one to grab.

Disclaimer: Prices and promotions mentioned in this article are accurate at the time of writing and are subject to change based on the retailers’ discretion. Please verify the current offer before making a purchase.