EKSA S30 Review: Superbly-Built Open-Ear Air Conduction Headset

REVIEW – If you’ve been following NerdTechy for a while, you know that we’ve had good success with EKSA’s products.

Specializing in headphones, headsets and specialized audio equipment, they always tend to master the fine line of affordability with quality design.

Recently launched, the EKSA S30 is one of their newest additions to their growing lineup. This is an open-ear, true wireless, air conduction headset that’s touted for its noise cancellation, sound quality, and remarkable battery life.

But does this headset actually perform as intended? Is it as good as the marketing hypes it up to be? Today we’re going to find out.

I’ve spent the last week rigorously using and testing out the EKSA S30 to see if it lives up to its promises. Let’s get right into it.

Unboxing and First Impressions

The S30 comes in a small, well organized box with everything you need and nothing more. Here’s what’s inside:

• Hard zippered carrying case with a charging dock.
• 20.5″ length USB-A to USB-C charging cable.
• User manual with additional paperwork on warnings and troubleshooting.

Right from the start, everything seemed well-made and high quality. The case is very well made with solid-feeling zippers and a robust appearance. There’s also a metal ring on the top for attaching it to whatever you’d like.

Rather than simply offering a secure place to put the headset, it has a unique charging base that fits perfectly into a recessed cavity. It fits loosely as it isn’t actually secured to the storage case itself. It’s designed to be taken out, charged, and placed back within it.

As for the headset – both earpieces magnetically rest into the charging base and feel very robust. They come with a mostly matte-black appearance with a combination of hard plastic and rubberized silicone where they meet the top of your ears. Very nice!

Pairing and Comfort

Setting up the EKSA 30 is a piece of cake. Simply remove them from the case, place them over your ears, and pair them to your device.

If your phone, tablet, or PC have any trouble finding them, simply tap the small orange button on the bottom of each earpiece. Or, press and hold the small orange button on the charging base. This will turn each one on and immediately put them into a pairing state.

Once connected, placing them on my ears was straightforward. They feel very comfortable and sleek with no pressure points. The left earpiece is equipped with a 2.5″ boom microphone that swivels towards and away from your mouth as needed. When listening to music, it’s nice to be able to turn backwards so it’s completely out of the way.

I did feel that the extended boom mic slightly throws-off the balance of the left earpiece. That said, it makes the piece a bit more “wiggly” than the right one. Likely because there’s more weight and a less-balanced center of gravity.

I don’t think it poses a big issue, however, since you probably won’t be vigorously moving around when on a phone call. After all, these aren’t a workout-centric pair of earbuds like the SoundPEATS GoFree 2.

For phone calls, office work, commuting, and business-oriented purposes, the comfort of the S30 excels.

I’m a big fan of the open-ear air conduction design. This keeps the sound close to your ears but opens up your environment so that you can still clearly listen to and distinguish what’s going on around you. I find this ideal for situations where I’m co-working with other people or near a noise source that I want to stay aware of, such as a street with moving cars and bikes.

Sound Quality

Utilizing Bluetooth version 5.3, the wireless connectivity works wonderfully. The sound that emits from the EKSA S30 is true to life and very vivid. While this isn’t an audiophile grade headset, it’s purpose built for communication, and it’s all very apparent.

Since the earpieces rest over each ear and do not actually insert into your ear canal, situational awareness is prioritized. Luckily, this didn’t seem to detract from the overall sound quality.

I was impressed by the deep and rich-feeling bass that emitted when I cranked up some of my favorite songs. Admittedly, it delivered more punch and heft than I would have ever imagined. EKSA packed-in “TubeBass technology” to give the sound emission an extra bit of “oomph” that you won’t commonly find in a headset like this.

In terms of voice and mids/highs, the sound resonated with a nice effect. Everything was clear, easy to understand and true to life in terms of realism.

As for the microphone, I tested these with over 10 phone calls and I have absolutely no complaints about the microphone. It picks up my voice perfectly without distracting background noises.

It seems to automatically drown-out any background grey noise or distractions and only deliver clear voice on the other end of the phone call.

This is likely thanks to the ENC VoicePure noise cancellation technology that EKSA included. It’s very apparent that this makes a big difference for how the microphone picks up voice and delivers it to the end-caller. It’s so much better when directly compared to voice communication with a standard pair of in-ear earbuds, AirPods, or something similar.

Battery Life

EKSA boldly claims that the S30 packs a 70 hour battery life. But what they mean by this is that the charging base has enough internal capacity to replenish the earpieces multiple times (up to ~70 hours) with standard use. This is; at a normal volume level, transmission distance, and ambient temperature. If you change any of those factors, you should expect less battery duration as a result.

That said, I personally achieved a 15 hour music-listening session before I heard a “low battery” warning. For phone calls, this cuts down to about 7-8 hours of talk time since the microphone requires more internal capacity from the battery.

Realistically, this kind of battery life is acceptable, in my opinion. Most headsets won’t be able to achieve listening/talk times like this, which says a lot about EKSA and the way they designed it.

Each bud has a 95mAh capacity while the charging case itself carries a 1,000mAh capacity. That said, doing the math, you can expect around 5 full re-charges for the pair of earbuds, before you need to plug-in the USB cable.

For re-charging, the charging base takes around 2-3 hours to achieve full capacity replenishment. That’s pretty quick, and very acceptable in my opinion. Best of all, there’s a tiny LED on the front of the charging base that indicates with green, yellow, or red as to the remaining battery power.

What I Liked

• Excellent build quality – Everything feels solid, well made and engineered for the purpose of communication and attentive listening.
• Very good audio quality – Whether you’re listening to music or participating in phone calls, the sound they emit is wonderful. The bass is rich and the highs/mids deliver exceptionally well.
• Well-working microphone – The microphone successfully cancels-out background noise and automatically focuses on picking up your voice without unwanted distractions.
• Fantastic wireless range – I tested these at a full 85 feet line of sight distance and found no lag or disruptions. Once I approached 100 feet, a bit of lag was apparent, but this is pushing the limits of any wireless range, so it’s acceptable.
• Very comfortable – The way that the earpieces rest on your ears is very thoughtful. EKSA placed a soft silicone layer where it meets into contact with your ears so there’s no discomfort. Also, they’re stiff yet slightly pliable so they fit nicely regardless of your ear size.
• Easy to use – Popping them out of the charging cradle immediately pairs them to the last device you used them with. There’s no setup or guesswork involved once you go through the initial setup procedure.
• Actual, physical buttons – I love how EKSA decided to use physical buttons on each earpiece rather than a touch-sensitive area. This eliminates any accidental presses, which can be frustrating.
• Great battery life and re-charging speeds – There’s plenty of capacity here to outlast much of the competition. I achieved around 15 hours in one scenario, which is wonderful!
• Very durable – No loose or cheap-feeling parts. They’re even IPX5 water resistant so you can expose them to weather without any worry.

What I Didn’t Like

• Attracts fingerprints – The semi-matte exterior of each earpiece tends to attract oily fingerprints. Handling them with clean hands is a must.
• Charging base is loosely placed – The charging base/cradle is recessed into the bottom of the zippered hard case, but it isn’t actually secured. It can easily come out if you have the case open and you accidently tip it over.
• Boom microphone can make them unbalanced – With the boom microphone extended, it makes the earpiece more-wiggly than the opposite earpiece. This issue can be rectified by turning it away from your mouth when it isn’t actually in use.
• High MSRP price – The $199 MSRP is kind-of steep. Luckily, for the time-being, you can get them on Kickstarter for $119, which is still a bit pricey, but mostly justifiable given how well they work.
• Only available in black – It would be nice if these came in a white colorway or at least another option except for black.

Final Thoughts

All in all, EKSA knocked it out of the park with the S30 headset. Although it’s intentionally geared towards voice communication, I found it to work equally well for music listening and everyday use. The audio quality is superb with no noticeable distortion, even when the volume is cranked up.

Battery life, wireless range and overall build quality meet the mark well with close-to accurate real world use when compared to the advertised specs.

While I would say they do come in at a somewhat steep price-point, the best time to pick-up a pair is right now through their Kickstarter campaign that recently launched.

Have you pre-ordered them? Or, have you tried them for yourself? Do you agree with our findings or do you have something to share from your own perspective. Regardless, we’d love to hear from you – drop us a comment below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!