Im not sure when this change in size happened but if you are comparing to shoes at least a couple years old, you might think about sizing up. I personally never noticed an odor - only really noticeable if you stick the shoe right up to your face - and as your feet will hopefully be on the floor and not next to someones nose, you should be fine. Would be great if they can offer some additional hooks to purchase. The Rift S, Ill continue to use chi-fi in ear monitors because these clip ons interfere with the ability to fully tighten my strap due to how they attach, and it will probably be fine on most of you freakishly enormously headed hairy humans, but this human has a small head, so no go. If you are on the fence of what size to get, size up and not down. Kind of defeats the purpose of a charging “station”. It also put pressure on top of the foot once shoe laces were tied. The microphone is set to be on the left side only, but it is easy to move around to place it right where is needed, or out of the way if required. We cannot forget the additional shoe rack. I paid the best part of £80 for these things and when i eventually unboxed them (logitech, please think very carefully about packaging and your impenetrable plastics that require kitchen grade scissors to get through), i was a little disappointed.