Shokz OpenRun Review: Headphones Perfect for the Road

Reading Time: 10 minutes.

I’ve been looking for headphones that I could use while I’m out skating. While the Sony LinkBuds were a failure in this regard, I decided to give another type of headphones a shot: bone conducting headphones, specifically, the Shokz OpenRun. These leave your ears open for external sounds, while using your own skull to drive sound into your inner ear. The result is a surreal open ear experience that, as it turns out, is perfect for exercise or commuting via bike, skateboard, scooter, or any other device that distracted drivers like to target. Plus construction workers, parents, and many other people often need to be able to hear their surroundings and want to listen to music. The LinkBuds may have been a disappointment, but the Shokz OpenRun are exactly what I was looking for. These give me my music and the world around me.

Shokz OpenRun: What Are They?

These likely don’t look like any headphones you’re used to seeing. First of all, they don’t cover your ears or go in your ears. Instead, they sit in front of your ears. But unlike some sunglasses that direct sound directly into your ear, these don’t have any external sound ports. While most headphones work by creating pressure changes in the air and directing that into your ear, these just vibrate, sending sound through your bones, into your inner ear.

That may sound strange, even dangerous. And it certainly could be, just like any other headphones. There haven’t been many studies on whether or not it’s safer for your hearing, though there is some theory behind the idea. These bypass your eardrums and the tiny hairs in your ear that help you hear. This means loud noises that could damage your ear drums will instead bypass this. But your inner ear is still delicate as well, so loud noises could still damage your hearing.

Bone conduction isn’t anything new. In fact, if you’ve enjoyed Beethoven, you’ve directly benefited from bone conduction already. As Beethoven went deaf, he used a rod to compose music. One end would go on his piano, and the other end he’d bite. This allowed sound to transfer directly through his bones, to his inner ear, so he could still compose music.

Enter the Shokz OpenRun

Shokz, formerly AfterShokz, has been at the forefront of bone conducting headphones for some time now. Shokz has five main products right now, based on their last three generations of bone conduction technology. The Shokz OpenRun are their mid-tier headphones, based on their previous (8th) generation bone conduction. In fact, these are basically the “AfterShokz Aeropex,” but with quick charging. The flagship model, their OpenRun Pro headphones, use 9th generation technology, and feature a new design with better bass response, but they do weigh more and are less water resistant. There’s also their OpenMove, based on their 7th generation technology, which is a good entry-level device, but loses a number of features over the OpenRun Pro and OpenRun.

I went with the Shokz OpenRun because they’re lighter, more water (and therefore sweat) resistant with an IP67 waterproof rating, and they come in my favorite color: red. They’re also $50 less than the OpenRun Pro, which is a considerable chunk of change. For this they lose 2 hours of battery life, gain half an hour of charge time to full, and lose some detail in the bass. For me, that was worth it for headphones that are quieter to other people, lighter, and more sweat resistant, especially since I’d frequently wear these under a helmet on a ride.

Sound Quality – 7/10

The sound quality is better than I expected. It’s not muddled, it just sounds like small speakers. I’d compare it to being a little like listening to your phone speakers, but much closer to your ears and with greater detail. You can feel that the sound is coming from something very near—almost in—your ears, so don’t expect an open back, wide soundstage. Instead, expect decent detail that sounds like closed back earbuds, but with the ability to hear your surroundings.

Bass is lacking. It’s something that you can get used to over time. By the time I put on my AirPods Pro to compare, I was shocked at just how much bass I had been missing with the Shokz OpenRuns. You can hear a drum, but you can’t feel it. You also lose a lot of detail in the bass because you simply can’t hear all of it. There’s a good reason for this. Bone conduction always drops off the bass because you wouldn’t like it. It would vibrate and feel uncomfortable on the side of your head. Even now, when you turn up the volume, you’ll experience this. It’s possible the technology would just struggle with bass, but regardless, it would just be too difficult to comfortably make you feel the bass with this technology.

The OpenRun Pro headphones do improve the bass, reportedly. The only noticeable change is a larger area and what appears to be speaker grills. Perhaps this is to allow them to move the air around your ears, allowing for more traditional listening? I couldn’t say. If you’re looking for complete sound or high quality sound, this isn’t it. These clearly serve the purpose of opening up your surroundings first, and sound quality second. That said, details in the high end aren’t too bad, but you’ll definitely notice what you’re missing small details from your music.

Interestingly, perhaps because they create so little external sound and bypass your eardrums, these have incredible left/right separation. You’ll easily be able to tell what direction sounds are coming from. If you’re listening to a track with separate left/right tracks, you’ll notice them more with these than you would other headphones. Honestly, it’s a little surreal at first, hearing sounds that seem to bypass your outer ear entirely.

Mic Quality

Because Apple still hasn’t figured out how to fix the AirPods Pro’s charging issues, I was once left with dead AirPods when I needed to make a call. I asked my friend repeatedly if he could hear me well, and sure enough, he could. The mic quality on these is passable for a conversation or meeting. Plus, since they naturally free up your ears, you can hear yourself speaking. Perhaps this natural speaking capability is why Shokz also sells the “OpenComm.” These use 7th (one generation older than the OpenRun) bone conduction technology, but also include a boom mic. While my friends could hear me, a boom mic would really help. However, they’re also close to the price of other headphones that also work well for communication. Apple’s 2nd generation AirPods have great microphones and come in cheaper, and you can occasionally find even Apple’s AirPods Pro for close to the price of the OpenComm headphones.

These work in a pinch. I still use my AirPods Pro or AirPods Max for most meetings, but it’s nice to have a microphone that will work in a quiet environment like my home. They sound a bit like I’m a distance away or underwater, and in recordings I occasionally couldn’t understand a word or two. Wind and movement can jumble audio easily. The AirPods and other headphones with a stem would likely sound much better. Still, it’ll work if you absolutely need it to.

Sound Transparency – 10/10

Sometimes these feel a little too transparent, but that’s the point. These let all of the outside sound in, and even at the highest volumes you’re comfortable listening at, don’t drown out your surroundings. I’d sometimes struggle to hear my music on the subway, and found that even in my apartment, quieter parts of songs or dialog could be difficult to hear if I had a loud fan on.

But… that’s the point. I want to hear the car coming up behind me better than my music if I’m trying to safely use the road. I would prefer not getting hit by a distracted driver. Being able to hear the oblivious drivers coming is a great way to avoid them. These work perfectly for my self preservation, I couldn’t have asked for a better balance on the road. If you’re looking to use these at the office, you’ll find yourself turning them up much higher than you’ll be comfortable with. However, if your home is quiet, it’ll be fine. The real benefit of these headphones is allowing you to hear your surroundings. A parent may want to be able to hear their baby monitor. A construction worker will want to hear their coworkers. And yes, a cyclist or scooter rider will want to hear traffic. These will work perfectly for that.

Of course, in an optimal world, commuters would be safe with complete noise cancellation and deaf people would be as safe as hearing people, but American streets are far from an optimal situation.

Fit and Comfort – 7/10

Shokz offers the OpenRun in two sizes, a fact I did not realize until after I bought these. However, the two sizes aren’t mentioned well. There’s the Shokz OpenRun and the Shokz OpenRun Mini. The mini would probably fit my head better. It’s not as though these don’t fit, it’s just that there’s a lot of overhang in the back. That overhang causes them to pull down on my ears. It also leaves me in a difficult styling situation: does my hair go under it or over it? Either way will put pressure on the band and then on my ears, so I’ve come to wearing my hair in a ponytail at home. It’s not as bad with a helmet on, but when I’m just trying to listen to music, I have to worry about my hair.

Shokz should look into adjustable headbands. I could wear this much closer to my head so I could just wear my hair over the band. The mini size would have been closer, but not perfect for me or everyone. Plus it only comes in black, and I wanted red, so I don’t regret not seeing it too much.

I also found that it can get awkward with masks. Often the loops catch on to them when I’m trying to take my mask off. Plus, wearing glasses with thicker arms can pull them away from their job in bone conducting, which can feel a little less comfortable. These are comfortable enough to forget for a few hours, as long as you can avoid all the issues with hair, glasses, or masks.

Controls – 5/10

The controls on these are a bit odd. On the left side, you have the play/pause/skip/previous/general function button. On the right, there’s a pair of volume buttons by the charging port. These buttons aren’t mirrored on either side of the headphones. The general function button is on the left driver, while the volume is on the other side on what is likely the area where the battery and electronics are stored. It took some getting used to, and I don’t mind it, but I do prefer being able to pause from either side. I’d love something that responds to taps, like Sony’s LinkBuds or the original AirPods and AirPods 2, but my guess is the bone conducting drivers move too much and would confuse this.

I’m not entirely sure why the controls are like this, but they are a bit annoying. I also found they don’t reliably go to the next or previous tracks. However, they do work for answering calls and activating Siri.

Appearance – 10/10

It’s not often that headphones that aren’t large, colorful cans actually look good. But these are neat. They have a unique look that can make people look at you a second time when you’re wearing them. While we’ve had earbuds that wrap around and go in your ear for some time, very few actually don’t go in your ear, which makes these stand out. And yet, they seem so natural doing it. They don’t look out of place when you’re wearing them. The materials may not be high end, but they don’t look cheap. They’re functional, slim, and colorful.

Battery Life – 10/10

Battery life is reportedly 8 hours with these. However, in regular usage, I often got much more. With using them for music, meetings, videos, white noise, and some down time, I did find they could last about 15 hours. Unfortunately, these don’t report battery details, like exact percentage, to iOS or macOS. I can see the general percentages. On Android, it seems to give 20% intervals. The voice will also report the battery level as “high,” “medium,” and “low” when you turn the headphones on or if you press the volume buttons when playing nothing.

One thing worth mentioning when discussing battery life is how you’ll be charging these. Unfortunately, likely to save weight and keep the body small, Shokz went with a proprietary magnetic connector. This means you’ll only have one charging cable. You may want to buy a second one right away and throw it in a drawer in case you lose the charging cable that comes with the OpenRun headphones or in case you break the cable. Cables are notoriously fragile. I wish they had gone with USB-C or at least USB Micro so you wouldn’t rely on them continuing to sell this for years to come.

The OpenRun headphones do have a quick charge feature. It’s one of the improvements over their previous designs. I found it only worked when I used a 20W charger with a USB-C to USB-A adapter to rapidly charge my headphones. In 10 minutes, I got around 3 hours of general usage, mostly video, twice what Shokz claims it can do. If you wake up in the morning and find these dead, you can still salvage your commute with just a few minutes on a high wattage charger.

Portability – 6.5/10

These are more portable than over-ear or on-ear headphones, but still not as portable as earbuds. Because of their rigid shape, they’re even a little less portable than most “neckbuds,” that is, workout earbuds with a neck-mounted portion. They came with a decent bag, but I was worried that their shape would make them prone to damage and bought a surprisingly nice hard case. However, due to the shape of these headphones, the case is quite large. It doesn’t fit in all of the bags that the headphones could without a hard case.

You’ll find standard earbuds are certainly more portable. If you’re not worried about your OpenRuns getting damaged, you can fit them in many bags, but, again, they don’t collapse or change size or shape in any way. That makes them harder to pack up and bring somewhere than many other headphones.

Connectivity – 9/10

These headphones have something many headphones don’t: multi-point pairing. This means they can connect to multiple devices at once, accepting audio from whatever is currently pushing audio to it. However, I disabled it. This is because it would involve adding too many points for my testing, from my Android phone, iPhone, work and personal MacBooks, my Apple TV, and others. I jumped around on a lot of devices with this. Fortunately, it’s been super easy. The Bluetooth connection is made incredibly quickly, just turn the device off, turn it on and hold the power button, and it’ll start pairing mode. It pairs almost the instant I select it on a device.

Multi-point pairing would be more useful if there was an app to gain access to these functions. Unfortunately, Shokz’ app only works with the OpenRun Pro headphones at this time. Interestingly, the image shown at startup of the app shows the OpenRun headphones instead. You can tell because the OpenRun Pro headphones don’t have a red version. Shokz really should set up their app for this though. Between connecting to different devices and managing a sound profile, users would love to be able to set things up with more than an esoteric combination of button presses.

Bluetooth range and connection is pretty good. I didn’t notice it dropping much while I was outside, and it can easily cover my entire apartment without issue. What’s really holding this back are the controls and a lack of an app to manage connections.

Sustainability 4.5/10

It’s not as though this is made of recycled materials or anything compostable, but I will acknowledge that it came in an entirely cardboard box. Proprietary cables, however, means buying more and that increases shipping and manufacturing costs. I also didn’t find anything about recycling on their website. You could recycle them with your other electronics, at least to salvage parts from the battery and circuits. The plastic and silicone of the actual headphones is unlikely to be recycled. Still, their packaging was solid, and that’s usually the most you can ask of a company making something like this.

Odds and Ends?

So are you ready for something really odd? This feels weird. It’s basically just vibrating directly on your bones. At lower volumes it’s not noticeable. But I found anything above halfway makes it feel as though you’ve got something, well, vibrating on the sides of your head. At high volumes it’s uncomfortable, both in your ears (obviously) and on your head.

Also, there’s occasionally a “ghost” vibration. I noticed this sometimes when unlocking my phone when I’m not playing anything, but it’ll be just one big bump. Like a large nudge. It doesn’t sound like anything, and it’s super quick, it’s just a weird nudge on the side of your head. It’s likely a bug, but it’s a weird one.

Overall – 8.5/10

It’s easy to see the flaws in these headphones. They don’t block off sound and, no, you can’t just wear earplugs, because it’ll really ruin the sound. There’s very little bass. They sit on your head and could feel weird after a while. There’s no app. And they’re not adjustable.

However they’re perfect for what I want them for. Just playing some music while I also need to hear my surroundings. That’s it. That’s what they were designed to do and they do it very well. I love having a soundtrack for my commutes or just random outings. The sound quality isn’t the best, but it’s comparable to most basic earbuds. For that you get something that stays securely on your head, plays music, and lets you hear that crazed driver coming up behind you with half their car in the bike lane because they’ve just got to refresh their Facebook feed.

The OpenRun headphones let me enjoy my ride just a bit more and stay safe while I’m doing it. That’s everything I wanted from them, and they do it very well.