This is a first for ZSA Loves: It's a second post about the same category of product. I already told you all about the headphones I love, and I still use them every day!
So why another post? Why do I, a decidedly non-audiophile regular person, need a second pair of headphones in my life?
Ergonomics, of course. Meet my very orange Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 bone conduction headphones:
These don't go in my ears like earbuds do, nor do they go over my ears like headphones. They basically go around my ears, like so:
They leave my ears completely open. This is useful when running outside, but also when watching the kids at the pool and listening to a podcast in low volume. It's also nice because my ears don't get all sweaty or stuffy — they're open.
Sound quality is surprisingly good. These are Shokz's "flagship" model, so they come with two different drivers: There's a bone conduction driver, and also an "air conduction" driver which, I think, is just a marketing term for a little speaker that's aimed right at your ear.
Before trying these I though there would be quite a bit of sound leakage from the "air conduction" driver, subjecting people around me to a tinny version of whatever I was listening to. This is not the case. I'm not sure how they did it, but someone can be standing right next to me while I'm listening to music at a reasonable volume, and the other person doesn't hear a thing. Shokz says they use "10th-gen bone conduction technology" and it does feel like a polished system that's born out of much real-world iteration.
The fit is great. My first clue to the fact that Shokz takes the fit seriously is that they actually come in two sizes. I measured myself and ended up with the Standard fit (vs. the Mini), and they do fit very well. They "hug" my noggin gently from behind, sitting securely but never squeezing hard. They're very comfortable, even for extended wearing.
They stay, too. I can run, swing kettlebells around, even do the dishes (!) and they don't fall off. They also have a couple of well-placed mics so I can take calls, and people tell me the audio quality is just fine.
There are a few things about them that aren't ideal, of course: First is that the battery isn't user replaceable at all. When the battery eventually dies, I'll have to trash these. That doesn't feel good. It does mean they're fairly waterproof (IP55), but still.
Secondly, they pair to a single device at a time. Whenever I want to switch them to another device, I have to put them into pairing mode and re-pair. Also, they don't fold down in any way. They do come with a nice case, though.
The last little niggle I have is that they don't shut off on their own. I'm not even sure why I was expecting this, but they do have little magnets that snap together when not in use, so I thought the firmware might recognize this and turn them off. Not so.
All of these little quirks aside, the OpenRun Pro 2 wins at ergonomics. They really do work — I can enjoy music, podcasts, and text-to-speech articles to my heart's content while doing anything, and while being aware of my environment.
The surprise
The first surprise is how often I find myself wearing these around the house. As you might guess by their very orange color, when I initially bought them I thought I'd mostly be using them when working out. A very narrow purchase, mainly for safety while running.
They ended up being so good I just wear them when I want to listen to things on my phone, period. I sometimes even reach for them when I know I'll be taking a lengthy phone call — they make a big difference versus holding the phone.
The second surprise is that they work just fine with my eyeglasses. I did research this before buying, of course, but head shapes and frame shapes are all different so I wasn't really sure it was going to work. I didn't mind because I often run without my glasses and that's all I thought I'd be doing with these — but they do work with my glasses, zero interference.
This is not an inexpensive pair of headphones, but for me, they're worth it.
