How do the Shokz work?

If you were wondering how can you hear music from headphones that don't go in or on your ear, it is thru a recent technology called bone conduction.

 

Shokz OpenRun play music thru a combination of sound waves and vibration, while resting on the sides of your face or temples.

 

The huge benefit to these is that you can enjoy your music without sacrificing safety. Essentially, you gain more awareness of your surroundings, and you risk arguably less hearing damage as well (note: not scientifically proven, but as a personal observation only).

 

 

Moreover, this design also means that anytime someone interrupts you to ask a question, you don't have to pull your headphones off to hear or answer the question!

 

Bone conduction allows you to still hear and respond to directional noise, even though it will mostly block out any non-directional noise. For example, if someone at the gym asks you how many sets you have left, you can answer without having to take off your earbuds.

 

However, you can still primarily enjoy your music and drown out non-directional sound. For example, the annoyingly chatty group "working out" nearby you will be mostly drowned out by your music.

 

How loud do the Shokz get?

First off, the Shokz OpenRun models can reach maximum sensitivity of 105 dB. Although the open ear design will make it noticeably less loud than competing models, the trade off is that you will experience less ear ringing after prolonged usage, and it is easier to communicate spontaneously, as needed.

 

I mostly tested these in a noisy gym or weight room environment. I found that the volume level was loud enough to enjoy my music and drown out most background noise, unless directly spoken to.

You may also notice louder impacts around you more, such as the clanging of weights. But higher frequency sound is mostly drowned out, which is good.

 

How good is the Shokz OpenRun sound quality?

Being these are open ear designs you will never consider these in the same tier as a top performing sound quality headphones, however, considering their design type, they're actually pretty impressive. Plus, as I mentioned in the previous section, you'll primarily want these due to the other benefits they provide, and the sound quality becomes less of a primary factor in that case.

 

Keep in mind you're playing music thru bone conduction rather than close to or inside your ear canal, so the listening environment will not be fully optimal. However, I want to emphasize that the end result is still very good, all things considered.

 

If you decided that the Shokz OpenRun are the right pair of headphones for you, the pricing information is below.