Shokz OpenRun Pro review: Sound quality

Shokz OpenRun Pro review: Sound quality

Wireless bone-conduction headphones don’t sound as strong as most wireless headphones. Compared to even the best cheap earbuds, there’s a certain degree of definition lost when music isn’t fed directly into your ears. But the Shokz OpenRun Pro come the closest of any bone conduction headphones I’ve tested (including the Bose Frames) to delivering all-encompassing sound.

Shokz OpenRun Pro excelled with electronic synth riffs, maintaining precision and sophistication throughout Van Halen’s “Jump.” Rihanna’s “We Found Love” sounded sexy, yet still punchy. Vocals aren’t as pronounced as I usually like, though the witty verses of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Can’t Hold Us” held their own against the soaring piano line.

(Image credit: Future)

Now let’s talk about bass. Shokz says the OpenRun Pro gained two bass enhancers compared to the regular OpenRun headphones, so I expected a better thump. The improvement is actually quite subtle. I only noticed deeper levels in true bass-heavy tracks like Frank Ocean’s “Pyramids,” though the OpenRun Pro can’t match the song’s complexities carried through over-ear headphones.

Yet I’m hesitant to truly compare bone conduction headphones to over-ear or in-ear headphones. The use-cases are different, with bone conduction catering specifically to those who want to be able to hear what’s happening around them. While the best noise cancelling earbuds block noise, bone conduction lets it all in. I don’t want that in the gym, but when I’m outside running, being able to hear people and vehicles is crucial to safety. Even during a dog walk, being a female in a busy city forces me to pay attention to my surroundings at all times. 

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