My favorite bone-conduction headphones are comfortable, durable, and on sale

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways 

• The Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones retail for $180.
• The bone-conduction headphones connection a much comfy acceptable but enactment durable aft continuous use.
• While this is the first-gen product, it inactive remains arsenic bully arsenic the aboriginal iterations. 

The Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones successful Steel Blue are connected merchantability for $110 (save $50) astatine Best Buy. 

Headphones don't person to beryllium implicit your caput oregon successful your ear. There's a headphone exertion that you mightiness not person heard of that allows you to support your receptor canals wholly escaped to perceive to the sounds astir you portion besides listening to euphony and audio connected the go.

Also: My favourite bony conduction headphones conscionable got a waterproof upgrade - and they're precise comfortable

That exertion is called bony conduction. Shokz (previously Aftershokz) is 1 of the apical companies manufacturing bone-conduction headphones. 

I'm a large instrumentality of Shokz bony conduction headphones, having owned respective antithetic models, truthful I was excited to effort retired the OpenRun Pro.

In galore ways, the OpenRun Pro is overmuch similar immoderate different acceptable of Bluetooth headphones. You brace them (there's an app disposable for customizations and firmware updates), popular the receptor clips implicit your ears and distant you go.

Popping them connected and taking them disconnected is casual since there's thing to cram into your ears and the OpenRun Pro has a tenable size to it. There's besides a mini mentation for those with smaller heads. 

Bone conduction tin initially consciousness a spot weird. Your ears are unfastened and tin instrumentality successful ambient sounds, but you're besides getting the dependable from the headphones via your skull. At first, I recovered this a small disconcerting (and you mightiness consciousness a flimsy buzz if the headphones aren't decently fitted), but I rapidly got utilized to them.

Also: These headphones solved my biggest contented with listening to euphony portion running

If you're successful a noisy environment, past Shokz has supplied earplugs to let you to blot retired the satellite and immerse yourself successful the audio coming successful done your skull. It's a bully touch.

Shokz OpenRun Pro

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Size-wise, I person rather a large head, and they acceptable maine good (although they consciousness conscionable a small smaller than erstwhile models), but if you person a peculiarly large oregon tiny caput past fitment could beryllium an contented with the regular mentation (if you bargain from Shokz, you get 45 days of "stress-free" returns). Also, arsenic with thing other you enactment astir your head, comfortableness is thing to consider.

For maine and my head/ears, I tin deterioration the OpenRun Pro for many, galore hours. They are acold much comfy than my AirPods Pro, and I don't consciousness similar my receptor holes are getting sweaty.

Also: The champion bony conduction headphones

The audio is besides acceptable. I'm nary audio engineer, truthful I can't springiness you thing circumstantial here, but having utilized them to perceive to music, audiobooks, and to marque and person calls, I've had nary problems with them. The measurement is adequate, the scope excellent, and the measurement and play/pause controls are casual to find and use.

And talking astir making and receiving calls, the OpenRun Pro's microphones bash an astonishing occupation of noise-canceling the situation and picking up the dependable retired of the hustle and bustle of the world.

Battery beingness comes successful astatine the rated 10-hours, a afloat complaint takes astir an hour, and a 5-minute complaint volition springiness you 90 minutes of playback time. Charging is via a bespoke cablegram with a USB-A connector astatine 1 extremity and a magnetic connector connected the other. This is the aforesaid arsenic supplied with different Shokz/Aftershokz headsets.

Also: These headphones solved my biggest contented with listening to euphony portion running

I've besides extensively tested the water- and sweat absorption and the Shokz OpenRun Pro look wholly immune to moisture. The bottommost enactment is they're great, and I highly urge them!

This nonfiction was archetypal published connected February 2, 2023 and updated connected June 30, 2025.