Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 review: These headphones help you listen without tuning out

Use cases

Of course, bone conduction headphones are not sold on their audio fidelity. The primary pitch of these headphones is situational awareness. For runners, cyclists, and urban pedestrians, the ability to hear ambient sounds like traffic, horns, approaching vehicles, or other people is a life-saving feature. In fact, some athletic events and marathons now prohibit traditional in-ear headphones, making bone conduction models a regulation-compliant alternative for athletes who want to listen to music while they compete.

When I reviewed the new OpenRun Pro 2 from Shokz ( ₹17,999), I did intend to wear it for my squash games or the occasional run, but my primary use case is nothing like a professional athlete’s. I’m an all-day-at-desk person. In a modern, collaborative workplace, being completely bubbled off is impractical. These headphones allow a user to be on a call or listen to audio while remaining perfectly accessible to colleagues, a family member at home (important for a work-from-home father like me), or the sound of a doorbell.

This underlines the fundamental value proposition. A traditional headphone competes with other headphones. But the true competitor for a pair of Shokz is not wearing headphones at all. I wasn’t looking for which headphone sounds best but how can I listen to my podcast without getting hit by kids on scooters when I go for my evening stroll in the condominium.

Wellness benefits

But beyond the primary pitch of safety, there are a multi-layered set of wellness benefits as well. First, these eliminate ear fatigue: the plugged and pressurized feeling that comes from sealing the ear canal. Second, by bypassing the eardrum, they reduce the direct pressure of high-volume audio being blasted onto the sensitive membrane.

Perhaps most compelling is the hygiene factor. In-ear buds block the ear canal, trapping moisture and heat. This can create a breeding ground for bacteria, leading to ear infections, and also tends to compact earwax which is quite unpleasant.

The trade-offs

For all its advantages, the open-ear design comes with a set of significant, unavoidable trade-offs. Weak audio fidelity is the technology’s single greatest complaint. Transmitting low-frequency (bass) sounds requires a lot of energy, and bone conduction just cannot deliver it efficiently. The second is the privacy problem. The transducers vibrate the bone, but they also vibrate the air around them. This results in sound leakage, and in a quiet environment like an office, a library, or in a shared commute, people sitting nearby can often hear a thin version of your audio, undermining the privacy. No company has navigated these compromises better than Shokz, the brand that effectively created and now dominates this consumer market. The Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 is a direct attempt to fix the technology’s core flaws.

Pure bone conduction is notoriously poor at reproducing certain frequencies, especially bass. To make the audio sound rich and full, Shokz supplements bone conduction with additional tiny speaker drivers placed very close to the ear to fire bass frequencies. The result of this engineering juggle is a greatly improved sound quality. The mid-range is pretty good and vocals are excellent.

There isn’t a thump to the bass still, but it is definitely more enjoyable. The headset is very thin and light, and comfortable to wear even with glasses—like a doddering old man with his spectacles on top of his head, more than once I’ve looked around for the headset while it’s sitting on me. It offers a comfortable fit and robust build that survives rain and sweat, but the IP55 rating prevents immersion (so you can’t swim with them). The company’s OpenSwim Pro variant comes with IP68 rating, though.