I’m looking for some new ear buds for running and other purposes, but finding anything suited for a mediocre active lifestyle seems hard.
Now I have a pair of Sennheiser sport true wireless. What works is the audio quality and reliable charging. What doesn’t work is the very clunky charging case, and any trace of rain will adjust the volume, change the song or pause the track. A stable 3/5 product. Wearing a hood just amplifies the problem as a tiny amount of moisture will interfere.
I’m not trusting Sennheiser for a new pair right now as their Momentum True Wireless 3 buds had a faulty charging tech. Both me and my partner had to send them in and receive new ones. Bad for us, bad for the environment.
Any recommendations for a pair with a nice balanced sound quality, good case, and reliable controls in all conditions?
I got Shokz Openrun Pro after dealing with a couple of shit pairs: everything falls out of my weirdly shaped earholes. I was worried about the band around the back, but I don’t even notice it. Because they’re bone conduction, they leave my ears open and I can hear cars or bike bells. My favourite bit is that I can wear them with earplugs when I mow the lawn and still hear music.
These has me curious. The safety of an open solution is smart. I’ve read elsewhere they had some quality issues regarding durability.
My impression is that we need 5 or more years more to actually figure stuff out. The adoption of wireless earbuds came fast. The option is truly great for work outs. But unnecessary for stationary work and travel. We never got the good notice cancelling wired ear buds we needed.
I wear a set of these every day, for hours at a time. I started writing what I thought would be a concise comment that turned out to be not concise. I tried to break it up because no one likes a wall of text.
Shokz customer service and hardware quality:
I got my first headset, the Trekz Titanium model, from them in 2016 before they rebranded to ‘Shokz’. The company replaced them twice under warranty. The third pair held up until I broke them in 2022, and I ordered the new OpenRun Pro model.
This new headset is significantly lighter, and lasts longer than the original version I had. Obviously they’ll only get better in five years, but I’d say there’s no need to wait. The quality is there. Honestly, I’m surprised they don’t charge more for them.
My usage and experience:
They focus a lot of their marketing on athleticism, which is probably the number one use case for most people. That said, I use them both when I drive and when I work to take calls, as it’s clearer both for me and the person I’m speaking to than other, single ear, headsets I’ve used before.
As far as music quality, it is a Bluetooth headset so audiophile fidelity can’t be expected, but I like them since at mid volume they won’t bleed sound to other people yet I can still exchange a few words with someone without having to pause anything and slow down a brief chat.
If you’re a podcast listener, these things are fantastic. I listen to about two hours of spoken word content each day, and I couldn’t wear in ear or over ear headphones for that long. That’s just preference though.
Charging:
A change Shokz made at some point was to move from a micro usb charger to a magnetic one. It’s fantastic. I have a cable affixed in place on my dresser and my desk, and it’s as simply as Apple’s Magsafe charging system if you’re familiar with that. I just put the headset down and it’s charging - don’t even need to turn it off.
It also recharges in maybe twenty minutes, which for something that lasts me all day every day, is pretty great.
To sum up, I’ll be buying another pair when my current ones kick the bucket, and another after that.
I think im gonna give them a try in the near future. They cost under half as much as the new Sennheiser momentum sport too.
Follow-up comment…
I have installed the Winamp Equalizer app and changed the eq settings and they now sound more like traditional earphones because I boosted the high end.
Also, they saved my life a few weeks ago. I was fishing in a small creek in the bush and a tree fell. I had to jump out of the way. It was a eucalyptus tree about 4 feet across and 100 feet tall. If I hadn’t heard it (had I been wearing traditional in-ear earphones) they would have been carrying me out of there in a bucket.
I recommend going with the OpenRun Pro if you’re going to buy some. I have both the OpenRun Pro and the less expensive OpenMove, and the OpenRun is more comfortable and has better sound quality.
If you are considering them, then I would mention that they have regular and “mini” versions, with the only difference being the size of the headband. I’ve tried both and personally prefer the smaller size since it doesn’t protrude so far in the back, despite not having a particularly small head.