I purchased a set of Shokz OpenRun Professional Bluetooth headphones about 6 months in the past, at full worth I’d add, and I have been impressed with them. When you’re unfamiliar with bone-conduction headphones, here is the distinction. Conventional headphones works by sending sound to your ear by means of the air in your ear canal to vibrate your eardrum. This vibrates three bones in your center ear, which then strikes fluid within the cochlea, that strikes the stereocilia, which lastly shocks the auditory nerve. Bone conduction headphones reduce the eardrum out of the equation by sitting in your temples and sending vibrations by means of your cheekbones and into the cochlea. There’s nothing bodily in your ears, so you possibly can nonetheless hear what is going on on round you.
I exploit mine on a regular basis and I’ve discovered the professionals and cons. First, should you’re an audiophile, these do not present the sound high quality of even mid-level in-ear headphones. They do not the vary or the readability, however should you’re somebody proud of the everyday earbuds you get from Amazon for $30 or much less, you most likely will not discover an enormous distinction. However, in case you are keen to surrender some sound high quality so you possibly can hearken to music and nonetheless hear what is going on on, you’ll love these.
Usually $179.95 – on sale proper now for $139.95
I put on my OpenRun Professionals whereas working within the storage so I can nonetheless hear if somebody speaks to me and likewise, so I can hear what my instruments are doing. The identical goes with cooking, if I do not need to hearth up the stereo system. I do not like them for exercising indoors once I need to tune out the world, but when I am on my biking or strolling outdoors, these are supreme as a result of I can nonetheless hear visitors. Additionally they work nice for cellphone calls, which shocked me for the reason that mic is approach up in your cheekbone. I can not say how lengthy the battery life is with any certainty, it is rated at 10 hours. I’ve used them for possibly three hours in a single sitting and was within the midrange of cost. The charging fee is claimed to be 1.5 hours of operation per 5 minutes of charging.
I put on mine with my prescription glasses with no interference. I additionally put on them with my bike helmet and sun shades with out points. I do not assume you possibly can comfortably get these inside a bike or automobile helmet for the reason that again strap sits off your head. The OpenRun Professional is often $180 however they’re at present on sale for $140.