I was an early adopter of the bone conductance headsets, tracing all the way to the original Aftershokz headset. While the company is reAirForce Talon SSnamed simply Shokz, the product has vastly improved.
For voice-only applications, the sound quality is more than sufficient, both in terms of the microphone and the “speakers.” This also applies to listening to audible books and podcasts.
For music, however, one may find the bass a little lacking. With a tone generator, I can tell that a pure sine wave at 90 Hz is barely noticeable. This inspired me to use an equalizer to try to reproduce how music sounds like using a Hifiman Ananda driven by a humble Fosi DS1 amp. If I set the equalizer to start to roll off at 90 Hz (0 db) and down to -36 db at 36 Hz, then the audible experience is *about* the same.
In reality, the OpenRun Pro does not sound quite as tinny because some lower frequencies can still be felt, but not heard. There is no easy way to configure the equalizer to quite reproduce this effect on a strictly air pressure wave headphone.
If someone is expecting the same kind of sound quality as a normal headset in the same price range, there will be disappointment. If I want to really enjoy my music, the OpenRun Pro is definitely not my first choice. In a quiet room, the Hifiman Ananda + Fosi DS1 combo is hard to beat. In a noisy environment (vacuum cleaner, leaf blower, impact wrench, etc.), the Sony WF-1000XM4 with ANC or the Etymotic ER4XR are my choices.
So when do I use the OpenRun Pro?
When I just need some music “in the background,” especially when I am on the move. In a normal office, the OpenRun Pro sounds the best when it is at the medium level. Cranking up the volume seems to lose the balance between the high and low frequencies because the low frequencies are not as easy to reproduce/perceive. Some slow ambient music played through the OpenRun Pro really helps me get through a day of office work.
Depending on the volume and genre of the music, I can carry on a conversation with my colleagues without pausing the music. Unlike the ambient mode of the Sony WF-1000XM4, there is no electronic pass through with distortion, conversations are just as natural as without wearing the OpenRun Pro.
The OpenRun Pro is comfortable, too. I can wear it all day without feeling any discomfort. I also wear prescription glasses! As much as I enjoy the Ananda, WF-1000XM4 and the ER4XR, none of them is an all-day kind of headset (especially on a hot day). The battery life of the OpenRun Pro is superior, the battery level is still “medium” at the end of a long 12-hour work day (but I don’t play music the entire 12 hours, although the headset is on all the time).
Another benefit of the OpenRun Pro is that even when I am not listening to music, all the notification tones are played via the headset while I can hear everything in my surrounding. For example, in a meeting, I pause the music (some people speak very softly), but I leave the OpenRun Pro on. This way, I can get a calendar notification, but no one but myself hear it.
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