I literally just bought Shokz (apparently the ones I bought are called OpenRun Pro- as I was looking up the model that I got, I learned that apparently I could have got some truly waterproof ones which I kind of regret not getting now, but these were already at the far edge of what I’m willing to spend) and have basically not taken them off in the 3 days I’ve had them. I couldn’t give you a recommendation one way or the other on the specific brand, but they seem serviceable enough. I’m really more enamored with the technology itself rather than the brand.

I originally bought them because I had a hearing test done long ago, and as part of it they use bone conduction headphones to test your inner ear separate from your middle ear and outer ear. After that part of the test, my tinnitus was completely gone. It crept back in over the course of a few hours, but only in one ear. It returned to stereo tinnitus about 3 days later. I wanted to figure out the specific frequencies I needed to play via bone conduction to make that happen again. it was one of the first times I’d experienced true silence in my life, and and I haven’t forgotten it.

One of the biggest annoyances I have with traditional headphones is how big of a deal it is when you get interrupted when you have them on. With the bone conduction stuff, your ear canals are never blocked so any interruption is handled just by hitting the play / pause button. This eliminates one of the main reasons I just straight up don’t wear headphones unless I’m in an office environment and trying to be antisocial.

I also have a huge problem with sweat management. I’m a sweaty guy. I haven’t done any kind of strenuous activity yet with these on, but they purportedly handle sweat like a champ, and I’m not running the risk of giving myself an ear infection by keeping them on for hours and hours at a time.

The only real complaints I have with these particular ones are that 1) they’re awkward to wear with glasses, 2) It’s basically impossible to get really nice-feeling bass with them, and 3) they put pressure in a weird spot on my head, so adjusting to them has been a weird sensory experience. I’m still not quite used to them.

(2) really isn’t that much of a complaint because I really shouldn’t be damaging my hearing that way, but (1) might end up being a deal breaker. I don’t know. I hope that’s not the case.