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.
Have you looked at bone conduction ear buds? I don’t run anymore and never had a pair, but when I was in the community they seemed like the only type worth getting
They seem safer as well. I stumbled across a few reviews while I was researching proper studio headphones and they seem ideal.
This video is a little commercial-like and I usually watch his music production videos, but it’s good enough for what we are discussing: https://youtu.be/0VOWmbFkFzs?si=FDUmN3lAa7SEtr9x
I find there’s a trade-off in quality for my bone conduction vs in ear pods, especially if I’m moving a lot, but not blocking my hearing as much is often worth that trade-off. Plus it’s more secure on my head, which is important when running/biking/swimming where it is not trivial to find a missing earbud in the grass however far back it fell.
Highly recommend for exercise, but I would never fully replace my earbuds with them because, frankly, they sound worse and look worse.
Whelp. I definitely don’t need a new kind of headphones, but now I definitely want a new kind of headphones. How have I never seen this technology before?
I don’t think it’s great for music. Or last I looked into it it wasn’t. Fine for podcasts and such though.
Tbh, this is a time when sound quality takes a back seat to design.
Now, a caveat, I’m not a runner, I’m disabled. So I do strength training upper body work, and water based exercise. There’s not as much impact, so I can’t promise that won’t be a factor.
But I’ve tried a handful of Bluetooth buds because of the sweating and pool use. JBL makes or made a model called “reflect flow”.
The controls are built so that it takes a firm push to activate them, so no issues with sweat or other water triggering them. They’re even functional with a device in a protective baggie, and my head under water a good bit. Not deep, but submerged, or while swimming. It’s one of those ymmv things though, as Bluetooth in general isn’t great at penetrating water of any depth.
Sound is what I’d call acceptable. Not great, but vocals are clear enough to pick out words with no issues while moving through water, or in a gym full of people clanking weights. Can’t match wired IEMs, but I doubt that’s the goal. They run a tad bass heavy, and the highs can get dampened more than I’d like, but not unexpectedly so.
But the controls have never, ever triggered unless I pushed them. The case is solid, and keeps a charge well even after about five years of use (iirc, could be off by a year either way since I was borrowing before buying, and can’t recall which brands I tried when). They aren’t expensive either, which considering that Bluetooth earbuds are essentially unrepairable is a good thing.
I’d give them an overall 7/10 for sound, 10/10 for waterproofing, and 10/10 for both battery lives. My standard for a 10/10 sound is my beyerdynamic 770s though, which isn’t everyone’s preference. Tin t2s are a solid 9/10 for sound to my ears. Just for a sense of how I judge sound on fairly common budget choices in wired audio.
I have Jabra elite 85s I think it’s the model. They’re great
The Jabra Active models have all been great for running, but they officially discontinued the entire consumer audio line to focus on hearing aids three seconds before Apple announced AirPods are now hearing aids so…
I wear Sony Linkbuds while running or cycling. They have a hole in the middle which means they have basically no sound isolation at all, making them very safe to use if you’re running on the road or footpath where motor vehicles or cyclists might come up behind you. The open design also allows you to hear your breathing properly and it you won’t get that annoying heartbeat/pulse effect where the sound ducks in and out like you do with closed in-ear earphones. They don’t go into your ear canal, but rather sit outside like the classic Apple earphones or Galaxy Buds Live. They have an IPX4 rating which means:
Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect, utilizing either:
a) an oscillating fixture, or b) A spray nozzle with no shield. Test a) is conducted for 10 minutes. b) is conducted (without shield) for 5 minutes minimum.
They also have a feature called wide area tap, which (when enabled) extends the touch controls out along your cheek bones. Instead of tapping the earphones themselves, you can tap on your face instead to control them. I find this extremely useful while running or cycling, because it requires far less precision and works reliably in any weather conditions without dislodging the earphones.
I don’t use them for serious listening too often, so I haven’t paid great attention to the audio quality, but to me they sound fairly balanced for consumer earphones with a nice level of detail and a slightly wider soundstage because of the open design. The battery life for both the earphones and the case is also good. The only major problem with them is the fit - you will need to experiment with the wings to find a combination that fits your ear shape and some people have reported that they just won’t stay in their ears. The wings can also make them uncomfortable after longer periods (several hours) though I rarely wear them for over an hour at a time so this doesn’t bother me too much.
Overall I’d say they’re much more a competitor to bone conduction headphones than typical earphones. They have a significantly smaller profile than bone conduction models and better sound, plus they don’t look as cringe. Here are a couple of runners reviewing them if you’re interested. I bought mine refurbished from the official Sony eBay store for a significant discount, so it might be worth checking for that too.
