Shokz OpenRun SE Review

For the longest time I have used wired headsets. I miss the Pixel 4A’s AUX. I have settled to use a USB-C to AUX dongle to be able to connect my headphones to my phone.

But sometimes
In the middle of a song
While cleaning my kitchen
The wire would catch
Around a cabinet handle
Yank my ear
I scream in pain

As I hope my poem highlights: wires can be quite an inconvenience when one is on the move.

Shokz and Bone Conduction

This brand of headset is a bit unusual as it doesn’t go into or cover your ear. Instead it goes in front of your ears and conducts sound via bone conduction. Basically vibrating the bone near your ear to induce sound.

A more technical explanation can be found from their website (https://ca.shokz.com/pages/bone-conduction-technology):

Bone conduction technology converts sound into mechanical vibrations transmitted through the skin and temporal bone to the cochlea, bypassing traditional air conduction transmitters like the external auditory canal or eardrum.

I happen to have one of the earlier SHOKZ headsets, a wired one, Sportz 3. You can see it in the image above (with a bit of orange colouring). The company was called AfterShokz at the time. I bought it back in 2016 to solve a specific problem.

To focus at work I would play music. The problem: I could not hear or sense others coming close to get my attention, and I would always get spooked. I needed something that wouldn’t cut me off from the environmental stimuli. The AfterShokz Sportz 3 fit the bill and solved the issue for me. The headset is comfortable, the sound quality is good, and I can hear my coworkers approaching me without making me jump.

SHOKZ Openrun SE

Shokz Openrun SE Bone Conduction Wireless Bluetooth Headphones, as far as I can tell, is a Costco exclusive item that is analogous to the Shokz Openrun. It’s sold at $130 Canadian dollars at Costco. As of writing it is still available for purchase.

From initial look it might be unclear how to wear them. No fear, there is a video to guide you here: (https://youtu.be/Ts8vEfreGRg).

The Good

From my first impressions it is a lot like my first set, with even better sound quality. They are great for the home, office, walks, runs, and gym. Keeping the sense of my surrounding while listeing to music and not tripping up on wires is fantastic.

On each respective side it has volume controls and a function button to pause, resume, or skip playback. I find these buttons to be quite convenient as it saves me from pulling out my phone from my pocket.

Compared to my old Sony over the ear headphones or my wired earbuds I find the Shockz headsets to be the most comfortable. They don’t irritate my ear, because they aren’t over my ear or in it. The are equally comfortable when wearing with glasses or outdoor headgear like hats and bicycle helmets. I have no fear of them coming loose during exercise either. However, when taking them off after a prolonged use, I get a phantom feeling as if I am still wearing them.

Some of the podcasts I listen to have episodes that are in access length of 5 hours, and the headset’s battery does not struggle. It has an advertised 8 hours of battery life. I can also confirm that it charges quickly; within an hour of charging, it’s ready to go again.

The headset comes with a microphone of good quality. Via the function button you can except incoming calls. Handy in a pinch.

It’s also advertised as waterproof (IP67), but I am not going to test that… Suffice to say it will work in the rain or when working up a sweat.

The Bad

Latency

I was playing around with the idea of using my old Pixel 3XL as a game streaming device using the Steam Link app, to play anywhere in my house. I tested out the idea with a casual game of Castle Crashers. With the Shokz Openrun SE connected… something felt off… I swung my sword, and only at the end of the swing would I heard the swoosh sound. There’s a noticeable delay between the phone and headset. To verify I switched to using the phone’s speakers, and the sound delay went away.

Bluetooth audio adds latency. I tested this out further using this Latency Tester web app. Sure enough, there’s over 100ms more latency using the Bluetooth headset over wired. I also learned that with any computer or phone, by default there’s an audio delay, it’s just noticeably worse using Bluetooth connected audio devices. It’s interesting how I never noticed this before with my Bluetooth speakers that I have owned for over 10 years (specifically the UE BOOM speakers). I guess I simply never used them for video games before, only for music.

Interestingly, there is no noticeable delay when watching videos. I have to assume that my phone is aware of the delay and syncs up the video for me, via some voodoo magic. Delay applies when you have to interact, like click a button.

This latency also applies to phone calls. Which in my experience would sometimes briefly cause me to talk over the other person, as they didn’t perceive I started talking yet.

There’s much more to this… Different devices, different operating systems, and different audio codecs have varying delays. However, I think the topic deserves its own blog post in the future.

In a nutshell, Bluetooth headsets are no good for games as there’s too much audio latency.

Issue in Loud Environments

I would occasionally go on long walks and listed to a podcast. Unlike songs, podcasts require me to pay attention to what is being said. As such, sounds clarity (the ability to comprehend the sound of words) is important. Since these headsets do not cover my ear I hear the environment around me. From cars passing by, to barking dogs, to rustling of leaves, all is perceived. As mentioned before, this is a feature; this is by design. I can not just see, but also hear a car coming when I cross the road. However, in loud environments, such as by a busy two lane 60km/h road or inside a bus (that announces every stop through its speakers), it is harder to make out the words from the headphones. Suddenly in those cases I wished for a noise cancellation headset instead.

There does exist noise canceling Shockz headphones, like the Shoks OpenFit Pro, which may mitigate this. They are much more expensive. See Linus Tech Tips for a review (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLNw6Zb_SQ) on that.

I can increase the volume, of course. However, there’ a point that increasing the volume high enough makes the vibrations at the sides of my head uncomfortable.

This is not issue when playing music. But, it is a problem when listing to a podcast with a host that has a low and/or soft voice.

Nitpicks

Not a big deal, but I wished it didn’t use a proprietary charging connector. I think this was done to reduce costs (USB-C is a complicated ordeal), increase durability, and for waterproofing. Two wires are provided out of the box.

Another nitpick: they look like hearing aids. Not exactly stylish. Personally this isn’t a concern for me, but might be for others.

Summary

These headphones are good for casual music and podcast listening while retaining awareness of surroundings that aren’t too noisy. Such as park, gym, or an office space. They are okay for phone conversations and are terrible for gaming due to latency.

Pros

• Environmental awareness, real sound pass through
• Good sound quality
• Wireless Bluetooth
• Convenient volume and function buttons
• Comfortable
• Long battery charge and charges quickly
• Waterproof (untested)
• Good microphone, supports calls

Cons

• Noticeable input to audio delay
  • No option for wired connection
• Poor sound clarity in noisy environments
• Proprietary charging wire
• Not stylish

Conclusion

These headphones are good in certain context:

• Office
• Outdoors
• Exercise

Bad in others:

• Gaming
• Loud spaces
• Bus, plane, busy stroad

They are situational, if they fit your use case they are worth it.

Addendum

This isn’t a sponsored review. Don’t think that will ever be a thing. This is just something I wanted to share my experience on.

Credits

Written by Victor Efimov

Published on March 4th, 2026