Shokz OpenFit Air would be perfect without my glasses

Two years ago, I thought my quest for the best running headphones was over. Beats Fit Pro is perfect in every way. Then I moved to the suburbs. Beats’ ambient mode can’t compete with the blatant disregard for speed limits by North Jersey drivers. Open-back headphones seemed like the obvious answer. But which ones? I tried some bone conduction headphones for a few weeks, but I missed my bass drop so much. This in turn prompted me to try the $119.95 Shokz OpenFit Air.

While Shokz is best known for its bone conduction technology, the OpenFit Air uses traditional air conduction technology like other wireless headphones. The speaker sits above the ear canal, and the ear hooks hold it securely in place. I’m generally not a fan of ear hooks – comfort tends to suffer. But if it means I can gain situational awareness without giving up bass, I’ll try anything.

Good News: Bass yes Better. The bad news is, the difference isn’t huge. To be honest, there are no open-back headphones yet great Bass, but these are at least a little less muddy than bone conduction. If I’m running next to a busy street, I can actually hear the rumbling “Five Michelin Star” verses from Stray Kids’ “God’s Menu.” While the sound isn’t exactly clear, I can hear it instead of sighing and wishing I had a Beats Fit Pro. (If you stay close to the highway, though, all bets are off.)

Bass aside, the speaker placement means your content can be heard well, but open-ear headphones always have limitations. I wore them on a few commutes to the office. Quiet New Jersey bus or train? no problem. The noisy New York subway drowned out my audiobooks to the point where I gave up listening to anything at all. I’ve never had any complaints about sound leakage, but I assume that’s because the New York subway is so loud anyone hear anything.

As sports buds go, these are a great choice. It gets about 6 hours of use on a single charge and 2 hours of use on a 10-minute charge, which isn’t too bad unless you’re an ultramarathoner. With IP55, you can handle a sweat or light rain, but I’d be wary of a downpour. They’re very comfortable and very safe—that is, until you put on your glasses.

While the hooks are flexible and relatively thin, they take up a lot of space behind my ears. On days when I don’t wear contacts, the tops of my ears feel crowded and heavy. The heavy feeling made me suspect the Air would fall off and I would readjust them. Often, this ends up causing me to accidentally trigger the touch controls. Even if I’m not wearing glasses, I’m inadvertently blowing air away every time I brush my bangs behind my ears. I don’t like this because I’ve been traumatized many times by chasing buds that fell out of my ears mid-race. To be fair, you probably won’t run into these issues. Some of this may be due to the shape of my ears and the fact that the temples of my glasses are thicker. But if you really want a secure fit, a wraparound design is a better choice.

To my surprise, I ended up preferring the Air for everyday wear. Maybe it’s just me, but bone conduction headphones scream fitness in a way that feels a little weird when I’m running errands. These remind me of the sleeker, more understated Bose Ultra Open earbuds. My favorite way to wear it is when cooking or cleaning. I can easily listen to my audiobook or podcast, keep an eye out for beeping appliances, and stop a naughty cat from trying to eat mine Dinner comes straight from the pot.

If I had better eyesight, these might end my quest for a Beats Fit Pro replacement. They’re quite affordable at $120, have more than enough bass for a pair of open-ear headphones, and are comfortable to wear. I wanted something safer for when I didn’t want to wear lenses.