Save on the best open-ear and bone-conduction headphones at Amazon (2024)

As well as being excellent from a safety perspective, these headphones come with surprisingly little compromise on sound quality, which is excellent. There's also a comfort bonus, battery life is solid (roughly eight hours of playback), while a nano protective coating and watertight rubber gaskets make them fully sweatproof and waterproof.

Playback and calls are easily controlled by a single multi-function button, too. On the downside, our tester found the rocker switch that controls power and volume rather fiddly and had to resort to using their phone mid-run. All in all, though, an excellent package.

Considering the Wing is Suunto’s first foray into the world of wireless Bluetooth headphones, it's a solid first attempt. Made from silicone and titanium, the headphones feel premium quality, lightweight (weighing just 33g) and sturdy. On the right side, there’s two small buttons – one powers the headphones on, pairs and turns the volume up; the other turns the volume down. There’s also a button on the left side; a single tap pauses a track; a double tap skips to the next track; and a few seconds hold enables voice command on your phone. Our tester found these controls simple to navigate.

The headphones themselves are easy to put on, feel impossibly light on the head (‘I sometimes forget I have them on,’ our tester said) and – most importantly – are secure and stay in place over long distances. No need to worry about these flying off.

Sound quality is decent too – it's never going to reach the quality of over-ear headphones, but it's perfectly good enough for running.

In terms of battery life, a full charge will last you 10 hours, with an additional 20 hours in the dock. This is convenient for people who want to charge on-the-go.

Bear in mind, though, that's listening at 60% of the max volume. If you're using the LEDs lights (a handy additional safety feature) or head-gesture controls, it'll drain the battery significantly quicker. The fast charging is appreciated, though: a 10-minute charge from zero battery gets you three hours of listening time.

The big sound offered by these headphones is surprising – and impressive. TubeBass enhancement technology – designed to make low frequencies more solid and deeper, and vocals brighter and clearer – delivered better-than-expected results. ‘When running in relatively quiet areas, the clarity and quality of sound is excellent, but still allows you to have an awareness of your surroundings, which is helpful for inner-city running,’ said our tester. They did, however, comment that ‘when background noise increases, the bass does become a little lost’.

Where these headphones fall down, however, is in the chunkiness of their design. The OpenRock Pros have an ear-hook design that our tester said he found ‘cumbersome on the run’, adding: ‘They do feel like they are resting on your ear, rather than hugging it.’ That said, the ear hooks are adjustable and our tester said that once they'd 'spent time dialling down the fit, they did fit securely’.

TheOpenRock Pro’s also got a thumbs up for their battery life; they offer up to 19 hours of battery from a single charge, with the charging case adding a further 27 hours (46-hour total), so are ideal for those running long distances.

For runners who want to have plenty of awareness of their surroundings and good quality audio, the Shokz OpenFit are a fantastic choice. The bass is mightily impressive for an open-ear headphone, which can also be enhanced using the ‘Bass Boost’ function via the easy-to-navigate app. Our tester praised the clarity of the vocals, saying ‘the quality was in line with that of in-ear earbuds’.

However, although they utilise DirectPitch technology – designed to deliver greater sound pressure toward the human ear and less sound pressure in other directions – our tester did comment that he sometimes experienced sound leakage in noisy areas, especially when listening to podcasts. ‘When background noise increased, I was really tempted to increase the volume to drown everything else out,’ they said. ‘It wasn’t so problematic when listening to music, but I struggled to listen to podcasts when running in high-traffic areas.'

They were also a little disappointed by the touch controls on the buds, which can be used to answer and reject calls. ‘I found this to be somewhat temperamental as you sometimes get a slight delay when pausing songs, meaning you have to press several times.’

When it came to comfort on the run, though, our tester was delighted with their fit and feel. ‘Although it can take some time to dial in the fit with the flexible ear hook, once secure, you can be certain they will not budge,’ they said. ‘They felt so secure and comfortable on the run – I genuinely forgot I was wearing them.’

Finally, the headphones come with a charging case that's small enough to fit in a pocket, and they offer up to 28 hours of total listening time.

Our testers rated the lightweight design and secure fit of these bone conduction headphones, saying the buds didn’t budge, even as they ramped up the pace. The wraparound band didn’t feel too tight either, and the control buttons were delightfully responsive and easy to tinker with while on the move.

We wouldn’t recommend them for gym workouts, however, as the band made lying-down exercises tricky. Like many bone-conducting cans, the sound quality isn't out of this world and there’s a hefty amount of sound leakage, but that’s a compromise we’re willing to make for safety.

The battery life is a solid eight hours, and they boast a quick charge feature, which offers two hours of juice from a rapid 10-minute charge, so you’ll never have to face a silent commute again.

Thought it was impossible to listen to Spotify while doing lengths in the pool? Not anymore. The laws of physics have not miraculously changed – Bluetooth range underwater remains limited to around four inches – but H20 have provided a nifty solution: clip your Apple Watch (strap removed) to your goggles, just behind your head, so that it’s close to your headphones, and stream music directly from your watch, using Spotify Premium or Apple Music. Granted, you’ll need an Apple Watch to enable offline play but, if you don’t have either of these, you can listen to music another way: via the built-in MP3 player, which has memory capacity for over 2,000 songs (8GB). Simply connect with a Mac or PC, download your favourite tunes and drag and drop.

‘The user guide is simple to understand, and downloading the music from your Mac to the memory on the headphones is quick and easy,’ confirmed our tester.

As for the sound quality once in the pool? ‘I have tried other brands of swimming headphones and the Solar Pro’s sound quality is by far the best I’ve experienced’ our tester said. ‘When listening via MP3, I found the audio clear with no disturbance while underwater, although the sound quality was not as good when using Bluetooth mode.’

Although you need to clip the headphones to your goggles to use them, our reported praised how comfortable they are to wear, commenting that they feel ‘extremely light’. She also applauded their battery life – which offers seven hours of play time.

Modelled on the OneOdio OpenRock Pro design, but with a cheaper price tag, the sound coming from the OpenRock S headphones really does pack a punch. The TubeBass enhancement technology also filters into this model, which allows for the bass that other bone conduction headphones lack. This model also allows for switching sound modes from “Rock” to “Relax”, which may suit some, however our tester commented that the difference isn’t exactly noticeable.

The battery life of the headphones alone stands at an impressive 19 hours, which our tester enjoyed: ‘After running for over 10 hours last week, the headphones and case still show to be over 50% charged’.

These headphones are not the most discrete, and they retain the chunkiness of the OpenRock Pro design. The charging case isn’t exactly commuter friendly either. They do feature touch control, however, which is an upgrade from the Pro. That being said, the touch isn’t exactly receptive, and does not allow for volume changes, with our tester commenting, ‘it's just easier using my phone to navigate tracks, as the touch control often feels like guesswork’.