Customer Ratings & Reviews

I live the work from home life and spend most of my days in meetings. For a while I used my large noise canceling headphones but even my extreme comfort ones caused fatigue eventually. I already own the previous generation Shokz without the boom mic which are soooo comfortable but people complained that they couldn’t understand me super well when I used them. I also like to have my headphones paired to my phone as well as my computer so I can listen to my music and podcasts on my phone but seamlessly switch to a video call on my computer. I am so happy to have the Shokz OpenComm headphones in my life now as it solves not only the comfort and audio issues, but also adds multipoint pairing. I expected these to sound good as we own several other pairs and have never been disappointed in it and these didn’t disappoint either. Sound quality is so superb with excellent separation that multiple times throughout the day I feel like a sound is happening in the real world when it is just music or a youtube video. As I said earlier, I usually avoided taking phone calls with my older models because people had a hard time hearing me. Not an issue with these, that boom mic makes me sound so crisp and clear that I had several coworkers ask what these were so they could order their own. And I love that they sound amazing without having to go into your ears like earbuds. Earbuds cause me a lot of discomfort, while these are pure comfort. The next big point is… Multipoint pairing, allowing you to pair it to two devices at once. It’s a feature I’ve been dying to have with Shokz for a while now and they added it… kinda. You can now multipoint between a bluetooth device, like a phone or tablet, and your computer as long as you have the usb receiver plugged in to your computer. As far as I know you can’t do two devices without that usb receiver. But that’s ok because that is exactly what I’m looking for and the handoff from listening to music on my phone to in a Zoom call is seamless. There are so many great things about these that I decided to bullet point list them below, but I wanted to touch on one slight issue I have with these. The boom mic is great, but I would love it if it could be removed somehow for when I don’t need to make calls. It swivels backwards so it can get out of my face, but it does compress my ear a little bit when I do that. If the next version had a magnetically detachable mic arm I would buy those in a heartbeat. Pros: Excellent sound quality So comfortable you forget you’re wearing them Was asked repeatedly what they were because others wanted them Multipoint Bluetooth pairing (mostly) Magnetic charger Great travel case Buttons are easy to find and push Battery life is solid Cons: Wish the boom mic could be removed instead of just swiveled backward

Love the new headset. The bone induction took only a few minutes to get use too. I now have the ability to listen to my surroundings with my headset on

Given how bone conduction headphones work, I am surprised that they work at all, but these sound fantastic! They are great if you want to listen to something but still maintain awareness of your surroundings. They also don’t even touch your ears, and they are light and don’t use too much clamping force, so they are actually quite comfortable to wear for hours at a time, which is their biggest advantage in my opinion. While they claim that they come with a USB Bluetooth adapter, they show up to the computer as a standard USB sound device, and the headphones are pre-paired with the adapter. This means that you can seamlessly move the USB type A dongle from one computer to another, and don’t have to bother with the messy Bluetooth pairing process. But these headphones can still pair to a standard Bluetooth device (such as another computer or a phone). While it supports being paired to the USB dongle as another Bluetooth device at the same time, only one of them can be active. If you have one device playing sound, then the other is muted. It also features NFC pairing, so you put it in pairing mode and just hold it behind your phone and the two will automatically pair together. This is a nice touch. Because these don’t cover your ears, they are NOT suitable for a noisy environment. You can put in earplugs (and the device even has an optional equalizer setting to allow you to do this), but you are probably better off using standard headphones or ear buds if it is noisy. But if you are in a relatively quiet office then these things are amazing! The battery can easily last an entire work day, and they are much more comfortable than devices that go into your ears or cover your ears. They also come with a nice carrying case. Note that these are for an indoor environment. If you might get wet, then I suggest their waterproof OpenRun headphones. But this product should be kept dry.

Poor sound quality and there is no way to adjust the fit.

I hope they will have the mute button on the microphone boom. Thats would be very handy for people who buy this for work

These are just great if you're in a quiet environment. If you're in a loud environment and you have to turn them up they vibrate on your cheek or wherever they're contacting around your ear. There a joke to listen to music through. That said these would be absolutely perfect for somebody in a absolutely quiet environment only.

So for the last 2.5-3 years, I spend the entire day with a headset on for work. Those have been over the ear, because buds just don't work out long enough. This particular set has been GREAT!!!! The audio quality of my over the ear sets, at about 1/10th of the weight. At first I was taken a bit off guard, by the fact that the audio output part of the headset, just rests outside your ear. it's not on your ear canal, it is just in front. And still produced very clear and detailed audio. And the microphone picks up my voice clearly, according to the people on the other side. but doesn't pick up the click/clack of my keyboard. It wraps around you ear, so it is super secure. I have walked away from my desk forgetting it was on. battery life has been great, it will mostly likely work multiple days (I have gone two full work days). Now for the downsides: 1) No easy microphone mute. The device will only respond to the buttons to mute, if it is in a cellular call, not on a bluetooth laptop session. So I have to rely on the software mute in the application I am using. 2) Proprietary charging cable. I don't like that at all, because if I lose it... I am toast. 3) The buttons to turn it on and off, are just awkwardly placed on the bottom.. and they are the same color. I am a little older, and my eyes are a little fuzzy without my glasses, so I have to focus in to figure out which is the + and - on the headset to figure out which one to use.

This is my first pair of bone conduction headphones, and I'm fairly impressed! I was expecting the bass response to not be very good, and I was not surprised. However, this is a novel listening experience that may be worth trying out. Clarity - The audio clarity is actually quite good. I wasn't sure how it would compare between regular headphones and bone conduction, but I would say that the audio is comparable to earbuds. That is to say, it's acceptable, but nothing amazing. Comfort - It may take a little while to get used to, but these are comfortable to wear for hours on end. I was using these for phone calls and talked on the phone for more than three hours without having the slightest discomfort. When you turn the volume up higher than 50% or so, you will start to feel vibrations in your face, and the volume seems to level off a little. As I said, this is a unique feeling, but something that you get used to fairly quickly. Communications - I checked with a few people that I spoke with on the phone, and they said that I actually came through more clearly than I even did when using the microphone built in to the cell phone, so that is definitely a plus. Limitations - I don't think these would be good in a noisy environment. The volume does not go as high as most headphones, so what you're listening to may get drown out by loud environments, or even strong winds. There is also not a lot of bass clarity, so these are going to be better for podcasts and phone calls.

I Already hooked up to my PC and tested. Love it!!

I was kind of skeptical of how the quality and sound would be with these being that the sound was not over the ear but instead transferred through the jaw and bone until I put these on. All I can say is wow! Crisp and clear sound. And the best thing about these are comfort comfort comfort! The way that these rest around the back of your head and slightly over the top of your ear not fully covering your ear with a full muff like the majority of headphones gives you a sense of barely wearing anything at all.. you don't experience the heat or sweat of your ears as you would like you do with the headsets where your ears are covered by the full muffs. These also allow you to hear whats going on in the room you're in even while hearing what's playing in the headset which is helpful especially if you live in a busy household with kids and need to literally keep an ear out no pun intended. It's quoted as having 16 hours of battery life, I had it fully charged in roughly one hour. If you get low on juice 5 minutes will give you roughly 2 hours so I'd say that's pretty good. I'd call it a rapid charge. They're just a really nice headset I was surprised to say the least.

Good purchase overall. Battery could be a little longer, and if there's a auto mute when the mic is flipped it would be a 5 star for me.

So working from home during the pandemic has become commonplace for those whose job is easily transformed to remote work. Over this time, I have used a few different type of headphones, headsets and earbuds, some made specifically for remote work and conferencing platforms in mind. Each solution has its advantages and disadvantages, earbuds tend to isolate you from external noises, some also with active noise cancelling which can help in a noisy or busy workplace. However, earbuds often become fatiguing to wear, as do full fledged headsets. The Shokz OpenComm UC Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones take a different approach, with a behind the head design with in front of your ears speakers, a positive feature for those in semi quiet environments which may only include occasional interruptions. These headphones can provide a good amount of volume and trend a little on the bright side as opposed to some similar devices which seem hung up on providing a rich, soothing and relaxing experience and tone. I don’t know about you, but my work doesn’t lend itself to a relaxing experience, so having something that provides clear voice reproduction as well as refined voice pickup is a real positive in my book. The headphones come with a USB-A dongle/adapter which plugs into your PC or MAC and enables a Bluetooth 5.1 connection, the most modern revision of the Bluetooth standard, also allows you to pair two distinct devices to the adapter (and thus the headphones). However I mainly used the built in Bluetooth adapter in my laptop as my corporate cybersecurity office frowns upon any usage of USB plug in devices. I don’t think anything is impacted by not using the supplied USB-A adapter, other than perhaps some range and talk time. The package includes the headphones, a proprietary charging cable which has a USB-A plug on one end and a magnetically attached fitting for the headphone side charging connection. If anything this is the only downside I could see to charging this device, I would have much preferred a standard USB-C plug as if you lose or misplace this charging cable you will have to order another. Again as I mentioned sound is clear, trending towards the high and mid frequencies (the latter is the bulk of where the spoken word is in the sound spectrum). With this bone induction design, you have the benefit of not having a speaker either in or on the surface of your ear. The benefit is your ear is open to ambient sounds. If you work in a noisy environment these might not be the optimal pair of headphones for conferencing, but in a controlled somewhat quiet home environment, I had no issue hearing people and these headphones can get loud if that is what you desire. The boom microphone is also effective in picking up your voice with some Digital Sound Processing/noise reduction technologies embedded in the mic. Overall, the true test for these type of headphones is how comfortable they are to wear and in that case the Shokz OpenComm UC headphones are the ultimate winner, with many hours of usage without any headphone fatigue. Pros: - Bone conduction, open ear design - Volume - Business tone, will not lull you into a NPR induced sleep (no offense to NPR fans intended) - Comfortable - Comes with a carrying/storage case - Quick battery charging, 5 mins charging delivers 2 hours of talk time, full charge in an hour. Cons: - One size fits most, if you have a fat head the boom mic may take a bit of finesse to adjust. - Proprietary charging connection (and thus a cable). - Battery life did not seem as good as advertised, perhaps the 16-hour talk time is realized when using their supplied USB-A Bluetooth adapter.

I didn't like it. I took it back to best buy and got my money back. The full price is credited back to my best buy credit card

I was excited to try some bone conduction headphones, but not a fan of these Shokz - OpenComm bone conduction headphones. The good: Microphone is clear and sends good sound. During a Zoom meeting, people said I sounded like I was in the room and not on a headset. It definitely cancels out background noise. Battery life appears good as well. According to the specs, a 5 minute charge will give you 2 hours of talk time. Lag is pretty much non existent. Bluetooth sync up was fast to both phone and PC. The mediocre: Sound quality is just meh. Voices are ok and clear when on a call. Fit is non adjustable. If your head is really big, there's the risk it won't fit. My head is pretty small, so there was a gap where the band wraps around the back, making it not so comfortable. Also does not fit well with glasses, I found the comfort to be lacking. The bad: Definitely not for music or video with lots of action. Might be ok for a tutorial video/online class. Sound quality for music is mediocre at best. True audiophiles will be unimpressed. The vibrations with loud music, especially bass, is uncomfortable. It's a buzzy tickling feel with anything other than regular voice. If you need a headset for Zoom or phone calls and you don't wear glasses this is a great headset as you can hear everything in your background area due to your ears not being covered. Based on this it would be 4.5 stars If you want an all around headset to listen to music, watch videos, and be on calls without an annoying buzz right in front of your tragus stick to earbuds or a traditional over the ear headset.

Awful. No other words can describe. Sounds like listening to someone through two tin cans with a string ran between them.

2 months old power button does not work anymore, very dissatisfied

It’s so great to have two speakers in your ear instead of just one. I plugged this into my Nextiva VOIP phone in my office and was able to pair the headset using the included Bluetooth dongle. Remote workers: this is a must have. I can’t tell you how big of a difference it is to take calls on this instead on a mono speaker headset. The star of the show is the mic boom and this is the feature that makes it. Not only does the bone conducting tech work, the mic adds clear two-way communication. All my calls were crystal clear and even better the party on the other end could hear me very well. The included case is a very unexpected and welcome bonus. It’s very high quality and not at all disposable. It houses the headset and the Bluetooth USB dongle. Bone conducting headphones can take a few sessions to adjust to but they are very clear and them being off of your ears makes it easier to hear the sounds around you while you are outside. The little mic boom is very flexible and does not impede you in use. If you don’t like it you can angle it up and out of the way. One thing that was a possible con is the use of a proprietary charger. It is magnetic and it is the only thing you can use to charge it. I wish it was USB C. The battery life is really good and I was able to use this all day for about 10 hours total before it told me that the battery was low. I see this being used in a helpdesk/telemarketing workspace but I would also not be opposed to using this in public - even with the little mic boom.

This is my daily work headset. The "bone conduction" produces a good tone for work calls, but don't expect a satisfying experience listening to music. That's really not what this headset is for. The benefit is that you can hear you calls clearly (and be heard just as clearly) yet still hear everything else around you. The OpenComm UC uses the standard Shokz proprietary charging port and cable - It's probably a good idea to get an extra one. The carrying case also seems a little large for such a scrawny headset, but this isn't a big deal. The OpenComm UC works fine whether its with the included bluetooth dongle or just using the bluetooth of your computer or phone, however I did get some interference with the dongle...probably because it was hidden in the back and surrounded by other tech stuff. When I plugged the dongle into an outward-facing USB port, the calls stayed clear. The battery life seems to be about on par with its successor, so it lasts a whole work day without a problem. One thing to note: I also have the previous version of the OpenComm. This newer OpenComm UC is almost identical except it's all black and has modified branding (Shokz instead of AfterShokz). It also appears to have a different firmware. The new OpenComm UC's voice prompt is different. Also...and this is the main reason I wanted to try this out...the new OpenComm UC doesn't give the annoying repeating beep sound when you're muted in Teams. At some point last year there was some update in Teams where the mute beeping starting happening and I haven't been able to make it stop. My wife also has an OpenComm and experienced the same thing. Apparently there are a number of people complaining about it. Well, this new headset no longer has that problem.

I’ve been a fan of Shokz (formerly AfterShokz) for a few years now following my purchase of the AfterShokz Open Air headphones. Recently I even upgraded those to the Shokz OpenRun Pro bone conduction headphones. So, I was certainly excited to give the OpenComm headset a try. Let’s start off with sound quality. The sound profile on these things is tuned for voices. Compared to both my OpenAir and OpenRun Pro sets from Shokz, the OpenComm’s sound outrageously tinny. I get that they’re trying to tune the EQ so that voices can be clearly heard, but in all honesty, it sounds like a bad car Bluetooth connection. There’s no midrange or bass at all, and again, I’m familiar with what bone conduction is capable of since I own two other pairs by this company. When I did make phone calls using the headset, it was fine. Again, I would say that you’ll sound like you’re talking through a car Bluetooth system to the person on the other end of the line, according to several of my coworkers. I expected it to sound better with its dedicated boom mic that conveniently swivels down close to pick up voices. But in practice the mic may be too short for some. Also, to be honest Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones, which retail for around the same price as the OpenComm’s, sound equally as good when on a call but give you the added perk of improved sound quality for all listening scenarios. One thing that is a positive about using these as a dedicated Teams/Zoom/Webex headset is that it comes with a USB type A Bluetooth adapter that can provide almost any aging PC or MacBook with Bluetooth connectivity to the headset. And I will say that my work laptop’s Bluetooth radio isn’t the strongest or the most reliable, so this made Teams calls for work hassle free and I experienced zero dropped or buffered calls. Other great features of this headset include its ability to pair to multiple sources, i.e. your phone and a computer via the included USB Bluetooth adapter so, you can easily answer a call on whichever device happens to be calling at the time. There’s even a button on the right temple driver/speaker that enables you to answer and end calls with a simple press. Coming from other Shokz headsets I was thrown off that the button was on the left vs. the right driver/speaker. This dual pairing in theory would make it ideal for listing to music too when not on a call, but again the audio quality isn’t really up to par. In summary, these things are a decent set of bone conduction “cans” that provide a decent alternative to traditional communication headsets. The sound and call quality leave a bit to be desired, even compared to other Shokz models that retail for a similar price. If you already have a dedicated set of earbuds or headphones for music and entertainment and just need a solid work headset that wont leave you with ear fatigue, these may be the answer for you. But, if you want the best blend of sound and call quality I think the OpenRun Pro’s by Shokz are a better value. They’ll give you superior sound quality with truer mid and bass frequency response. Their call quality is equally comparable to the OpenComm’s with its stick microphone. The OpenRun’s are IP55 water resistant. They have a smaller carrying case compared to the OpenComm’s. And the OpenRun’s have the ability to pair up to two devices lust like the OpenComm set, just enable the setting in the Shokz smartphone app.

I think the Shokz OpenComm Bone Conduction Headphones are a good concept, and I can see the use of a product like this, but in the end I think it is still a flawed concept that can not deliver good sound quality. I really wanted to like these. The concept is pretty good, having headphones that don't actually isolate you from the world around you. They claim to use "bone conduction", which I guess there is some real truth/science to it, but I was expecting to not hear anything coming out of them until I put them on. However, you can already hear the sound coming out of them, like any other pair of headphones. When you put them right near your ears, but not touching, it sounds just about the same as when you do put them on properly. It makes me wonder if there really is anything to the tech at all or if they really just covered up the speakers and pushed them forward a little bit. Either way, the end result is the same, regardless of how the tech actually works. And that is to say, they do not sound very good at all. At best these sound like a cheap pair of ear buds. There is no bass at all, which I kind of expected. But still, hearing the music with absolutely no bass is still jarring the first time you hear it. Even if the sound quality is lacking, they do deliver on a few promises. Like I could still hear the environment around me with no problems. Also, with ear bud or even some over the ear headphones, I can only wear them for maybe a little over an hour before they become uncomfortable to my ears. Because these sit slightly in front of you ears, there isn't as much pressure, and you can wear them a bit longer. However, I do have a slightly larger than average head, and I did feel a bit of pressure, but nothing too terribly uncomfortable. One last thing I'll mention is the charger. In this day and age where almost everything uses a standard micro usb or usb-c, shokz decided to use a proprietary magnetic charger, which baffles me. I would much rather just be able to use one of the 100s of cords I already have sitting around the house than have to keep track of this specific cord. A small gripe, but one none the less. Overall, while the Shokz OpenComm headphones promise a cool new way to listen to music, and do actually deliver on some of that promise, the sound quality is just too lacking for me. And to me, that is the most important aspect of any headphone, and I just can't get passed it.