Shokz OpenRun Air 2 Review: A Familiar Design With a Sharper Open-Ear Sound

Introduction

The Shokz OpenRun Air 2 is the successor to the original OpenRun, and it slots into Shokz’s expanding family of open-ear headphones below the considerably more expensive OpenRun Pro 2. At $129.95, it launches at the same price as the OpenRun and sits roughly $50 cheaper than the Pro 2. It is not an official UK launch just yet, so availability may depend on where you live.

After a couple of runs with them, the picture is fairly clear: this is a modest, sensible upgrade. The design and fit stay close to the original OpenRun, but there are meaningful improvements in sound, battery life, and charging that make it an easy recommendation if you want open-ear listening without paying Pro 2 money.

Who This Product Is For

These headphones suit runners who want to stay aware of traffic and their surroundings while listening to music, and who prefer a neckband-style design over in-ear buds. If you already own the OpenRun or any of the OpenRun Pro models, the Air 2 will feel immediately familiar.

They also make sense for people who want the Shokz open-ear experience but feel the OpenRun Pro 2 is out of budget. For anyone upgrading from the original OpenRun, the improvements are incremental rather than transformative, but they add up to a genuinely better everyday running companion.

Main Strengths

The familiar neckband design weighs 26.4g, exactly the same as the first OpenRun, and it is available in standard and mini sizes. On runs, they did not bounce around, felt comfortable over hour-long sessions, and gave no reason to doubt they would stay comfortable longer. The controls are easy to reach mid-run, with a button on the underside of one side and another on the outside.

USB-C charging is now standard, and battery life maxes out at 10 hours, up 2 hours from the OpenRun. Fast charging is quicker too, with overall charging time dropping by 30 minutes. In the Shokz app, you can pair two devices at the same time and use a find-my-headphone mode for when you have set them down somewhere after a run.

Things to Consider Before Buying

This is not a redesign. If you were hoping for a noticeably lighter frame or a wholesale change in feel, you will not find it here. The “Air” in the name does not mean lighter weight; it matches the OpenRun exactly.

On sound, the Air 2 uses a newer version of Shokz’s bone conduction technology that promises a more balanced open-ear sound, and there are more EQ presets in the Shokz app for customization. However, it lacks the bone conduction plus air conduction combination of the OpenRun Pro 2, so you miss some of that added warmth, power, and bass. Call quality improvements, driven by dual microphones and an AI-powered noise reduction algorithm for windy and noisy conditions, are promised but were not assessed in this early testing.

Battery expectations are worth managing too. Listening at louder volumes drains the battery faster, so it is wise to treat the promised 10 hours as roughly an hour less in real use.

Sound Performance on the Run

The open-ear experience was good. Standard EQ mode worked well on quieter runs, and the volume boost EQ mode, designed for noisier environments, helped against traffic noise, though nothing open-ear will truly block out loud surroundings.

Compared with the OpenRun, there is a clear uptick across the board, with a little more warmth and a little more bass. It is not the cleanest or most balanced sound in the Shokz range, and it sits below the OpenRun Pro 2 and some other open-ear headphones, but it does feel like a genuine step up from the original. The balance was okay: not the best open-ear experience, but far from the worst.

Buying Advice

If you want the best open-ear sound in this familiar neckband design, the OpenRun Pro 2 is still the pick, and the Open Swim Pro is worth a look as well. But if you want to spend less, the OpenRun Air 2 is a good option, particularly if the OpenRun is phased out and this effectively replaces it going forward.

Upgraders from the original OpenRun get improved sound, longer battery life, faster charging, and standard USB-C. New buyers get all of that at the same launch price the OpenRun had. Just go in expecting an evolution, not a revolution.

Conclusion

The Shokz OpenRun Air 2 is a well-judged successor: same comfortable 26.4g neckband design, same $129.95 launch price, but with a more balanced bone conduction sound, 10-hour battery, quicker charging, dual microphones with AI noise reduction, and more EQ flexibility in the Shokz app. It may be a modest upgrade in some respects, but it is a good addition to the Shokz neckband family and an easy way to save money over the OpenRun Pro 2 without giving up the core open-ear running experience.