I have become a fan of bone conduction earphones. Initially this was because they are great for running since they let you hear everything going on around you which is important for safety. I also came to realise that pushing earbuds into your ear to form a seal is not the best thing for comfort, even though it can deliver excellent sound quality. Bone conduction earphones sound OK but not great, but I found myself willing to sacrifice audio quality for these other characteristics.

That said, bone conduction earphones do have some problems. In particular, if you attempt to wind up the volume you get an unpleasant physical vibration, especially on tracks that have extended bass.

There is another option, which I have seen described as air conduction or open ear. In this design, the sound driver sits adjacent to your ear canal. I tried one of these a couple of years ago and found the audio unbearably tinny. Unfortunately I concluded that this was inherent to this type of earphone and dismissed them.

Recently I was able to review another pair of open ear earphones which has changed my mind. The actual product is a Baseus Bowie MF1 though I do not think it is extra special in itself; however it is pretty good and the sound is excellent, better I think than my usual bone conduction earphones and without any vibration issues.

I notice that market leader Shokz has cottoned onto this and the Openrun Pro 2 (at a much higher price than the Baseus) has dual driver, with the low bass handled by air conduction, again avoiding the vibration problem.

The more I think about it, the more I like the open ear or air conduction idea. No fuss about ear sleeve size or needing a perfect seal; no discomfort from jamming something tightly into your ear; and, I now realise, very acceptable sound quality.