Naenka Runner Pro Bone Conduction Headphones Review – Yankees to Naenka: Crank It Up!
Undaunted by my somewhat muted review of its Runner Caller bone conduction headphone, Ponyo from Naenka opted to send me the $120 Runner Pro, which uses the same form factor (and, I suspect, has the same internals) as the Runner Caller but sports a waterproof (IPX8) rating and an MP3 mode which allows you to play up to 8G of stored music without being tethered to your mobile.
As with the Runner Caller, fit is stable and very comfortable and call quality is at least serviceable, although I still take issue with the awkward placement of the control buttons on the underside of the right module. I got around 5-6 hours of battery life, which limits the Pro’s functionality.
The Naenka Runner Pro is a niche product (audiophiles can stop reading here) designed for swimmers and/or that band of users who are in-ear averse or who need maximum situational awareness. As such, the Runner Pro have the same intrinsic limitations as the Runner Caller and other bone conduction models, i.e. they don’t play loud and they don’t produce a lot of low end. Once again, you need to max these out to hear the tunes.
That said, the Pro sounds purty nice—as with Naenka’s prior models, the timbre is organic, warm and grain-free, with clear mids, good high-end detail and surprisingly decent imaging and instrument placement—it’s background music with some finesse. Other than some visceral thump, low bass is absent, though there’s some discernible presence in the 100-200 Hz range, and voices are clearly reproduced. These are good for podcasts and for sleeping.
Overall, the Pro work well for a narrow use case— sitting in a hot tub, say, or maybe half-listening to a sermon—and the MP3 function is a definite plus. However, like the Runner Caller, the Pro seem like a work-in-progress which need a longer battery, more thoughtful UI and, above all, more volume to broaden their appeal. As presently conceived the current asking price seems ambitious, but I reiterate that Naenka does know good sound—they just need to let their customers hear it.
Disclaimer: as noted these were sent to me gratis for review by Naenka and can be bought here with a discount:
Naenka Runner Pro: https://bit.ly/3ahmWJ4
15% Discount Code: Audioreviews
We do not receive any compensation or incentive from Naenka and Naenka, to their credit, makes no effort to influence our reviews.
