(Sorry if it’s a miss, this community looked the most fitting)
After mentioning them somewhere in comments, I actually bought Shokz after years of sitting curious. There are a few brands that do them, so it doesn’t matter what’s the brand is. I bought what I’ve heard of and the cheapest model I could find at that.
So, what’s the trick? As I’m cycling, walking and running a lot, I needed a headphone solution to be aware of my surroundings. They don’t cover ears and don’t actually emmit sound - they vibrate and make your bones serve as a membrane.
The obvious minus is that in a bus or other loud setting you can’t hear shit. That’s by design. And, logically but somehow absurdly, by shutting your ear with a finger, you can make yourself hear it okay. I did a full circle here, returning to the old headphones isolation problem, heh.
But what impressed me more, they do feel like some kind of a cyberpunk prosthetic. You can wear them all day and even the cheapest one that promises 6hr of activity lasts days on the idle. But as you call someone or watch a vid – here they are, with a little to no latency. Honestly, I feel like if there’d be implants, that’s one of the basic ones we can try first. It’s hands-free device with a bonus of being more stealthy and not isolating you from the world.
As a cheapskate audiophile who stayed with cords for a long time, I can say that the sound is okay. Keeping in mind that producers can’t control the skull of a wearer, they can’t nail the ideal sound, but I’m impressed with how nice IDM and metal plays on them - something akin to budget Senh, AKG and Audiotechnica. And unlike cheap Sony, they don’t put up low freqs, that’s a plus. BUT when I shared it with others, people in body reported less effectiveness due to thickness of skin and under-dermal stuff, so it’s better to test it if you aren’t skinny as a skeleton.
After being so open about plus sides, I’m to talk minuses. Since the software is proprietary, it doesn’t have many controls and is very weird sometimes. As I bought a model that was for internal chinese market originally, it talked to me in Chinese, and it can only be switched to another language before any pairing, so only after unpairing I could’ve chosen English – and the same combination of button presses when paired was reserved to calling the last called number, so I fucked up a lazy weekend morning for a friend of mine calling them 4-5 times, damn it. Ah, and it supports dual pairing with a PC and a smartphone, but as I tested it this function worked weird and I sometimes manually disconnected them. Walking&working distance from a source device is around the second or third room, that fits most office and home listening cases. I could’ve probably wished for it to have an option to pick lesser distance since I don’t usually have even a meter between my smartphones and them.
Ah, and going back to the bus problem - the obvious downside that you want to turn them to 100% volume that you don’t feel, but your ears do. After the first day when I needed to move a lot in loud contexts and thus put them on max, I had a headache, because although I didn’t register the volume, my head had a first row concert experience. So if you use these, keep that in mind too.
Have you tried them, is there a topic I haven’t covered? As you can tell, I’m happy with them, so I would be biased. It’s just with VR stuff, even from Apple, I feel like we underlook existing tech that already serves us as expander of our life experiences and powers.
I’m partial deaf… These let me hear music in a way I never could. I remember being in a quiet place and listened to an audio sample… Hearing an instrument on my bad side was like listening to it for the first time. Hearing in stereo is just wild when you have only heard in mono your whole life
Beethoven had the same condition. He had a special bracket mounted to his piano he could bite on, in order to make his skull resonate, hence him being able to hear the music again.
For real? Never heard of that. Super interesting if they did shit like that back then
Microtia? If yes then here is a tiny fistbump.
Yeah. Hearing Piano was really new for me.
That’s awesome! I wish I could’ve used this information with my dad, who was partially deaf, to try if it could’ve helped him. Unfortunately he passed away some years ago so we’ll never know. I’ll keep this in mind though, so I can suggest it to others.
It can work when the nerves are intact but the bone in the ear (or another external mechanical part of the ear) is damaged. Won’t work for somebody with deafness due to nerve damage
Haven’t thought about that, wow. I’m happy for you.
Nice writeup.
I need to replace my aged pair.
A solution to one of the bus problems, is to carry a pair of those mushy ear plugs. If you put them in, you regain isolation, without having to crank the volume and hurt your ears.
One of my gripes is the behind-the-head design. You simply can’t wear them comfortably if you’re reclining or laying down.
Yep, you are right, also in autumn and winter both the high collar of a jacket and the hat touch it. In a place with a various weather it’s harder to forget they are on.
With Shokz especially, it could’ve been undone if the cord was soft, like in many connected headphones. But for some reason they did it hard bending, although heaphones sit without problems by themselves, even when doing sports. For something like Miami or Krasnodar it’s no problem, but for my region of Russia with crazy overnight tilts of weather and states with the same instability, it can be a problem.
The band needs to be a flexible metal so that enough pressure is applied to the ear pads. If they were floppy, you wouldn’t hear them very well.
Some have ear attachments (like mono headsets have, but on both ends)
I just tilt them up, wear them like normal headphones.
Bone conduction doesn’t care what position or where exactly the transducer is. The sound won’t be exactly as intended but it works.
Tilt them up so the band is on the crown of your head instead across the top of your neck. That’s what I do when I’m laying down or wearing a stocking cap.
My short take is the audio quality is mediocre for music or anything artistic, but using the Shokz OpenComm for work, I’ll never go back. Best work headset I’ve ever used. I can wear it all day and sometimes almost forget to take it off at the end of the day.
That… Looks good. How is the microphone quality? How long does it last?
I answred before, but with my love for long form podcasts and rare calls, I charge it once for two days of work.
Thanks. I’m tempted as in and over ear headsets would be less preferable than something which rests outside. I still have another year and a half of teaching online so this would be a decent quality of life upgrade.
A little personal, but what moved me to actually buy them is that my mic on a webcam died that troubled my own online teaching. So far, it worked fine, even on long days if I didn’t forget to charge it. Check that thread and the product page before the purchase and you’d be golden. Keep on going, fellow tutor, although we are treated like shit worldwide, we are the gears that make our society spin (:
I honestly couldn’t say firsthand how the mic sounds, but I loaned it to a colleague and she said people noted how well they could hear her. She said she was going to get one herself even though she hadn’t quite figured out how to get it to work with her hair.
Battery life is good I think. I can’t remember exactly, and mileage varies, but while I wouldn’t bet my life on it lasting through eight hours straight of constant calls, it’s probably an all-day battery for the vast majority of people’s use cases.
My only real complaints are that the buttons are kind of confusing and poorly programmed (volume up/power is the forward of the two buttons on the bottom of the right arm behind your ear), and the charging cable is a weird proprietary magnetic thing.
Can you control the volume on the computer? I have a Mac in case that’s an issue.
Yeah, both computer and on-headset controls work for adjusting volume. But there’s a giant orange button on the side that could be a nice power button, but instead they use volume up. And volume up/down are positioned forward/back. It’s just a little perplexing.
Throwing in another vote for the OpenComm. Excellent work headset with multipoint.
Honestly, I feel like if there’d be implants, that’s one of the basic ones we can try first.
You’ve essentially described cochlear implants with Bluetooth.
Do you mean BAHA (bone anchored hearing aids). In this ,you still rely on amplification by means of a piece that’s anchored either magnetically or surgically to your skull.
Cochlear implants function completely differently in that there’s effectively a new pathway to the cochlea (it bypasses the damaged parts and goes straight to the inner ear structure). You have to learn how to hear in this new way.
Thank you very much for this post. I’m glad someone did the effort of getting some of those and presenting them from the PoV of a first time experience. I was curious.
However, I’m not sure what you meant with:
BUT when I shared it with others, people in body reported less effectiveness due to thickness of skin and under-dermal stuff, so it’s better to test it if you aren’t skinny as a skeleton.
At first it sounds like you say that overweight people have trouble using them (which is logical, the device needs to touch the bones), but then you go on saying that it doesn’t work for underweight people? I’m confused. Could you please elaborate a little? Thanks 🙂
I think they were saying that if you’re not super skinny, you ought to test them to make sure they work for you before buying them. Super skinny people can safely assume they would have good enough conductivity and could buy without testing with more confidence.
Not my opinion, never tested these.
Oh. Yes, that makes sense. I read it too literally I suppose (“better to test” as in “better to give it a try”, while “better to try it first” was meant). 🤪 thank you! 🙏
You are right on the money. My metabolism makes me super thin, so it’s ideal in my case as they sit right on the bones, but can be less effective for people of average or plus size proportions.
We tested some nicer ones for use in an industrial environment where hearing protection was required. They were great and let workers hear clearly while still being able to use their preferred PPE.
Any models stand out above the rest?
The ones we tested were these: https://a.co/d/f4FADbm
Unfortunately the project they were originally for was cancelled fairly quickly so we didn’t test any others
I went into my pair of bone conducting headphones (I have Shokz) understanding their purpose, namely that they are not for an audiophile level sound experience; they are for being able to be active and hear music or audiobooks while maintaining situational awareness.
Once I discovered I could use mine in the shower, I was hooked.
Can’t do that with my Bose.
A minor nuance: besides difference in battery power, different Shokz also have different standards of water resistance. My lowest tier shields it from rain, sweat, minor water exposure - and I tested it all. But standing in the shower or swimming for a long time is safer with higher tier models, and they are certified accordingly. I don’t know if it’s actually true, but they say so on their website.
The Trekz Titanium (maybe that is the correct spelling) won me over and I want all my headphones to be like that, forever. Sadly, not all boners (as we call them in the biz) are made the same, and my newer Open Run Pro (or whatever) are disappointing boners by comparison.
Upvoted for boners
I have the titanium and love them. They are perfectly adequate for listening to audiobooks on runs. On the road bike it can get drowned out by wind noise so hard to hear spoken word but music is OK.
They really shine when doing construction. I can use earplugs and the sound is way better with them in.
I have had both and I think they’re about the same except one issue I have. The Open Run sometimes just won’t charge even though the charging light is on. I’ll pick them up after hours and it’ll say “Battery low”. It’s annoying. I also wish double tapping the button didn’t dial the last number because it’s too easy to do.
That sucks to hear. I got the Titanium too. Would simply continue using that, but the battery seems to be bulging now. The new open run pro just feels flimsy by comparison and 1.3 times the original price of the Titanium.
I’m starting to consider other brands.
Can others hear whatever’s playing? Like if I’m wearing it on the bus or in library, can others hear my music?
I’ve never used one, but I’ve read reviews on the cheaper ones, they said it’s just speakers in front of your ears.
They use vibrations to drive your skull as a membrane to make a sound. If you turn them on 100% their own metal pieces would do the sound, but it’s still be silent as 10% volume on your smartphone.
As you can tell by my nickname, I’m from Russia and I tested it through and through, for there were sanctions against those that just scrolled anti-russian memes in a public transport. I watch oppositional figures every time I commute to and from work, so I guess it’s okay.
It’s safe privacy-wise. But as I said, you need to control the volume, because the max volume can exhaust your brain even if you don’t really hear it. But everything lesser than 70% isn’t heard by others even in silence.
Yup, that’s my experience as well. I even left mine running on my desk and I didn’t notice until I checked my bluetooth connections.
More or less. Bone conduction headphones still operate by vibrating, and vibration makes sound, no matter how small it is.
it does depend on the ones you have. The cheap ones are just speakers. I have one of the higher end shoks with audio boost and it feels like it has a little speaker on top of the bone conducting.
if you’re in a quiet room and you put them on max and leave it on your desk you’d probably be able to pick out what it’s playing. I think at that point though the desk is somewhat becoming a medium for the sound…
I use these at work where I have to use ear plugs. I hate in-ear headphones and these work perfect for my niche. Also get 2 workdays worth of battery life from these.
What I find a great bonus is that the mic on them does not pick any of the 80dB+ noise around me when I’m making calls. Also comfortable to the point that I sometimes forget I even wear them.
Also a physical button for pause/play so I don’t have to take off my gloves.
I find the default EQ quite bad with earplugs so I just use the parametric Wavelet EQ SW on my Android phone with quick preset for my other Sony WH1000XM3… Which sounds great on these as well especially for voices/vocals as I tend to listen to audio books.
I love my shockz. Literally been daily driving a pair for 4 years now. Even bought the new version even though my old ones are fine. So now I have two pairs. Of the most expensive ones
They do really last forever. Also nice in an office setting, allowing me to listen to stuff while being able to communicate with the people around me and I think people feel like I’m more approachable than with something in my ear
Might not be for everyone but it’s great
…my original aftershox aeropex eventually developed a stereo imbalance after about four years of daily (all day) use, but they were fantastic for a collaborative office environment where other headphones get in the way; i recently replaced them with shox openrun pro which offer improved bass response but are otherwise nearly indistinguishable (although i prefer the original UI voice)…
…of course they’re not high-fidelity headphones, but especially with the improved bass i find myself enjoying music in a way nothing short of speakers can replicate in a shared workspace; i just forget that they’re there more often than not…
…they make for transparently fluent remote conferences, too: it’s kind of funny, since i brought mine into the studio after the pandemic, they caught on and now half our office wears them…
Recently made a thread asking about these, lots of good info in the comments if anyone’s interested:
I’ve been giving these more and more of a thought lately. I like the idea that you can just leave them on and not worry about taking them out to hear things.
Only question. Can people near you hear them at all? Like on a plane?
In a quiet setting, with the headphones raised to 70-100% volume, people within 1-2m will be able to make out what you are listening too.
(This is with Aeropex from Aftershockz/AKA Shockz)
Keep in mind, at 100% volume they buzz and tickle on your skin, so I never have them set to 100% ever.
60-70% is clear enough for enjoyable listening.
A note about the Aeropex (and possible other Aftershockz/Shockz models) is that the volume-adjust-beep and bluetooth-connect-voice is very loud and cannot be adjusted.
This is my one true complaint, I have tinnitus already and that beep including the volume beep are what feels like 2-3 times louder than I ever have the volume set.
I try to connect it before putting on my head. Also, to pull the pads off ear or put the whole thing around neck, before doing a volume change. For an absolutely amazing headphone experience, this is a regrettable annoyance.
Yeah I did send them a message about that. Please fix in next firmware version lol
So at normal listening volumes no one can hear, but it sounds like normal listening volumes aren’t good enough for a plane?
I’ve combined these headphones with earplugs for a plane trip. Engine roar overpowers the sound for bone conducting headphones the same way it does for earbuds or headphones that don’t isolate. You might still need to crank the volume up, though. Planes are loud. No issue of other people overhearing it at that point though.
@realitista @andrew_bidlaw they’re really not good in loud places like a plane (for you) in my experience the person you’re on a call with will hear you just fine, but being open-ear designs they just can’t compete with jets.
They are very good for having background music going in offices and such - you can hear it, but you can have conversations over it without any trouble
From my experience it’s not louder on max volume than simple earbuds put out of ear. They have metal details, so they do serve as little membranes, but I don’t find them significant. I’m listening to a lot of problematic stuff on a daily basis and didn’t have any weird looks. Most people didn’t even recognize I’m listening to something in a calm office setting.
I’m on my third and fourth pair over what, 7.o years? Doesn’t work for music I don’t know the bass lines for. Absolutely brilliant for podcasts. And don’t cheap out, buy the top of the line ones.
I’ve had several pairs of aftershokz, almost all of them Bluetooth. Most recently I was gifted a pair of openrun pro. Shokz has made significant improvement since the first generation. I would put their modern versions on par with fairly average earbuds, with a notable bass drop off as the most significant audio fidelity issue.
They’re massively convenient. They sound rather good apart from the missing low end, and they’re easy to make into an all day wear.
I’ve worn headsets on top of my trekz, glasses, even headphones (don’t ask). They’re not the most comfortable when you have stuff on top of them, pushing them into your skull, but that’s expected.
Most people don’t notice I’m wearing them.
Honestly, 10/10 for convenience.
I also put headphones over them a couple of times. Two devices limit is not so convinient when you have a home PC, then office PC, your phone and sometimes even a tablet\handheld console. I feel like it’s the next thing they can improve to create an incentitive to buy a new pair of those.
Just a thought, but BT transmitters are a thing, you could pull in audio from several sources and pipe it to a transmitter and use it that way… Though, that would kind of defeat the purpose, IMO.
