(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
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.
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.
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.
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.
I had a pair I bought at big lots like 20ish years ago. They were pretty cool, but uncomfortable fitting around my big ass head. Positioning them was annoying and the sound quality wasn’t the best. The novelty wore off and I wasn’t using headphones nearly enough back then.
Lately though, I’ve been thinking about getting a pair again, as every time I put my sennheisers on, someone inevitably comes in to talk to me. Would be good at work for overnights too, where I have to be able to hear people out of their room/walking around. I’m sure the technology and fit has gotten better and I can afford ones that weren’t on sale a big lots!
As I said, you can use the cheapest on-brand pair, so you don’t lose much if they won’t be your thing. At least for Shokz, as I googled, they don’t differ much - mostly by their standard of being water-proof and the battery. I’m looking forward to your experience with them, especially if you take the other brand or model. Good luck!
The sound is a bit weak compared to full headphones, and the lack of bass is accurate. In a quiet settting they are a nice way to hear sound similar to a boom box aince tou can atill hear the stuff around you.
The one thing I don’t like, which also affects the sound, is that without an adjustable back it sits kind of weird and lays down on my neck. If I hold it up slightly in the back it sounds far better than resting after movement.
I wouldn’t call it a lack, more like lack of boosting these freqs for easy sells. I dislike the lack of mids and highs in budget headphones.
I did experience the latter as I wrote in another comment with high collars and caps. I wonder if they can make the wire softer. But I didn’t encounter the problem with positioning, at least with my model.
There’s a curve called the Harman curve which is the most common listener preference. It is based originally on measuring how headphones can reproduce flat frequency response speakers.
The bass boost in Samsung or JBL studio products is not “for easy sells”, it’s based on actual research on listeners.
There are three different bass preferences, one is a bass shelf at like 200Hz with a small boost, which is the most common, where two thirds of people like it. Another is flat bass which is preferred by older or female listeners, and even more bass is preferred by young males.
Not very many products have a huge bass for young male listeners since that’s the smallest group. I think Sony over ears are the most popular product with a big bass
https://kuulokenurkka.squig.link/?share=Harman_2018_Target,WH-1000XM3_(ANC_ON)
And there’s a user with actual theory. Thank you.
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.
I’m sure DankPods made a video about bone conduction headphones on YouTube. He tested 3 different models from different manufacturers and… well, he had quite a lot to say about them, especially when comparing them to sunglasses that are also headphones.
Can you post a link? There’s a lot of bad and good stories about them in this thread. It’d be great if persons considering these devices would read them first.
Thanks for delivering it. I liked that vid, but surprisingly not only for comparison of different pairs, but for introducing me to headphoneXsunglasses device. This concept left me in LOLWUT state for minutes (:
I’ve been using various Aftershokz/Shokz models for many years and well over a thousand hours. They are a great option for speech-focused contents like podcasts, audiobooks and that’s what I use them for. I almost never use them for music, the lack of bass (even with earplugs) just doesn’t do it for me. But I don’t find any earbuds satisfactory for music either so maybe I am more picky than most.
I agree with OP about the controls. They are workable but could be much better even considering the limited inputs. I particularly hate the choice of triple-click for backwards-seek and I mess up the timing half the time. Another pet-peeve is the loud beep on play/pause that cannot be turned off. Using the phone/computer controls instead of the on-device ones avoid these issues.
As far as models I originally got the Aeropex and later on “downgraded” to the OpenMove. The audio quality is comparable between the two, the only thing you are missing with the lower end model is comfort - but that is highly subjective! I actually prefer the way the OpenMove feels.
I really wish that there was more competition in this space. The Shokz products are a bit overpriced and slow to evolve and the rest of the options I’ve seen seems lower quality and worse form factor. Would love to hear if anybody has found a different brand that they prefer over the Shokz models.
I would subscribe to every paragraph of yours. Especially the loud notifications. For some reason they don’t adjust to the chosen volume.
I don’t know, how are they popular, but I guess if they’d be a daily driver for many, there would be an interest for others to participate in a competition. But from what I see in Russia where I live, the topmost models are cheap airpods and beats replicas, and I’m probably in the dozen of those who use that tech at all, and I don’t see anyone also using them. It’d take decades and kilometers of my and others’ fanboying to change that.
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.
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.
I also have the same headphones and they are great I just have two complaints listening at loud volumes, which I don’t do often would physically hurt my bones. And also phones calls also hurt my bones.
How long did it took to start happening? Right at the beginning or after some time? I haven’t felt that yet, but it sounds very important for that thread. Do you have some health condition amplifying it?
I use cheap-ass ones I bought on AliExpress when I need to wear earplugs like mowing the lawn or using the snowblower.
They’re doing the job at least.
What else we need from them anyway? (:
but I’m impressed with how nice IDM and metal plays on them
Industrial Doom Metal?
Ire-inducing Depeche Mode?
Irish Derpy Music?
Instructional Defense Material?
Intelligent Dance Music. You know, the tag that got stuck with Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher and others, although they collectively hate it. I love their weird experiments.
Like this one: https://youtu.be/GlhV-OKHecI?si=LM7dA3P0cVrO-k9x But be aware, there’s a lot of bright flashes and both sound and video can cause a headache.
Guess I can’t go wrong with Rory in the early 20s, Igorrr, Shackleton, Moon Wiring Club, Moi, Spresso & Mika Levi and others, using bone conducting headphones…
Thanks for the heads up, i need to buy new headphones soon
Thanks for reco-s. From your list I only listened to Igorrr. Seems like I’m in for a ride (:
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.
Mileage may vary, but they tickle my ears when playing on high volumes. The sound quality also isn’t great compared to similarly priced in-ears, let alone over-ears.
That said, they’re great to use as a headset for work and videoconferencing and for other situations when you need to be able to hear.
Yeah, they suck compared to mid-range headphones from Senchs and alike, especially if you listen to quality recordings and rips. But for lower quality speach, streaming and youtube they are decent. And, excluding moments of me being at home and enjoying the new recording, they cover most of my daytime.
I listened to them in the store. The sound is far from okay, bad bass, bad treble. It’s like one of those airplane earbuds they give out for free.
I had a Chinese knockoff that I tried as well, it made my ears hurt because when you turn up the sound to where you can hear it, it’s actually too loud and you will be hurting your inner ear
I just got a nice in-ear noise cancelling TWS with noise cancellation and I go to the gym. I listen to nothing when I need to be aware of the surroundings because hearing the outside noise actually reduces how well you can hear your music
That’s not for everyone, and I’m happy you’ve found your way. Thanks for writing that, so people can consider your POV too.
Heard a colleague be very positive about his Shokz so I thought I’d get some bone conducting headphones too, got the Phillips ones and I just can’t imagine they are the same quality because I’m not impressed. UX is super bad; buttons are hard to press and cause the contact points to move (which need to be pretty precise for me to be able to hear decently) so ok I just use the Bluetooth volume change. Also the volume of the voice announcer that says “low battery” every 15 seconds when you go below 20% battery is not relative to the devices current volume, so it just absolutely SCREAMS at you while you’re just chilling…. Would not recommend anyone with heart problems.
About the announcements’ volume - Shokz do that too, and it’s frustrating. It’s weird that it’s a thing that needs a small patch, but it’s still a problem for years and even with other brands.
Buttons on Shokz feel nice tho. Weirdly placed on the bottom of the headphone instead of the side of it, but I had no troubles using them.
