The perfect bone conduction headphones 2024
The perfect bone conduction headphones in the marketplace will give you nice high quality audio whilst you train, all with out compromising your security, leaving your ears free to soak up your environment.
Pumping sound into your ears by sending vibrations via your cranium, bone conduction headphones are very talked-about with runners and cyclists, in addition to swimmers, because of their light-weight design, security, consolation, battery life, and waterproofing.
They’re excellent for exercising out on the highway as a result of you possibly can nonetheless pay attention out for visitors and hazards. Their design additionally lends them to sitting securely and comfortably in your head, making them an important different to a few of the finest exercise headphones on the market. Extra specialised bone conduction headphones will provide waterproofing and onboard MP3 storage so you should utilize them for pool and even open water swimming.
Now together with the OpenSwim Professional, listed here are our prime picks for the very best bone conduction headphones in 2024.
Matt Evans
Matt is TechRadar’s Health, Wellbeing and Wearables Editor, which implies he is an knowledgeable on exercises, sports activities headphones, and all issues health tech. Matt’s spent years overlaying the well being and health beat, and he commissions a group of swim-happy writers to assist curate this information.
The fast checklist
When you don’t have time to learn our full checklist of the very best bone conduction headphones, you possibly can learn the round-up beneath for a shortcut to the highest choices in your wants and price range.
1. H2O Audio Tri Multi-Sport
Finest total
The feature-rich H2O Audio Tri Multi-Sport comes with each Bluetooth and an 8GB MP3 participant, providing you with loads of choices for streaming your tunes. Sound is wealthy and it is well-priced, too.
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Finest worth
The YouthWhisper SuperQ3 does loads of issues fairly effectively, and it does it a super-low value of beneath $50. There’s Bluetooth streaming, together with throughout swims, first rate sound and good controls.
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Finest premium
The Shokz OpenSwim Professional function onboard storage for MP3 playback of as much as 8,000 songs. They’re waterproof and can be utilized for swimming in addition to train on land. Their elite design and comfy match make them our prime premium decide.
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Finest for working
Small and lightweight, with wonderful sound high quality and IP67 water-resistance, the Shokz OpenRun is the best choice for most individuals. The newer Professional mannequin gives superior specs, however prices extra.
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Finest for bass
Bone conduction headphones can sound tinny, however the Shokz OpenRun Professional has new bass transducers that ship far richer sound than every other mannequin we have examined. Dear, however price it.
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Finest for battery life
The Suunto Wing might solely have a four-hour battery life, nevertheless it comes with a charging dock which gives an extra three hours with simply 10 minutes of contact time.
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Finest for calls
Aimed on the workplace fairly than the fitness center, the OpenComm UC is extremely light-weight – so you possibly can put on it for hours at a time with out getting sore ears. Mic high quality can be much better than on most headsets.
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The perfect bone conduction headphones in 2024
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Beneath you will discover full write-ups for every of the very best bone conduction headphones in our checklist. We have examined every one extensively, so you possibly can ensure that our suggestions may be trusted.
The perfect bone conduction headphones total
The H2O Audio Tri Multi-Sport bone conduction headphones could also be among the many pricier choices on our checklist, however they’re actually the very best worth of the bunch being extra feature-rich than the others. Finest for swimming in addition to for land-based exercises, they arrive with its personal MP3 participant that shops 8GB’s price of music, which signifies that you do not have to depend on Bluetooth connectivity if you’re within the water. Outdoors of the water, nonetheless, you continue to have that Bluetooth connectivity so you possibly can stream any music or podcast you want.
Throughout our testing, they’ve additionally confirmed to be nice for listening typically – a little bit bass-heavy, however rich-sounding total in all modes. Worn above water, each music and podcasts boast stable sound, regardless whether or not you are utilizing Bluetooth or inside storage. Underwater, podcasts’ sound high quality was simply nearly as good, however you lose a few of the finer factors from music tracks.
The button controls are a little bit finnicky, so do take time to grasp and memorize them. Nevertheless, that is solely a really minor inconvenience and would not take away from the truth that these are the very best bone conduction headphones proper now.
Learn our full H2O Audio Tri Multi-Sport evaluate
The perfect worth bone conduction headphones
Various newer bone conduction headphones manufacturers are hesitant to advertise theirs as swim-friendly just because they don’t have built-in MP3 gamers and Bluetooth would not work effectively underwater. However, we had a go at swimming with the YouthWhisper SuperQ3 headphones anyway, and have been very stunned at how effectively it really works so long as you retain your telephone above water and your head near the floor.
That is a compromise you will should make if you wish to ensure you’re not lacking out on any telephone calls throughout your swims. In fact, these are higher suited to pool swims the place you possibly can maintain your telephone inside vary. The match is nice as effectively, guaranteeing they keep on throughout such swims.
The sound high quality is sweet right here, if a little bit tinny, and higher for podcasts than for music. Sporting the included earplugs does enhance issues a little bit bit, however they sort of beat the primary objective of those headphones. As for the controls, they’re straightforward to make use of even with moist palms.
Learn our full YouthWhisper SuperQ3 evaluate
The perfect premium bone conduction headphones
New for 2024, the Shokz OpenSwim Professional are a few of the finest bone conduction headphones we have examined this yr. They’re the beefier model of Shokz OpenSwim headphones, and include Bluetooth connectivity for music streaming, alongside their current assist for MP3 playback. 32GB of onboard storage is sufficient for 8,000 songs, so you possibly can swim with out a telephone in your neighborhood.
They’ve IP68 waterproofing, which implies they’re rated for as much as two hours at two meters of submersion, excellent for a fast triathlon or a pool session. Battery life is sweet for as much as 9 hours of Bluetooth playback, or 6 hours of streaming music from the onboard storage. The one quirk right here is that you’re going to must personal the music you wish to play out of your headphones, so in the event you depend on streaming companies like Spotify or Apple Music, they won’t be for you.
The over-ear design ensures comfy match for a variety of ear shapes, and at simply 27 grams you will hardly discover them in your head. Sound is delivered through Shokz’ PremiumPitch 2.0+, with clear audio and noise-cancelling as well. Sadly, they miss out on the newer Shokz ninth-gen bone conduction tech, however they’re nonetheless completely good of their subject.
Learn our full Shokz OpenSwim Professional evaluate
The perfect bone conduction headphones for working
The Shokz OpenRun (initially referred to as the AfterShokz Aeropex earlier than the corporate rebranded itself in December 2021) is a flagship headset that provides an impressively small and lightweight design, plus a slight step up in sound high quality over rival bone conduction headphones.
They’re 30% smaller and 13% lighter than the corporate’s older Trekz Air headphones, and so they have an IP67 water-resistance score, so that they’re a wonderful choice for train and use within the rain. Regardless of their slender body, they embody two bodily buttons to regulate quantity, and the transfer to a proprietary charging setup helps them obtain that improved water-resistance score. Twin noise-cancelling mics can be found when it’s good to take calls, too.
On the sound entrance, Shokz has adjusted its method to delivering audio to your ears to enhance the bass efficiency and provide much less vibration and sound leakage than the model’s different headphones. We discovered the enhancements in bass and readability to be noticeable, and with an improved eight hours of battery life and the identical quick-charge assist because the Trekz Air. The newer OpenRun Professional mannequin does provide extra superior specs, however the OpenRun are nonetheless a few of the finest bone conduction headphones round and a greater worth choice for most individuals.
Learn our full Shokz OpenRun evaluate
The perfect bone conduction headphones for bass
Often, choosing bone conduction headphones means sacrificing readability, however because of the Shokz OpenRun Professional that is now not the case. These headphones include a set of latest bass transducers that ship far richer sound than every other bone conduction headsets we have examined, which is an actual benefit for actions like working, the place a stable beat can drive you on. You may even tweak the EQ settings within the new Shokz app to optimize the sound for music or audiobooks.
Design-wise the OpenRun Professional are similar to the unique OpenRun (beneath), however Shokz has made just a few considerate design tweaks, together with repositioning the charging port, so it is now simpler to entry and growing the dimensions of the quantity/energy buttons. The headset continues to be mild and comfy to put on, and it stayed comfy throughout testing, even throughout our longest coaching runs. Plus, the quick-charge perform provides you an hour and a half of playtime on only a five-minute cost.
The one draw back is that these new bass transducers someday felt a little bit tickly in opposition to our cheekbones, however that is a minor gripe. The OpenRun Professional are the very best bone conduction headphones you should buy proper now, and so they show that choosing security would not should imply compromising on sound high quality.
Learn our full Shokz OpenRun Professional evaluate
The perfect bone conduction headphones for battery life
Suunto Wing is the one set of bone conduction headphones on this checklist with a transportable charging dock, which lets you cost the headset on the transfer. Meaning whereas the Wing headset itself solely has 4 hours of battery life, simply ten minutes of contact with the dock lengthen the battery by an extra three hours, providing the consumer a complete of 30 hours earlier than the dock needs to be recharged.
It is a nifty system, and in the event you’re utilizing the Wing for runs and rides, you are unlikely ot be figuring out for longer than 4 hours at a time (and even if you’re, you possibly can pack the dock in a slender working or biking backpack alongside together with your vitality gels and CamelBak). It permits so that you can use the Wing headphones even throughout multi-day path occasions, when expenses are few and much between.
In any other case, the Wing is well-constructed, through a mix of titanium and silicone, with a three-button management array and IP67 waterproof score. Whereas not absolutely swimproof, they’re theoretically in a position to deal with “quick durations of submersion” and greater than able to being worn in heavy rain. The one draw back is a comparatively excessive value level in comparison with a few of the older Shokz on the checklist.
Learn our full Suunto Wing evaluate
The perfect bone conduction headphones for calls
Headsets are tiring if you spend all day making calls. So, when Shokz determined to place bone conduction expertise in a productivity-minded headset, we have been right here for it. To start out, at 33 grams, the OpenComm UC is extremely light-weight. Because it weighs considerably lower than conventional headsets, you gained’t really feel such as you’re actually sporting something, even after hours of use. And, after all, your ears can be utterly uncovered so that they begin to really feel cramped or get sweaty.
We have been additionally very impressed with the mic high quality. Whereas it wasn’t fairly on par with holding a telephone as much as our face – an extended growth mic may need closed the hole – it’s nonetheless higher than most headsets on the market. In fact, you do should pay a hefty value for OpenComm UC and the vibrations of bone conduction expertise at greater volumes can really feel disagreeable however we predict it’s price the fee. And, because you’ll almost definitely get it to make calls, preserving the quantity at an affordable stage is simple.
Learn our full Shokz OpenComm UC evaluate
How to decide on the very best bone conduction headphones for you
How to decide on the very best bone conduction headphones for you
Whereas we suggest bone conduction headphones for health folks who wish to be extra conscious of their environment, they will also be helpful in any state of affairs the place you’d profit from listening to a mixture of your personal music and any background noise, corresponding to strolling on a busy road or working at dwelling whereas needing to pay attention out for members of the family or the doorbell.
However an excessive amount of alternative can really feel like a burden, which is the place we are available in – as a result of we have carried out the heavy-lifting (swimming, working and commuting) for you right here.
What we’re saying is, we have examined the very best bone conduction headphones you should buy proper now for coaching, attempting to beat your 10k and extra.
Proper now there aren’t as many bone conduction headphones to select from as different varieties of wi-fi headphones. Nevertheless, there are just a few factors to think about.
For instance, in the event you’re fascinated with investing in a pair of bone conduction headphones to be used whereas exercising, then be sure you test the IP (ingress safety) score, which can present a sign of how effectively they may be capable to fend off sweat and water.
What’s extra, those that can be utilizing the headphones to take calls, however who don’t need interplay with their smartphone whereas doing so, ought to search for items with built-in controls and a microphone.
There’s a lot extra to think about, together with the design, the match and price range. Let’s check out the highest bone conduction headphones of 2022 to search out out extra.
Do bone conduction headphones sound good?
The entire bone conduction headphones on this information provide an honest audio efficiency, however you are by no means going to get the identical sound high quality as you’d from a pair of in-ear headphones or over-ear headphones.
When you do wish to keep conscious of your environment with out sacrificing audio high quality, there are many true wi-fi earbuds on the market with transparency modes, which feeds in sound from the skin world to your ears.
Are there any well being advantages to utilizing bone conduction headphones?
Except for the plain advantages of being conscious of your environment whereas figuring out, bone conduction headphones might be higher in your listening to well being than earbuds, over-ear, and on-ear headphones.
That is as a result of they don’t seem to be driving air on to your ear drum, which may result in harm in the event you hearken to music at loud volumes.
Which Shokz headphones have the very best sound?
Whereas another fashions would possibly really feel extra comfy to put on, the best-sounding Shokz headphones are the OpenRun Professional. As we talked about in our information above, these headphones include a set of up to date bass transducers that ship far richer sound than every other bone conduction headsets we have examined. You may even alter the sound profile within the Shokz app utilizing the EQ settings to additional tailor the audio to your liking.
How we check bone conduction headphones
We have examined dozens of bone conduction headphones over time, which places us in an important place to pick our favorites for this information.
We’ve reviewed each pair listed above. In every case, we give the product loads of time to run earlier than evaluating its sound high quality throughout quite a lot of music genres, video games, films, and podcasts, from a number of sources, in opposition to identified class leaders within the class. Sound high quality is clearly a precedence, however we perceive bone conduction headphones aren’t going to offer the identical listening expertise as over-ear headphones or earbuds.
We additionally take into account how comfy it’s to put on these headphones over prolonged durations, and the way safe the match goes to be, particularly when exercising.
With regards to further options, we take a look at voice assistant integration, on-device contact controls, how complete the companion app is and anything that every set of bone conduction headphones supplies.
We additionally consider these battery life claims to make sure we might give an correct opinion on how lengthy they may final in regular use. In the end, we wish you to have a product you will be over the moon with. We hope we assist you obtain that.
