In the holiday shopping spree I’ve been getting ads from https://aftershokz.com
Bone conduction seems interesting for sports but I do have a set of Bose Pulse that I love. Does anybody have any experience with bone conduction earphones… uh… maybe it’s bonephones??
Is it close to regular earphones or would nobody ever confuse the two? Do they not exist for audiophiles?
My coworker was asking about this the other day for cycling. I have no idea, but curious to hear any experiences.
I have a set of Aftershokz Titanium. I bought it with the intention to use it while doing chores around the house, watching the baby, or walking around with friends. While it works perfectly for those situations, the SQ is really bad. You get better sound out of those free earbuds you got with your smartphone 7 years ago. For these purposes, any of the Audeze iSine IEMs do a much better job since they produce excellent sound with zero isolation.
However, for situations where you need complete awareness and resistance to wind noise, like cycling or snowboarding, bone conduction might do a better job. I can see the iSine IEMs being quite bad with wind blowing across the shells. Also, I wouldn’t want to get any sweat around an iSine, whereas the Aftershokz are quite sweat-resistant.
Overall, I think bone conduction is an interesting technology, but not suited for audiophiles at all. At best, the sets allow you to have background music while keeping your ears free.
Thank you! That’s exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for!
Back in the day of As Seen On TV marketing, I saw and tried the original blue Bone Fone. A few people owned them around me. The effect is real but “one note.” All the owners gave up after at most 2 years.
If you ever owned a cheap one note subwoofer you’ll understand. But modern cheap subwoofers are often better. The new Bose collar had no apparent bone conduction when I tested it, and I’m sure they researched the possibility.
Yeah, I’ve looked at that Bose collar too, how did you like that?
Please see my comments in the Wearables topic. On mobile now.
I had a Jabra Bone Phone headset. Not bad in windy environments. This was strictly a talk on your cellphone one ear headset.
Just a bump on this thread, I finally had a chance to check out the AfterShokz Titanium yesterday. One thing that surprised me is that even when they are not on you can hear them, part of it is traditional headphone (I thought they would be silent when not on your head, that’s not the case.)
Bass is definitely lacking and it seems like you could get better sound from an open IEM at a lower price. In its defense I thought it would sound much worse. It’s far better than the non-Bose sunglass wearables I’ve tried.
They’re great for podcasts when you’re on the go, but I just couldn’t make their fit work for me in most cases, especially laying down or wearing any shirt with a collar. If you plan to use them for anything but vocals, you’ll probably end up disappointed.
Are the Bose sunglasses headphones using bone conduction?
I urge anyone looking for something to wear every day to look into the Aftershokz Aeropex.
IMO, the sound signature isn’t the most sexy and I wouldn’t consider them Hi-fi, but the tuning and design/engineering decisions that Aftershokz made make the Aeropex a much more compelling product than any true wireless or IEM for that matter.
I enjoy them a lot for podcasts and YouTube. Bass is quite lacking, but that’s not needed for vocal intelligibility.
My only beef with them is that I think they’re louder than they seem, and I can get fatigued sometimes, so I try to keep the volume as low as possible while still keeping things audible.
That’s very interesting. I was going to say I never get fatigued by them but I also keep the volume quite low xD
Yeah, in general use fatigue isn’t a problem. Where it becomes an issue for me is in louder environments where I have to turn up the volume. Like if I’m sitting in a convertible at highway speeds.
Oh yeah. That’ll do it
I am a solo musician with guitar, backing tracks and microphone. My foldback system is an in ear monitor belt pack - I can plug in any headphones I like. I also wear a wireless mic with its own belt pack. I am looking to replace my CCD C10 headphones with ambiance awareness microphones. I cannot block my hearing of the speakers in the room because I am not only the musician, I am also the sound guy.
Airdrives were released in about 2007 from what I understand. They are nice and streamlined, don’t cover the ears, and the cables can be run to the belt pack nicely, with TipRingSleeve instead of the troublesome TipRingRingSleeve 3.5mm connector. The trouble is, I can’t find them for sale in Australia, or anywhere else in the world. Does anyone else know where to buy them or know of an equivalent for use with my belt pack? As this discussion is specifically for bone conduction in ear monitors, I assume you are all solo musicians who need to control audience sound levels, avoid feedback and use the headphones for real time foldback. Please let me know if you know where to buy airdrives or something similar that does not block ambience awareness, has a stereo TRS (NOT stereo/mic TRRS) 3.5mm connector. Apple headphones are also pretty good for allowing outside sounds in but they are white and look unprofessional, and have the wrong connector: A TRRS plug needs to be pulled out half a millimetre to work properly, as I’m sure you know. Please help. Thanks.
the problem is low end production, I have those aftershokz, the sound is thin, and almost no bass
Hey everyone, just looking to find the best bone conduction headphones in 2021, there is a lot of mixed reviews out there. I thought the afterShokz aeropex looked good and after listening to Unbox therapy “are bone conduction headphones right for you?” I am keen to take the dive and get myself a pair.
Any suggestions?
I found a site comparing bone conduction headphones - https://headphonecomparison.com/best-bone-conduction-headphones/ but I am not 100%. Is there any comparison websites that anyone can recommend?
Thanks,
Tom