As you prepare for marathon season, I like to recommend utilizing bone conduction headphones for all of your music-playing wants. Bone conduction headphones are a runner’s favourite for his or her snug design and talent to maintain listeners conscious of their environment. However bone conduction headphones aren’t simply helpful for operating — they’re nice for intense exercises, outside walks, and even swimming.
Additionally: The perfect headphones for understanding
Many outside runners attribute the open-ear design to elevated environmental consciousness and security from vehicles. You may nonetheless really feel each beat and listen to each element of your music, podcast, or audiobook. For those who’re going all-in in your health targets this summer time, coaching for that marathon, or need to take heed to music as you swim laps within the pool or hike up a mountain, bone conduction headphones might be your rugged health companion.
Additionally: Operating a race? These 5 tech must-haves acquired me throughout the end line
What are the very best bone conduction headphones proper now?
ZDNET has performed hands-on testing and analysis to spherical up the very best bone conduction headphones available on the market. Our examined choose for the very best bone conduction headphones total is the Shokz OpenRun Professional, due to their incredible audio high quality, light-weight match, and beneficiant battery life. Learn on to be taught extra about the very best bone conduction headphones you should buy.
The perfect bone conduction headphones of 2024
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Shokz OpenRun Professional
Finest bone conduction headphones total
Not like earlier iterations of bone conduction headphones, the Shokz OpenRun Professional skip the in-ear buds design with out jeopardizing audio high quality and readability, digging right into a premium headphone at a not-too-shabby pricepoint. Due to Shokz TurboPitch engineering and Shokz ninth bone conduction expertise, our testing concluded that safer operating not has an ample sound tradeoff with these headphones.
ZDNET contributor Matthew Miller tried out the OpenRun Professional headset, and lauded the “light-weight, snug, and sturdy” design, and famous how little discomfort or strain he felt whereas sporting and exercising with the headset. And customers agree: As one Finest Purchase buyer and OpenRun Professional proprietor put it, “This headphone is a singular audio marvel that beautifully combines expertise, design, and luxury.”
Evaluation: Shokz OpenRun Professional
To assist them keep in place throughout your exercise, Shokz features a headband along with your bone conduction headphones. The titanium body merely wraps round your head for a light-weight match that’s straightforward to put on if you end up most energetic.
Shokz OpenRun Professional tech specs: Sort: Open ear | Wired/wi-fi: Wi-fi | Waterproof ranking: IP55 | Weight: 1.02 ounces | Battery life: 10 hours | Dimensions: 6.61 x 5.35 x 2.64 inches
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Philips Go A7607
Finest bone conduction headphones for outside listening
Carry these bone conduction headphones to the workplace on your convention calls after which take them proper to the gymnasium for a weight-lifting session or on an outside run afterward—they’re that versatile. They’ve an IP66 ranking, making them waterproof and sweatproof, and their open-ear kind issue makes them a terrific selection for somebody who needs to be as conscious of their environment as they’re immersed within the content material they’re streaming.
ZDNET editor Jada Jones switched from AirPods to the Phillips Go A7607 whereas happening outside walks. She experiences that they not solely give her extra peace of thoughts as a younger lady strolling alone but in addition ship groove-able audio that will get “a lot loud.” Amazon reviewers additionally complimented the headphones’ waterproof ranking and lengthy battery life.
Evaluation: Philips Go A7607
These headphones are made for athletes and health junkies, with just a few delicate options that make them a match for any outside train obsessive. The neckband integrates a vibrant crimson LED mild that helps you keep seen to vehicles and other people when you want to train at night time.
Philips Go A7607 tech specs: Sort: Open ear | Wired/wi-fi: Wi-fi | Waterproof ranking: IP66 | Weight: 1.3 ounces | Battery life: 9 hours | Dimensions: 6.65 x 5.31 x 2.72 inches
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Shokz OpenSwim Professional
Finest bone conduction headphones for swimming
Avid swimmers will get lots out of the brand new Shokz OpenSwim Professional in case your’re seeking to shake up the monotony of limitless laps within the pool. The OpenSwim Professional has a cushty match that stays in your head, an extended battery, and superb sound. “So long as you might have entry to your individual saved music recordsdata, this headset is a strong choice for waterproof beats,” Matt Miller writes in his evaluate.
For those who’re new to bone conduction headphones for swimming, know these aren’t like your common Bluetooth headphones. You may’t hook up with your cellphone with them and play Spotify or Apple Music within the water. As an alternative, the headphones function in MP3 mode. You’ll load your audio recordsdata onto the OpenSwim Professional by connecting it to your laptop and transferring the recordsdata over. This additionally means you may want some songs in MP3 mode to get probably the most out of those within the water.
Miller suggests putting in the Shokz app to assist customary and swimming modes. The app additionally works for EQ settings, multipoint pairing, bodily button customization, and battery standing.
Evaluation: Shokz OpenSwim Professional
Due to the design of those headphones, you may’t put on them and likewise cowl your ears with a swim cap, which is one thing to bear in mind if you’re making an attempt to keep away from water entering into your ears as you swim. However in addition to that, these are extremely recommendable waterproof headphones that may please any swimmer.
Shokz OpenSwim Professional tech specs: Sort: Open ear | Wired/wi-fi: Wi-fi | Waterproof ranking: IP68 | Weight: 27.3 oz | Battery life: 9 hours
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Mojawa Run Plus bone conduction headphones
Finest Shokz OpenRun Professional dupe
ZDNET contributor Jack Wallen changed his $180 pair of Shokz OpenRun Execs with these $160 bone conduction headphones, and he says he is fairly happy with them. They provide a terrific person expertise and comparable sound high quality to the Shokz OpenRun Professional bone conduction headphones. Plus, they’ll face up to sweaty exercises, which Wallen discovered tough for different bone conduction headphones to attain. You may run with these, however you too can swim with them, given their IP68 waterproof ranking.
Evaluation: Mojawa Run Plus
The contact controls are intuitive (and much bigger than the buttons on the Shokz headphones), and the sound is nice. “For those who commonly train and produce appreciable sweat (and are not involved about the very best sound attainable), these are for you. Additionally, when you discover the Shokz OpenRun Professional headphones difficult to manage, the Mojawa gear will make you very completely happy,” Wallen writes in his evaluate.
A number of Amazon patrons additionally in contrast the Run Plus to the OpenRun Professional and concluded that the Run Plus is a winner in most classes, like consolation, battery, and sound high quality. Plus, these will swimsuit swimmers and outside runners with a extra strong waterproof ranking than the OpenRun Professional.
Mojawa Run Plus tech specs: Sort: Open ear | Wired/wi-fi: Wi-fi | Waterproof ranking: IP68 | Weight: 0.07 kilos | Battery life: 8 hours | Dimensions: 3.9 x 3.1 x 1.2 inches
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Bose Extremely Open Earbuds
Finest splurge bone conduction headphones
At $300, these Bose Extremely Open earbuds will not work for everyone. However when you’re a runner who prioritizes consciousness and incredible sound, these earbuds are about to grow to be your favourite operating accent. The Extremely Open makes use of bone and air conduction to ship music that does not take you out of your setting whereas providing incredible sound. The design is exclusive, too: the earbuds cuff to your ear like a clip-on earring, and thru this design, they keep put. You may transfer and shake your head all you need — they will not budge.
Evaluation: Bose Extremely Open
They’re the primary earbuds I might put on all over the place, whether or not taking part in music or off. The design and sound make it really easy to handle environmental consciousness that I saved them in whereas grocery purchasing in a busy Dealer Joe’s, on the subway, and whereas strolling house. Normally, if a pair of earbuds is not taking part in, I will take away them from my ears as a result of they take me out of my setting. These do not. They’re additionally nice to put on on lengthy runs and may deal with mud and water.
Nevertheless, one draw back to those earbuds is how the connection tends to go out and in on sure events. Individuals on Reddit agree and have complained concerning the earbuds’ tendency to disconnect randomly.
For those who’re thinking about conscious sound, need a substitute for bone conduction headphones, and are keen to pay a premium worth, these are actually price it.
Bose Extremely Open earbuds specs: Sort: Open ear/ear cuff | Wired/wi-fi: Wi-fi | Waterproof ranking: IPX4 | Weight: .01 kilos | Battery life: 7.5 hours
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Shokz OpenFit Air
Finest open-ear different
ZDNET’s Matt Miller ran, cycled, indoor rowed, and commuted with the Shokz OpenFit Air headphones, and he says they’re a terrific choice for individuals who need to ditch bone conduction headphones however nonetheless preserve consciousness. The OpenFit Air improves on consolation and worth from the earlier mannequin (these are someway cheaper than the OpenFit), however what you acquire in consolation and worth you lose in battery life.
Evaluation: Shokz OpenFit Air
Open-ear headphones are slightly completely different from bone conduction headphone in that they dangle in your ear as a substitute of wrapping round your head. Miller complimented the fashionable contact that you just get with the improve, and says they are a thoughtfully designed but inexpensive choice.
“For those who’re thinking about conserving your ears open whereas understanding and do not like bone-conduction headsets, I extremely advocate the OpenFit Air, even over the OpenFit mannequin with the $60 financial savings and really restricted compromises made to attain that lower cost,” Miller writes in his evaluate of the product.
Shokz OpenFit Air tech specs: Sort: Open ear | Wired/wi-fi: Wi-fi | Waterproof ranking: IP54 | Battery life: 6 hours
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The perfect bone-conduction headphones are the Shokz OpenRun Professional, an IP55 waterproof set with built-in Bluetooth 5.1 expertise and the longest battery life on this listing. With their conventional over-the-ear design and light-weight construct, they earn our vote for the very best bone conduction headphones.
To see how they stack up, right here is an summary of the opposite high picks on this listing.
| Finest bone conduction headphones | Value | Battery life | Waterproofing |
| Shokz OpenRun Professional | $180 | 10 hours | IP55 |
| Philips Go A760 | $120 | 9 hours | IP66 |
| Shokz OpenSwim Professional | $180 | 9 hours | IP68 |
| Mojawa Run Plus | $160 | 8 hours | IP68 |
| Bose Extremely Open | $300 | 7.5 hours | IPX4 |
| Shokz OpenFit Air | $120 | 6 hours | IP54 |
*MSRP on the time of writing. Please notice that precise costs could differ relying on obtainable gross sales, offers, reductions, and coupons.
Need to be sure to select the pair of bone conduction headphones that greatest fit your wants and ears? This chart additional breaks down our favourite options.
| Select these bone conduction headphones… | If you need… |
| Shokz OpenRun Professional | Bone conduction headphones with Bluetooth 5.1 and a 10-hour battery life. These are the very best bone conduction headphones on the listing for audio high quality and it is ninth-generation bone conduction expertise. |
| Philips Go A7607 | A flexible pair of bone conduction headphones that can be utilized for outside listening. |
| Shokz OpenSwim Professional | A pair of bone conduction headphones for swimming with an IP68 ranking which might be snug to put on as you move laps within the coaching pool. |
| Mojawa Run Plus | An OpenRun Professional dupe with an IP68 ranking for these excessive depth, sweaty exercises or swimming periods. Many critiques say that these work even higher than the OpenRun Professional, for $20 much less. |
| Bose Extremely Open | The costliest bone conduction headphones on this listing. The Bose Extremely Open earbuds provide up a singular design that stays slot in your ear and delivers superb sound whereas conserving you conscious of your setting. The earbuds provide all-day consolation and a kind issue that makes it straightforward to clip in your ears even when music is turned off. |
| Shokz OpenFit Air | A pair of open-ear headphones that provide superb sound, a good battery life, and a worth level that is $60 cheaper than its older mannequin. |
There are just a few important components to bear in mind as you store round for a pair of bone conduction headphones. Listed here are an important ones to contemplate.
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Sort: There are various various kinds of bone conduction headphones, reminiscent of over-the-ear or in-ear bone conduction headphones. Would you like these headphones for swimming underwater, operating open air in rain, or doing slightly little bit of each, plus some convention calls and informal listening? Everybody has a desire, and a few bone conduction headphones will work splendidly for swimming however fail at informal outside listening. Understanding your supposed use is the primary and most important issue to contemplate.
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Sound high quality: This comes as no shock, however if you’re spending $100 to $200 on a pair of headphones, they need to have first rate sound that is not tinny, warbled, or muffled. Bone conduction headphones and nice sound high quality do not at all times go collectively, however we have now examined and chosen headphones that do certainly provide superb sound high quality whereas conserving you conscious of your environment.
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Battery life: The bone conduction headphones on this listing have common battery lives of 8.5 hours. If you’ll spend greater than $100 on a pair of headphones, its battery life ought to final you greater than two or three train periods.
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Sweat and waterproof ranking: In case you are a swimmer, contemplate a water-proof ranking of IP68. In case you are an open air runner who workouts in inclement climate (or simply sweats lots) search for a water-proof ranking of at the very least IP55.
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Value: From $30 to $200, the bone conduction headphones on this listing vary in worth. However you’re getting what you pay for. As talked about within the listicles above, a less expensive pair of headphones may have shorter battery life and longevity, whereas a dearer pair will final you longer and be extra sturdy.
ZDNET went hands-on with a lot of the picks on this listing, and we’re continually testing the most recent and hottest tech to replace these suggestions accordingly. Once we take a look at a product, we sometimes spend just a few weeks if not longer making an attempt it out in a number of environments earlier than writing up a evaluate and including it to this listing. Once we do not like a product, we cannot embrace it on this listing (as a result of who needs to learn a evaluate of a defective headphone?). For these headphones, our contributors have gone on runs and swam in them, placing them to the take a look at in various situations to see simply how effectively they’ll carry out.
We all know that investing in expertise may be costly, so we take note worth, efficiency, person expertise, buyer critiques, longevity, and battery life, and solely advocate merchandise we might truly use ourselves.
For extra on our testing course of, take a look at our in depth headphone testing methodology web page.
Bone conduction headphones use vibrations to transmit sound waves on to the interior ear, bypassing the eardrum. Not like in-ear buds or over-ear headphones, which seal in sounds and transmit noise that vibrates from the eardrum and to the cochlea (the a part of your ear that responds to noise), bone conduction headphones work by emitting vibrations that keep away from the eardrum and go straight to the cochlea, SoundGuys author Lily Katz defined in a latest article.
It was Beethoven himself who pioneered this music-listening methodology. When his listening to was deteriorating, Beethoven would put the top of a stick on his piano and chunk the opposite facet of it to really feel the music come via his jaw, and listen to with out his ears, in accordance to ZME Science.
These headphones sometimes sit on the cheekbones and use a small transducer to ship vibrations via the bones of the face to the interior ear. This permits customers to listen to the audio clearly, whereas nonetheless with the ability to hear their environment. This may be helpful for individuals who work in noisy environments or for individuals who are arduous of listening to. In addition they can be utilized for people who find themselves unable to put on conventional headphones as a consequence of bodily situations.
This distinctive engineering of bone conduction headphones may cut back the inner-ear trauma of jamming out with earbuds.
Not all bone conduction headphones are waterproof, so it is very important examine the waterproof or waterproof ranking on a set earlier than making a purchase order. If you would like a pair of waterproof bone conduction headphones that you could swim in, search for a ranking of IP68.
Bone conduction headphones can differ considerably in worth, relying on the producer and mannequin that you just select. Our picks for the very best bone conduction headphones vary in value from $30 to $200 every.
Attributable to their design, they are not the premium headphone choice for audio high quality. However likelihood is you are not in search of them out for audio high quality functions. Bone conduction headphones, due to an open design, will help total listening to well being and enhance environmental consciousness.
For instance, Dr. Kelvin Fernandez, a doctor and healthcare educator at Ace Med Boards, calls them an actual game-changer within the medical realm and cites a time they helped his affected person, an up-and-coming musician affected by listening to loss. “They let him hold doing what he cherished. It was an actual emotional win and an ideal instance of how tech could make life higher,” Fernandez stated.
Aftershokz merchandise are nonetheless round and thriving, however at the moment, they’re referred to as Shokz after a December 2021 rebranding. Considered one of Aftershokz’s high merchandise and our greatest bone conduction headphones for newbies, the Aftershokz Aeropex, is now referred to as the Shokz OpenRun.
Outdoors of those six bone conduction headphones, there are additionally a handful of others that caught our consideration. Manufacturers like AfterShokz and Pyle Bone make nice different selections. We have gone palms on with these bone conduction headphones as effectively if those above do not fit your fancy.
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ZDNET sourced exterior business specialists for this text. Right here is extra details about them:
- Dr. Kelvin Fernandez: A doctor and healthcare educator at Ace Med Boards, which helps take a look at prep and and tutor medical college students.