Bone conducting headphones - info/recommendations/advice

[Kim]

Next to a main road, the traffic noise swamps the audio, but this is probably an artefact of my reverse ski slope deafness

My friend reports the same.  They have normal (if anything, unusually acute) hearing.

[Beardy]

So my ears are acting like normal ears. There’s a first time for everything 
Thanks Kim.

[tiermat]

@Beardy, from experience of several pairs of these the tickly feeling wears off after a while, it's not about getting used to it, just they "wear in"

[SteveC]

Thanks to everyone for the comments (and the picture).
I'm on holiday in a caravan at the moment, hence the delay in replying.
I will give a pair a go when I get home  Probably won't go for the most expensive sort, but we will see.

[rafletcher]

Mine are the Titanium’s, and I paid £50 on eBay for a sealed box set. It’s amazing how well they work!

[Polar Bear]

mllePB struggles with keeping "in ear" devices in so having seen and read about these I bought a pair of Aftershokz.  They work for her so I bought myself a set.

My opinion to date: 

1:  no more worries of one dropping out and becoming lost.
2:  the sound is nowhere near as rich as that from my Bose Sounds ports or B&O Beoplays but it is still very very good.  Impressive even.
3:  comfy to a fault. 
4:  I really like not blocking out my surroundings when out and about.  As I am not a music lover this isn't a problem as comedy, plays, audio books, etc come through just fine and yet I can rely upon my hearing to pick up stealth pavement cyclists, etc.  Love this bit.

Drawbacks:

1:  bespoke charging cable.  I mean really, why do the likes of Garmin and Aftershokz (and many, many more) just not adopt a standard?   

I shall use these as my default outside of the house. 

I suspect that our respective pairs of Bose Soundsport wireless earphones will become surplus to requirements. 

[Paul H]

1:  bespoke charging cable.  I mean really, why do the likes of Garmin and Aftershokz (and many, many more) just not adopt a standard?   

It isn't that they haven't adopted it, they've abandoned it.  I have both Garmins and Aftershokz using standard cables, even though those two are not the same standard.

[rafletcher]

I'm sure my titaniums are standard micro USB for charging, same as my Garmin computers, and several other devices.  The oddball cable is the Forerunner watch.

ETA: I checked, and yes, it’s a micro USB, like many other devices I have (Garmin computers, Android phones etc.)

[Beardy]

mllePB struggles with keeping "in ear" devices in so having seen and read about these I bought a pair of Aftershokz.  They work for her so I bought myself a set.

My opinion to date: 

1:  no more worries of one dropping out and becoming lost.
2:  the sound is nowhere near as rich as that from my Bose Sounds ports or B&O Beoplays but it is still very very good.  Impressive even.
3:  comfy to a fault. 
4:  I really like not blocking out my surroundings when out and about.  As I am not a music lover this isn't a problem as comedy, plays, audio books, etc come through just fine and yet I can rely upon my hearing to pick up stealth pavement cyclists, etc.  Love this bit.

Drawbacks:

1:  bespoke charging cable.  I mean really, why do the likes of Garmin and Aftershokz (and many, many more) just not adopt a standard?   

2: the battery monitor function lacks granularity, and I have yet to determine where the actual trigger points lie.

I shall use these as my default outside of the house. 

I suspect that our respective pairs of Bose Soundsport wireless earphones will become surplus to requirements.

[SteveC]

The AfterShokz Titanium arrived on Thursday, so got their first proper trial on Friday morning. Running with them is no problem, which is great. There is a bit of congestion round my ears with three devices there at the same time, so one ear was a bit sore by the end of the day, but I had worn them all morning while working.
So a success all round.

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread.

[lastant]

Aftershokz are currently promoting a Buy One Get One Free…it’s a bit of a ‘fiddle’ in that you buy a pair of their Aeropex sets for £149.95 and get a random colour of their Air sets for free (supposedly worth £99.95) which I assume means they’re being phased out - but a freebie’s a freebie and might be of use to someone…?

https://aftershokz.co.uk/

[Pickled Onion]

Yet another pair of the titanium "trekz" has failed. First bought in 2017 and replaced twice under guarantee.

I've bought the aeropex version to replace them (£122 from Winstanley Bikes, currently £120 direct from Aftershokz for Black Friday).

GN They are lighter - 25g compared to 37g - and are much more comfortable.
GN The sound quality is noticeably better.
GN They don't have holes in them so hopefully will last longer than the old ones.
BN To achieve this they now have a proprietary connector instead of micro usb, so yet another lead to carry when travelling.
GN At least they provide two in the box, which is sensible.
GN Multipoint pairing!
BN Multipoint pairing doesn't work with a Mac and an iPhone

[Polar Bear]

I bought some Aeropex a while back now and I use them every day.  I listen to the radio, play audio books, indulge my YouTube habit and even make and receive calls using them.  😉 

I reckon that I use them for upto 8 hours a day.

My other headphones are gathering dust.

[Wombat]

Yet another pair of the titanium "trekz" has failed. First bought in 2017 and replaced twice under guarantee.

I've bought the aeropex version to replace them (£122 from Winstanley Bikes, currently £120 direct from Aftershokz for Black Friday).

GN They are lighter - 25g compared to 37g - and are much more comfortable.
GN The sound quality is noticeably better.
GN They don't have holes in them so hopefully will last longer than the old ones.
BN To achieve this they now have a proprietary connector instead of micro usb, so yet another lead to carry when travelling.
GN At least they provide two in the box, which is sensible.
GN Multipoint pairing!
BN Multipoint pairing doesn't work with a Mac and an iPhone

Oh, my set of Openmoves has a perfectly normal USB C connector.  Bought maybe 6-9 months ago.  In contrast a brand new Amazon Kindle bought last week is still micro USB, grrr...

[Polar Bear]

I can confirm that mulitport connectivity works with my android phone which is over 3 years  old. 

I dislike the Aeropex proprietary cable but as we both have aeropex earphones we have four cables between us.  The cables seem to be robust and we've had no breakages thus far.

[Pickled Onion]

I can confirm that mulitport connectivity works with my android phone which is over 3 years  old. 

That's only single point?

[fd3]

Thread reanimation!

Can I ask about current impressions of these headphones.  View two years ago was very positive, has this changed.

Also, how good would these work to give the user background music without drowning out ambient sounds?  If I was having a conversation with someone, could I set it so that it would have the same effect as having the radio on, or is the sound too dominant however you set it?

[Paul H]

Thread reanimation!

Can I ask about current impressions of these headphones.  View two years ago was very positive, has this changed.

My opinion hasn't changed since the positive one a couple of years ago and they were already a couple of years old then.  Worn for about 6 hours, up to 5 times a week, though probably only in use for a quarter of that time.

I'm not sure about the background sound point, I can hear well enough if someone is trying to get my attention, like a bike bell when walking along the canal path, but they're still a distraction if having a conversation, a quick touch mutes them. so that's what I do.

[SteveC]

I wear mine when running, without my hearing aids in.
I can hear cars, bikes, birdsong and so on, but listening to a conversation is impossible without muting them.
The only thing I would change about mine is the colour. Black may be cool, but it's very easy to lose amongst all the clutter on my desk.

[Pickled Onion]

Thread reanimation!

Can I ask about current impressions of these headphones.  View two years ago was very positive, has this changed.

Yes it has - the latest ones are significantly better. See my post from Nov for a short review.

[L CC]

I liked mine so much Mr Smith bought some. His are better than mine.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Hearing aid users - what is your experience of these please?

I take it the shape of the frame over the tops of the ears would render them unusable if wearing behind-the-ear HAs, so that they are only an option when HAs aren’t worn? Can the Aftershokz feed in ambient sound? And do they connect to Garmin watches?

[chrisbainbridge]

Aftershokz will connect to garmin so long as it does bluetooth music storage and playback.

I use mine for my Couchto5K runs and for gardening.  In the garden it allows me to talk to passerbys by simply pausing the podcast without the faff of taking an in ear device out.

I use them with glasses so it may be possible to use them with hearing aids.

[SteveC]

Although I said I wear mine without hearing aids, that's only when I'm running. It's perfectly possible to wear my Aftershokz with both glasses and hearing aids. I've done this while working in the garage on occasions.
I may try them for 'proper' work at some point, but there's no need when I'm stuck in our spare room. If we ever get back to the office I'll let you know how I get on.

[Wombat]

I can wear mine either with or without my standard NHS behind the ear hearing aids.  I have 5-6 hour long Zoom meetings, and they're fine.  I was initially very happy that I could wear them with my hearing aids in, but now when on a Zoom call, I have come to the conclusion that I don't need my hearing aids in, I can hear perfectly without them.  Obviously my hearing of what may be going on elsewhere in the house is at normal unaided level, but I'm supposed to be concentrating on the meeting, and if my wife or cat really needs my attention, they can do it louder.  I can hear Alfie (cat) perfectly well without my aids, as can the people on the Zoom call, as he has a particularly penetrating miaow, and is way too vocal.

what I also don't understand about my hearing loss, is that when wearing normal enclosed headphones (Sennheiser HD380 pro) my hearing response seems normal, and not its standard attenuated level, missing much of the top end.  Being an aficianado of certain organ music, I notice this (but don't understand it).

In short, still very happy with mine (Openmove).