I've referenced J a lot here, written posts about his opinions, and occasionally featured a photo or two of him, but that's about as much interaction as he's ever had with my blog. He asked me a couple days ago if I'd let him do a guest post review and I was so stunned that I agreed. So, here we are. I claim no responsibility for anything that happens from this point forward. (Also, this isn't sponsored. He's just super into these headphones.)
I recently purchased a set of headphones made Aftershokz called
Bluez 2. I have had no
previous interactions with Bluetooth headphones, and I decided to skip the norm entirely. The
Aftershokz are Bone Conduction Bluetooth headphones. They transmit vibration through the
bones of your skull into your ear drum. Which is quite the freaky explanation, but when you try
them out, you cant do anything but grin.
The Cool:
Bone conduction is a technology designed to let you hear all the sounds available to your
ears. When you wear the Aftershokz headphones, they sit on the very high section of your
cheekbones. In this location, they do not block sound from outside sources. You can hear cars
coming behind you or other people having a normal discussion with you. It is most likely the
safety factor that these headphones were created for, but I use them at work as it does not impair
my interactions with other people.
Even cooler than being able to hear extraneous stuff is the fact that the sound seems to
come from inside you. When I first put them on, I tested some Christmas Carols. At 50% volume
in a large, moderately loud room, I could hear Justin Bieber singing Santa Claus is Coming to
Town perfectly. Moreover, it sounded like the music was everywhere around me. When a radio
program has someone talking and then slowly fades music up, the music seems to be playing in
whatever room you are in while the voice talks. I sometimes forget that other people CAN'T hear
what I am hearing at the time.
The Good:
The Bluetooth works at quite a range, perhaps 70 feet unhindered, or a more moderate
estimate of 40 feet with maybe a wall or some stuff in the way. The microphone works very well,
and people on the line can not tell that my Bluetooth headset isn't normal. Again, hearing
someone's voice inside your head is quite the experience, but it's fun to answer the phone every
single time, even after you get used to the experience. They also charge with any micro USB
charger you happen to have laying around. You probably have ten or twelve by now.
Sound quality is good. There's very little bass, and you can hear the music MUCH better
if you put your fingers into your ears. Using them at that 50% volume level is more than adequate,
however, and these headphones simply aren't designed to give you the earth shaking booming
sound of SkullCandy or similar products.
The Bad:
The worst actual usage issue is that the unit presses against the back of your ears. And I
believe this is a problem more for me than for other people, as I use these headphones for about
SIX hours at a time. For the first four hours, I don't really notice them at all. When I use them for
normal workout use, there are no back of the ear fatigue issues at all.
The worst thing about these headphones is their novelty. Bone Conduction is not a new
technology, but since you could previously only find them online, few people are familiar with
them. I get MANY questions similar to: “What's that on your head?” People will even ask in the
line at McDonald's or while you're doing something at work. And you can't pretend you can't hear
them because your ears aren't blocked by anything. They KNOW you can hear them. So you have
to interrupt your EDM to grumpily explain how bone conduction works and where to find them.
Too Long Didn't Read:
I bought some headphones! They are great! I can hear EVERYTHING!
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