@yakkoTDI the fundamental missing response. I’m curious about bone conduction but they’re not cheap. Even the cheaper ones aren’t cheap. I’m also afraid it’s just a gimmick and they’re just speakers that rest against your temple instead of your ears.
I’ve never used any of the bone conduction varieties for music or anything particularly full-spectrum, but I’ve been issued a few sets for intercom and voice chat purposes before. At these primarily vocal tasks the bone conduction stuff has been pretty good and helpful. It doesn’t help you follow multiple conversations at the same time if you can’t already do that, but it helps you keep an ear on the radio and an ear on your surroundings or your local team. If you’re planning something along those lines - primarily vocal podcasts or YouTube channels or even TV channels that are mostly talking heads - you will probably find a set to be a decent alternative. They definitely wear on you a little, but in a different way than any speaker system I’ve ever heard, and leave options for the environment to interact with you or intrude upon you (there may be downsides if you’re using earbuds or headphones to shut out the world, which these definitely don’t). I can’t speak to how well any music or anything else would translate, nor how well even the sets I’ve used would perform with higher fidelity vocal recordings rather than various radios or voice chat systems, but it’s an interesting alternative to any variety of moving air speakers.
They’re not much better for sound clarity of your surroundings than good open-back headphones/earbuds. Having used both Shokz OpenRun and (amateur) AirPods, the AirPods let nearly as much sound through, and sound much better.
They’re not a terrible idea though, if you really want full acoustic transparency and don’t care too much about output fidelity.
I have a Shokz for running and they are great for that purpose. I also use them for phone calls when I am too lazy to hold the phone up to my ear. They are good for that unless you are in a noisy place.
They are terrible on an airplane though. I learned that the hard way when I only brought those headphones with me on a trip.
@agnesnutter & @cbatte convinced me to take a flyer on these, while during “the ‘meh’ troubles” last night I had felt some weak knees weakness, I’ve kept my $20 in my pants pocket.
I thought conductive sound was a person waving a baton. The other conductive causes you to jerk your hand back, and, other than your yell, no sound is made.
Shockz bone conduction headsets actually sound really good for all kinds of music… if you use earplugs. Earplugs accentuate the bass and make them sound about as good as anything else, but that kind of defeats the purpose.
Still, even open-ear they sound fine for podcasts, audiobooks, or just any time you want some background music and don’t care much about how they sound. Their main benefit is that they’re comfortable enough to just leave them on all day and possibly forget you’re even wearing them, like a pair of glasses.
Of course I can’t speak to these $20 ones, until they arrive. But I assume they’ll be fine too for spoken word stuff.
Never tried them.
@yakkoTDI the fundamental missing response. I’m curious about bone conduction but they’re not cheap. Even the cheaper ones aren’t cheap. I’m also afraid it’s just a gimmick and they’re just speakers that rest against your temple instead of your ears.
I’ve never used any of the bone conduction varieties for music or anything particularly full-spectrum, but I’ve been issued a few sets for intercom and voice chat purposes before. At these primarily vocal tasks the bone conduction stuff has been pretty good and helpful. It doesn’t help you follow multiple conversations at the same time if you can’t already do that, but it helps you keep an ear on the radio and an ear on your surroundings or your local team. If you’re planning something along those lines - primarily vocal podcasts or YouTube channels or even TV channels that are mostly talking heads - you will probably find a set to be a decent alternative. They definitely wear on you a little, but in a different way than any speaker system I’ve ever heard, and leave options for the environment to interact with you or intrude upon you (there may be downsides if you’re using earbuds or headphones to shut out the world, which these definitely don’t). I can’t speak to how well any music or anything else would translate, nor how well even the sets I’ve used would perform with higher fidelity vocal recordings rather than various radios or voice chat systems, but it’s an interesting alternative to any variety of moving air speakers.
@jsfs --these are Open Ear “AIR ‘conduction’” (i.e. tiny “Speakers”) and would annoy the sleep outta anyone nearby.
They are NOT “Bone conduction”.
I keep mine on all day without blocking out the world around me.
Can they be partially awesome, and partially stupid?
VAN GOGH! MANGO! TANGO! AWESOME!
They’re not much better for sound clarity of your surroundings than good open-back headphones/earbuds. Having used both Shokz OpenRun and (amateur) AirPods, the AirPods let nearly as much sound through, and sound much better.
They’re not a terrible idea though, if you really want full acoustic transparency and don’t care too much about output fidelity.
I have a Shokz for running and they are great for that purpose. I also use them for phone calls when I am too lazy to hold the phone up to my ear. They are good for that unless you are in a noisy place.
They are terrible on an airplane though. I learned that the hard way when I only brought those headphones with me on a trip.
@agnesnutter & @cbatte convinced me to take a flyer on these, while during “the ‘meh’ troubles” last night I had felt some weak knees weakness, I’ve kept my $20 in my pants pocket.
Not good for classical music
I thought conductive sound was a person waving a baton. The other conductive causes you to jerk your hand back, and, other than your yell, no sound is made.
I have several Shokz. Love them but I mostly listen to audiobooks and podcasts. Excellent for spoken word.
And since nothing goes in your ears you don’t get tired of having stuff in your ears so I find them comfortable to wear for very long periods
I just swap out one that needs charging for one that doesn’t
And unlock my airpods they don’t try to escape and get lost and cost me $90 to replace
If I were seriously listening to music I do some other headphones or earbuds
There should have been a “never tried them” option.
Shockz bone conduction headsets actually sound really good for all kinds of music… if you use earplugs. Earplugs accentuate the bass and make them sound about as good as anything else, but that kind of defeats the purpose.
Still, even open-ear they sound fine for podcasts, audiobooks, or just any time you want some background music and don’t care much about how they sound. Their main benefit is that they’re comfortable enough to just leave them on all day and possibly forget you’re even wearing them, like a pair of glasses.
Of course I can’t speak to these $20 ones, until they arrive. But I assume they’ll be fine too for spoken word stuff.