Bone conduction Carnage

[renaudrenaud]

A friend of mine was here for the holidays.

I was dithyrambic about his headphones, a Shokz model. Wearing it all day, changed his life, listening to the music bla bla bla.

He insisted I need to try. So done it, 2 Shokz models and a Xiaomi inexpensive one.

In term of sound quality, it was a real carnage. Something centered around the human voice, but no bass, no highs, nothing.

Despite the fact I tried to find a correct position, the only way to have something better was to put my fingers in the holes, better sound but loosing the way to listen everything else.

I would like to know if you share the same feeling about this technology!

 

[respice finem]

Bone is bone, not air. May have its merits if you sit in a tank or such, but for music? IDK...
Some military models are "hybrid" - air and bone ones.

INVISIO X5 | Bone conduction headset | Tactical communications headset

INVISIO X5 is a market leading in-ear tactical communication with bone microphone headset. Learn more about our bone conduction headset with hearing protection.

invisio.com

 

[Curvature]

The quality is grainy at best in the ones I've tried, but I think people like them for the clarity, which is consistent despite keeping the ear open, at least in some models, for ambient sounds.

 

[Multicore]

For speech it's ok. Not for music.

I have used AfterShokz Trekz Air almost daily for a few years and really like it. When I'm out and about I won't use anything that shuts out sounds from the environment. At home I use it for speech if I'm doing chores.

 

[Keith_W]

Bone conduction headphones have their role, but not when sound quality is the priority. The advantage is that your ear canal is not blocked and you can hear the world around you. So it is a great choice for providing music when you are running or cycling, because awareness of your surroundings is more important than sound quality. As you mention, occluding the ear canal improves the quality tremendously, but doing that defeats the purpose of bone conduction.

Headphones have all sorts of applications, and high fidelity full audible bandwidth sound reproduction is only ONE of them.

 

[AryaStealth]

Ask your friend if he has some serious inner ear issues without sensorineural hearing loss. Healthy ears would detect immeaditely that bone conduction can deliver correctly only speech frequency range.

 

[Nybto]

I expected them to be horrible but was very surprised, the spacial qualities were particularly nice. I agree with the friend. (I bought the basic Openrun model which has the benefit of minimal sound leakage)

 

[solderdude]

Then there is something like 'getting used to sound'.
At some point the brain will start 'filling' in things and most 'info' in music is in the speech range anyway.
On direct comparison (and perhaps first listen when having a reference) they might seem almost unusable for enjoyment but that may change over time.

 

[Karmacoma]

I use it exclusively for listenning to podcasts while doing sport, or sometimes for phone calls, it's really great if you use it that way. For music it's just really bad and as mentioned it's due to the technology itself, there's not much improvement to expect from it I reckon.

 

[Tovarich007]

The hybrid technology used by INVISIO seems pretty intersting. Once again, military purpose is a strong vector of progress and tech improvements.
I say alas, because this is very pityful one hand, but on the other hand, we shouldn't forget that internet was created at first for military and intelligence purposes, not for common people's daily life..

 

[DSJR]

My hearing issues are in the receptors themselves, as I had a bone-conduction test as well as via the ear canals and the results were similar. The brain certainly makes up for a lot but can only go so far - using the aids in the evening for TV after a day without, they're initially too shrill and 'sparkly,' but after a couple of hours, all the 'top' disappears when I take them out - and so on...

I wonder if the sound as described above is similar to my ancient Sennheiser HD414's, which are the headphone equivalent of Linn Kans of old - UK posters of a certain age will know...

 

[mhardy6647]

Bone Fone

Well, it obviously didn’t but that’s what the company JS&A had hoped when they created an am/fm radio that wrapped around your neck. The idea was that the vibrations of the music wo…

www.future-forms.com

 

[JeffS7444]

View attachment 501884

Bone Fone

Well, it obviously didn’t but that’s what the company JS&A had hoped when they created an am/fm radio that wrapped around your neck. The idea was that the vibrations of the music wo…

www.future-forms.com

For some reason, I immediately thought of one Drew A Kaplan's writing, but I don't recall JS&A at all. But somehow, I recall getting to sample that thing, and finding the sonics unremarkable.

 

[mhardy6647]

Me, too... re: DAK.

 

[gorb]

I use bone conduction headphones (shokz openrun pro 2) for running and they’re great for that imo. I prefer to use over ear headphones or iems for other occasions however.

 

[HalSF]

A friend of mine was here for the holidays.

I was dithyrambic about his headphones, a Shokz model. Wearing it all day, changed his life, listening to the music bla bla bla.

He insisted I need to try. So done it, 2 Shokz models and a Xiaomi inexpensive one.

In term of sound quality, it was a real carnage. Something centered around the human voice, but no bass, no highs, nothing.

Despite the fact I tried to find a correct position, the only way to have something better was to put my fingers in the holes, better sound but loosing the way to listen everything else.

I would like to know if you share the same feeling about this technology!

I was recently assisting a friend in assessing Bluetooth earphones for a publication devoted to running and outdoor sports, and he received an assortment of these bone-conduction models for evaluation. Absolutely hideous sound. The only use case I could wrap my mind around is listening to voice content or phone communication in circumstances where keeping your ears unobstructed for situational awareness and safety is essential. (Or possibly in specific instances for people with ear-canal hearing impairment.)

1965 transistor AM radio sound quality for music at best, and that may be an exaggeration.

 

[Karmacoma]

we shouldn't forget that internet was created at first for military and intelligence purposes, not for common people's daily life..

We digress, but it was, in France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel
But yes innovation and technology dominance is crucial for defense purposes, and the money follows.

 

[tineared]

View attachment 501884

Bone Fone

Well, it obviously didn’t but that’s what the company JS&A had hoped when they created an am/fm radio that wrapped around your neck. The idea was that the vibrations of the music wo…

www.future-forms.com

Are these meant to be used for booty calls?

 

[DannyBoyNYC]

I use them for swimming. They are impervious to water and offer an old school mp3 player (no bluetooth under water). And even then only for Podcasts and books on tape (had to find a non DRM provider for the latter). I can't imagine using them for cycling - my earpods leak enough background (even with ANC) that I feel confident about hearing my surroundings (and I'm cycling the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn).

 

[Petrushka]

Ask your friend if he has some serious inner ear issues without sensorineural hearing loss. Healthy ears would detect immeaditely that bone conduction can deliver correctly only speech frequency range.

Speech is a problem for some of us. As an old person, I have developed some thoughts about impairments.

When a driver hugs the right side of the road, I suspect cataracts. Been there, done that.

When someone has eccentric opinions about sound quality, particularly favoring loud, I suspect hearing loss.