AfterShokz - OpenMove Open-Ear Lifestyle Headphones - White

## Design The front portion of the headphones rest comfortably on top of your ears with a flexible band that kind of just "sticks out" behind your head. Unlike previous versions, there is no secondary band that rests against the back of your head. This version of the AfterShokz has a more rounded look as compared to the boxy look of the AfterShokz Bluez. They are very lightweight, coming in at just 29 grams. ## Performance If you're an audiophile, then bone conduction headphones are probably not for you. While the sound quality is good, the lack of bass is very apparent. However, as there is nothing covering your ear canal, you can clearly hear what is going on around you. The technology definitely is cool: it's kind of like you have your own personal background music playing. The headphones seem fairly stable for walking and running, but if you're doing more vigorous workouts such as burpees or jumping, you may find the strap hitting your neck and dislodging the headphones from their optimal position on your temples. At very high volume levels (about 85% or higher), sound starts to become distorted and the increased vibrations started to tickle my ears. ## Features - Physical buttons: I like the fact that these headphones use physical buttons instead of touch controls and that you can control the volume with these buttons. The "multifunction" button is located on the left side of the headphones toward the front and allows you to play and pause your music, skip and rewind, and answer incoming phone calls. The volume buttons are located on the right-side of the headphones in a slightly less convenient location, but still easy enough to access while running. The Volume + button is also the power button (hold it down for 2 seconds to power on and off) - 3 EQ modes: There are 3 modes: Standard, Vocal Booster, and Earplug Mode. These can be cycled through by holding down both volume buttons for 3 seconds while music playing. - IP55 sweat/water-resistance: These headphones should survive droplets of sweat and light splashes, but do not submerge them in any liquid. - Multipoint pairing: These headphones can be connected to two devices at the same time, making it easier to switch between your two devices. - Voice prompts: Audrey, as AfterShokz calls the voice assistant, announces when the headphones are turned off, powered on, and the battery level (press one of the volume buttons while the music is paused). ## Battery Life The AfterShokz OpenMove can last up to 6 hours on a single charge. These headphones uses the more modern USB-C connection for charging (I will not miss Micro USB when it's completely replaced!). AfterShokz recommends waiting until the headphones are completely dry so sweat doesn't get in the charging port, which is good advice for all headphones. ## Summary The AfterShokz OpenMove headphones are a great solution for outdoor running as you can clearly hear what is going on around you and be aware of traffic and other people. The bone conduction technology is definitely cool, but as is common with most bone conduction headphones, bass is noticeably absent. These headphones can last up to 6 hours on a single charge and are lightweight and comfortable.

I enjoy the fit and the comfort of these headphones, but I’m not convinced that their “7th generation bone conduction technology” is any good at all. In fact, after using several pairs of similar headphones, I’m more and more convinced that “bone conduction” is mostly a marketing term that was made up in order to sell a different style of headphones. The sound quality is nowhere near as good as earbuds, or over the ear headphones. Audio sounds flat and there is nearly no bass at all. The 3 built in equalizer options (Vocal Booster Mode, Earplug Mode, and Standard Mode) are not particularly helpful. But, despite bone conduction being a bit of a gimmick, the innovative off-ear fit does make them worthwhile for situations when the user wants to remain aware of ambient / surrounding noise. Instead of sounding best when pressing on the bones of the upper jaw, the audio quality (and volume) most improves as you move the ear pieces closer to the ear canal (even without physical contact). When the volume is low, audio cannot be heard by those around you, but when the volume reaches 75%, noise is noticeable to those not wearing the headset. And, at 85% the vibrations create an uncomfortable tingling sensation. The 6 hour battery life is sufficient and the USB-C charging port is a drastic improvement over Micro USB. The comfort and fit is where the AfterShokz shine. They hover over the back of the neck, but manage to stay in place through running, jumping, and even lying down during workouts. They can also be worn comfortably with glasses and hats. ...Perhaps one of the best features is their ability to connect with two devices simultaneously. While working from home (Due to COVID-19 restrictions) I have been able to have them connected to my laptop and also to my phone - while the off ear design still allows me to hear when my Family needs to communicate with me. (No more having to pull out my earbuds every time I think somebody needs to ask me a question.) The location of the volume controls would be more convenient if they were on top of the right earpiece, but pressing the multi-use / track change button is much more comfortable that wireless Bluetooth earbuds (which have you press an earbud deep into your ear in order to change tracks or answer calls). If audio quality is your primary focus, do not purchase these headphones. If you love bass, these headphones are not for you. If you like your music loud, these headphones will be a huge disappointment. But, if you are primarily looking for convenient headphones with a comfortable fit that allow for situational awareness, these headphones will meet your needs.

I love using these headphones to listen to music and take calls - they don't block useful noises like notifications on my work computer, people talking to me, or approaching cars when I am walking in the neighborhood. Listening to them allows you to enjoy music while not feeling isolated (I even sometimes forgot that no one else could hear the music or notifications from my phone). Pros - Good build quality: soft touch rubber covering, buttons have a solid feel, charge port cover fits tightly. - Lite weight and comfortable - USB-C Charging - Can be paired to 2 devices at the same time - Easily got the stated 6 hours of battery using them to listen to music and make calls - Controls are straight forward (multi-function button to control music or calls, volume up and down) - Good volume and sound quality - Works well as a headset, no one was able to tell I switched to them from my phone - Earplug mode (earplugs included) for when you want to limit outside noise, but still listen to music (I could see this being a great feature on a plane or other noisy environment) - Includes a soft case and short USB-C cable (no charger) Things to Consider - At high volume in a quiet room it is possible for someone within a few feet of you to faintly hear what is being played. So you do sacrifice some privacy depending on where and how you use them. - Songs with strong bass create a vibration that can be felt almost as much as heard. I did get used to it, but I didn't expect it. - The strap that connects the two sides of the headphones together is covered in soft plastic, but is fairly stiff and it can be felt when you lean your head back if you have it positioned too low. - The over the ear design is a tight fit (still comfortable) with my relatively thin glasses - if you have thicker frames this might be more of an issue.

With the world of zoom, I've been testing these for both conference calls and listening to music. For sound quality, these work great for conference calls as the mic is good and you can hear people talk. On the music side, I find the music washed out compared to traditional headphones that go in your ears. Pros Lightweight, easy to put on and off Nice carry bag Good mic for conference calls Cons Music sounds washed out especially at lower volume. Cannot just take one side out, need to take the whole thing off. Overall, I will use these for calls but not when listening to music. You get the added benefit that with these you can still hear when people come up to you unlike ones that are in your ear, but you don't have noise-canceling which is pretty standard. It was easy to connect to both Windows PC and iPhone. If you're looking for only music you should check out something else, but great to use if you do a lot of conference calling.

I consider myself an audiophile and own several high-end headphones and earbuds, so I was thinking of using a bone conduction headphone only to have my ears canals open and no need to worry about surroundings as ears are always open. What I like about these headphones is the comfort as I do not even feel any kind of pressure on my sides above the ears, my ears canals are open, and the quality and how neat they look. nevertheless, I did not like the position of the volume controls as they are placed above my outer ear rims which makes it hard to control unless I push it further up to have room to do so, I did not like it because when I tool my run it was for me to adjust the volume until I stopped to do so, the sound is not that loud in outdoor setting even when it set at a higher level, furthermore, when the volume is set at high it causes a kind of buzzing that vibrates my cheekbones which is very annoying. In order to have a louder sound and reduce the vibration on cheekbones, I have to use earplugs which does not make any sense as it eliminates the purpose of these headphones to have open ears.

I love these headphones. They are by far the best ones I have used. I have tried many others but these our shine then all. The sound is awesome and having an open ear as well for hearing other sounds outside is a plus. These sound almost as good as some of my in the ear headphones do. The need to be able to hear noises when I am out running is great and the sound it rich and deep. They last for at least 6 hrs and recharge is quick in 2 hrs time.

AfterShokz - OpenMove Open-Ear Lifestyle Headphones These headphones are unique in that you don't insert them into your ear. Instead you place them outside of your ear. I found the sound was impressive. The closer the headphones are placed to the ear, the fuller the sound. They also work if you want to send or receive a phone call on your cell phone. The headphones connect via Bluetooth which was easy and quick to setup. Various sound adjustments can be made by tapping the earphone speaker. Detail is in the user guide. The comfort level is very good because you don't insert the headphones into your ear. Additionally, you can hear outside sounds if the headphones are not playing at a high volume. Overall, this is a good product. The price is reasonable and the sound is very good.

I've received this product in exchange for my fair and unbiased review. TL:DR: The AfterShokz - OpenMove Open Ear Headphones are interesting to say the least. They're a hybrid open-ear/bone conduction headphone, meaning that you get all the benefits of open-ear headphones for your outdoor workouts (environmental awareness through sound) while you get the benefits of bone conduction headphones (better bass than standard open-ear headphones). Audio quality is surprisingly good, battery life is decent, you get USB-C charging, they're packaged very well, but the headband is not adjustable and there's no app to adjust audio quality or other features of the headset (though the audio quality is exceptional for this type of headphone). ------------------------------------------------ First impressions: Unboxing was simple enough, and everything in the packaging has a premium feel across the board. The headset itself has a premium feel thanks to soft-touch plastics. In the package, you'll find a USB-C charge cable, a cinch sack for storage, foam ear plugs, instructions in more languages than I can count, warranty information, and registration information on a card. A 2 year warranty was unexpected, but a nice bonus. ------------------------------------------------ Setup and usage: Pairing the AfterShokz is just like pairing any other Bluetooth headphone - hold the power button until the indicator starts flashing, select the headphones in your Bluetooth settings to pair, and go. There's no app to install to adjust settings or handle multi-pairing. There also is no multi-pairing (connectivity to two devices at once), but it's easy enough to switch between devices on the fly (for instance, from your iPhone to your Apple Watch) by re-pairing between devices. The charge port is located under a door, like most headphones. It uses USB-C, a nice surprise that makes plugging the cable in simple. The cable that comes with the AfterShokz is also longer than the average charge cable. The behind-the-head headband design is comfortable for me, but it's how I prefer to wear headphones. It gives just the right amount of squeeze on your head to keep them planted but not induce a headache. It's not adjustable, however, which is disappointing because being able to wear the ear phones without the headband touching my head would be nice. ------------------------------------------------ Audio quality: So how do they sound? For what these are, they're surprisingly good, but you have to find the perfect spot (or spots) on your head for listening first. On finding the "perfect spot", I actually found two for me - the first is the fossa triangularis (Google it) and the other being between the upper half of my outer ear and where the sphenoid bone meets the ridge of the zygomatic bone (Google this as well). Your perfect spots may vary, because we're all different. The fossa triangularis happens to be where they worked as regular open ear headphones for me, the other location as bone conduction transducers. No matter how I wore them, I found the soundstage is surprisingly wide for something like these. While bass and treble both seemingly cut off within the range of human hearing (more so in the ear versus on the skull), it's not a bad thing as using my sine wave generator app caused a funny feeling using these at both low frequencies and high volume (35-55 hz), and mid-bass frequencies at a moderate volume (175-320 hz). Also surprisingly, the AfterShokz did not distort while testing it's response range; most headphones I test with Bluetooth tend to distort at low frequencies and high volumes (any frequency below 45 hz). For music, I played a selection that included classics from Snoop Dogg, Gorillaz, Iron Maiden, Rancid, the Misfits, Garth Brooks, Nine Inch Nails, and Debussy. The flat response through all but the highest of highs sounded refreshing across genres, and the soundstage felt much wider than it should have been. Of particular note, I could barely detect the sound of Bluetooth artifacts while listening to Claire De Lune; classical is often the best way to catch these compression artifacts. Video playback was synced quite well, no matter if the source was YouTube, Facebook Watch, Apple TV+, or Comcast Stream. Gaming was also a good experience as sound effects weren't laggy. One other thing these come with is a pair of foam ear plugs. While I don't recommend these as your "I'm lounging around the house and I want to listen to music while toning the world out" headphones - and I would tell you to invest in a midrange to the lower side of high-end pair of over-ear headphones for that - the ear plugs let you experience what the bone conduction tech can really do. It's impressive to say the least. ------------------------------------------------ Comparison to other types of headphones: (This section is for those who aren't familiar with bone conduction technology.) Bone conduction transducers aren't your typical headphone drivers. While the endgame is the same, how they achieve the goal is different as bone conduction literally puts the sound inside your head. You'll even go as far as to feel your music if it's loud enough, as the transducers do vibrate where you can feel beats and even some bass drops. If you were to compare the sound of these to a good pair of earbuds or on-ear/over-ear headphones that seal to your ear, these come up slightly flat and night as bright in comparison. However, with those good earbuds or on-ear/over-ear headphones at this price point, you'll likely not have a transparency mode worth using, if they even have one at all, meaning you won't have the same level of environmental awareness (if any). You could also spend two to three times as much for open-ear earbuds or headphones that give you slightly better treble response but at the cost of a loss of low bass and even some mid bass; most other open ear headphones would also have a more narrow sound stage. They'd likely match the level of environmental awareness you'd receive with the AfterShokz though because of their design. Finally, compared to wearing on-ear headphones improperly so you can hear around you, the AfterShokz will give you a superior fit and level of environmental awareness, which generally matches the audio quality you'd get doing this. ------------------------------------------------ Final thoughts: I could completely recommend the AfterShokz OpenMove headphones to anyone looking for good audio quality while retaining environmental awareness. These really are made for runners, bikers, golfers, and anyone who wants quality audio while retaining environmental awareness. The only major issue you could have is if you have a huge head or a lot of hair - especially dreadlocks - for fitment issues. The lack of an app is a minor thing for me, but it would have been nice to have an EQ to adjust. For what they are and for how much they cost, however, they're an excellent value. If you want open ear headphones, these are it.