Shokz OpenMove S661 AB Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones

Cercavo una soluzione per le mie escursioni in bicicletta e questa è la soluzione! Attenzione che ho avuto problemi col collegamento perchè sbagliavo ed accendevo prima le cuffie e dopo l’apparecchio a cui collegarlo invece bisogna fare il contrario: aprire il bluetooth dello telefono o del lettore mp3 e poi accendere le cuffie ed il gioco è fatto! Il suono è buono e l’udito dell’ambietnte esterno resta garantito!
Il suono è chiaro e cristallino, a confronto di cuffie tradizionali è più carente sui bassi, che credo sia normalissimo per apparecchi di questo tipo.
Il prezzo è altino, considerando che ci sono apparecchi molto simili a prezzi molto più contenuti, ma non so se hanno la stessa resa.

I haven’t used any bone-conducting headphones before, so this is not a comparison, I don’t know how they rate next to other similar products or others in the Shokz range.

My verdict: I recommend these headphones. I am glad I got mine.

Pros:
• Overall good quality, and accurate to the product description.
• Decent audio quality (surprisingly). Feels like you’ve got background music for your life.
• If you don’t have sensitive ears, they’re pretty unnoticeable.
• They come with a protective carry pouch, and stickers for customisation.
• Great for calls or music when you need to use earplugs (or any similar in-ear loud noise relief), or when you need to pay attention to your surroundings.

Cons:
• The jump between volume notches is massive (a common problem in Bluetooth audio devices).
• It’s hard to hear at max volume in noisy environments (though earplugs mitigate this).
• By contrast, the built-in voice/beep is startling & loud.
• If you have sensitive ears, the way they sit behind your ear + on your face gets uncomfortable over time.

My thoughts:

I worried that these were just an overpriced speaker that sits outside your ear, but they’re not like that. It’s genuinely hard to hear unless it is on you, and when it is on you, it’s surprisingly clear. Bone conduction is pretty cool!

It sounds like having background music akin to a movie or game, where it’s there but you can still very clearly hear everything else around you. Really great for anyone who wants music but needs to remain social/pay attention/listen for potential danger in their surroundings.

They greet you when you turn them on/pair them/turn them off, and beep when you press any of the buttons. These built-in sounds are REALLY loud compared to my music, oof. I pull them away from my ears a bit before I press buttons. They also suffer from the sadly common Bluetooth audio device problem where the volume jump between notches is massive, and in some situations it can be either too high or too low. Even at max volume, because it’s just vibrating sound against your face, it’s really hard to hear in noisy places like shopping centres or heavy traffic.

However, you can mitigate that using earplugs or similar. I went to a store yesterday and wore these with my Loops Engage (HIGHLY recommend for people with audio processing issues), and it was amazing; the Loops dulled the noisy background environment, and I could hear my music clearly AND converse with my wife without issue. It was an experience that I just cannot get with other earphones or headphones.

They don’t slip, slide, or fall. The band at the back can’t be adjusted – for everyday use they sit well, but they’re a little annoying if you’re looking up/down a lot, and difficult to keep in place if you’re lying down or using a head rest. For people with smaller heads, you’ll probably want the (more expensive) version with the smaller band. They’re light enough, and if you don’t have sensitive ears, you can just set-and-forget them.

People who use eating aids or similar things that need to loop over behind your ears will find them obstructive at best, incompatible at worst. They’re fine for anything else though, like glasses, hats, and masks.

I have quite sensitive ears and can’t wear earbuds, headphones, masks with ear loops, etc. for more than a couple of hours some days. Some things I noticed:

– By design (so they don’t fall off), the buds put a gentle pressure on the parts of your head that they’re resting on. It’s not immediately noticeable, but when you wear them for a while it feels like a lot.

– They’re designed for wear with glasses/masks/etc., but keep in mind that anything that touches them puts pressure on them, which means more pressure on your ear/face.

– The placement of the main body right behind the ear gets uncomfortable in a similar way to masks with thick/tight ear loops. I find that I’m adjusting it constantly.

– However, wearing masks with these is WAY more tolerable than wearing masks with over-ear headphones.

– Being out-of-ear is really great for the parts of my head/ears that get super painful with regular earphones or headphones! My ears also don’t get hot at all.

I haven’t had enough time with the call/mic features to really comment but they seem decent to me. The mic pics my voice up and as long as I’m in an area where I can hear the Shokz well enough, I can hear the other person well enough. I may update this review if this changes.

These headphones are great for the multitasker. Since the nodules sit on the outside of your ear and uses bone conduction technologies, it allows you to listen to music/shows but still have better cognizance of your surroundings since you can still hear what is going on around you. If you are looking for noise cancellation, these do not do a very good job but for what I use it for, I still want good sound quality and be able to hear whats going on around me, so the low noise cancellation is perfect. If I do want to drown out sound, I can use my studio headphones. Louder volumes can cause stronger vibrations which can tickle. My only gripes about it are that I hadnt even had it a year and strip that runs along the side where the call button is connected to snapped in several places just from use over time. You can put on a new sticker strip but its only a temporary patch and the battery life does not seem to last as long as it claims. I’ll generally be able to get about 5 hours of continuous play watching a show or listening to music before I get the notice that the battery is low.

I was hesitant to buy these at first because I sometimes have loud machinery nearby. I had previously used headsets that had gummy earplugs in them and that helped dampen the noise of the lour machines and protected my ears. That made them beneficial even if there wasn’t any music/podcast playing.

My friend. I told my friend that I couldn’t use these because of the loud machines around me. Because he uses them near airplanes, I asked how in the world he could use them. He told me that he just uses normal ear plugs when necessary and that stops the ambient noise while the bone conduction can still do its thing (and sometimes even better due to something that the earplugs do to my ears).

So, these are great. They don’t have any noise cancellation features but they do become part of you and you don’t notice that they are even there. This model also has an easy button on the side that I can push if my hands are dirty or I am only able to use my shoulder at the moment. It is the answer and play/pause button.

I have been using bone conduction headphones for a year or so. I, like a lot of people, do not like having something in my ear. My previous pair of bone conduction headphones are from a random manufacturer on Amazon with good reviews and what I hoped would be a bright color. The color wasn’t so bright, but my satisfaction with the headphones was pretty high. I tend to not listen to music on my headphones, but rather books or have telephone conversations. I hoped that a higher end pair would help me hear spoken word better over the traffic noises I often experience when walking my dogs or walking to work in the various cities I travel to frequently.

I have only had these a few days and haven’t had the opportunity to try walking through city streets listening to audiobooks, but the traffic where I walk on the edges of my suburban neighborhood already indicate I will be able to hear much more with these than my old pair.

I chose OpenMove over OpenRun or any other Shokz product because of the method of charging rather than the lower cost. I actually kind of wanted the OpenRun line, but the magnetic charging cable turned me off. My OpenMove have a USB-C charging port and its growing universality sold me.

I can wear these for hours if I choose. I wore them the first day I set them up until the partial (80 percent) charge I gave them ran out. Between a four hour phone call and listening to stories as I did things around the house or walked the dogs I never had the headache feeling I would get from my old pair.

The worst thing about these is they are a bit too large for my head. I know Shokz makes ‘mini’ versions in the higher end lines. I hope they choose to make them in OpenMove eventually. I would happily give these to a friend with a bigger head and buy myself a new pair that moves around less on my neck. Regardless of them moving around when I lean back against something or just from other activity, the bits beside my ears still enable me to hear whatever I am trying to listen to. They feel like they want to pop out from over my ears which is mostly just slightly annoying.

Overall, I am ecstatic with this purchase and will recommend them to friends and family.