Aftershokz Trekz Titanium wireless stereo headphones review

AfterShokz Trekz Titanium Open Ear Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones, Slate Grey, (AS600SG)

Editor:

Just the Facts:
The lightweight and comfortable Aftershokz Trekz Titanium wireless stereo headphones are the safest alternative to traditional sport headphones and earbuds. Bone conduction technology, an open ear design and a suite of convenient features deliver premium music play and crystal clear calling without compromise. Designed with athletes in mind, Trekz Titanium are sweatproof, secure, and will allow you to hear your surroundings – no matter where life takes you.

Specifications:
 Speaker type: bone conduction transducers
 Frequency response: 20Hz~20KHz
 Sensitivity: 100 ± 3dB
 Microphone: -40dB ± 3dB
 Bluetooth version: v4.1
 Compatible profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, HSP, HFP
 Wireless range: 33 ft (10m)
 Battery: rechargeable lithium ion
 Continuous play: 6 hours
 Standby time: 10 days
 Charge in: 1.5 hours
 Weight: 1.27 oz (36g)

My Story:
I am a person that listens to music quite a bit in my day to day life. I spend large parts of my day plugged in. Because of this I am always on the lookout for a good set of headphones to use. The Aftershokz Trekz Titanium headphones have quickly become one of my favorites to use for many activities, but they are not the end all headphone for all uses. For normal usage time (1-3 hours) they are absolutely great. The bone conduction technology allows you to listen to music while still hearing what is going on around you, keeping you aware of your surroundings. For extended continual usage (4+ hours), I prefer to have a headphone that do not apply any pressure to my head. This pressure is an important part of the design as it facilitates the bone conduction to produce the sound to your inner ears. These are not going to have the sound quality of very high end headphones, but the bone conduction technology provides adequate sound quality comparable to most decent quality headphones on the market. I was even pleasantly surprised by the clarity, on both ends, during phone conversations. The other party was able to hear me loud and clear without having to make any adjustments.

I absolutely love using these headphones when I work out, whether it be at the gym, going for a run, or on a bike ride. I am able to have my music getting me pumped up, and still hear what is going on around me. This has been especially useful while out jogging on the multiuse trails with bicycles and other pedestrians. The titanium band on the headphones provides the correct amount of pressure to keep the headphones in place, without causing discomfort for normal usage. Typically when running, most in-the-ear style headphones have to be adjusted multiple times as they start to slip out of the ear canal. With the bone conduction technology, that problem is completely eliminated.

I was a little worried about how they would perform in loud situations with how much I could hear my surroundings. As recommended I used the earplugs that came with the headphones while doing yard work. I actually found the combination of the headphones and earplugs to be more effective than most in-the-ear headphones at dulling the surrounding noise and allowing me to hear my music without having to have the volume all the way turned up, blasting into my ears. Even running the lawn mower didn’t affect the quality of the sound.
I spend most of the work day sitting behind a computer. I like to listen to music to keep me motivated, upbeat, and help the day go by quicker. However, because I am in an office setting, I prefer to wear headphones so everyone else doesn’t have to listen to my music. I also like to hear what is going on in my surroundings in case anyone needs something from me. I tried these out on a few different occasions. For most of the first day, they were great. I could listen to my music, hear my surroundings, and communicate with others. With the blue tooth version of the headphones I was able to leave my phone plugged in at my desk and still listen to music as I maneuvered around the office. I was even pleasantly surprised by the range I was able to be away from the source and still have clear music coming through. Towards the end of the first day I found myself trying to readjust the headphones and taking them off for periods of time to take the pressure off the side of my head. The second day I was only able to wear them for about an hour or two before I had to switch them out to other headphones that did not put pressure on my head. This is by no means a defect in the design of the product. The pressure that they impart is exactly what is needed to keep them in place while not being overbearing for normal usage.

Find it Here:

What Can Be Done Better:
The only thing that I believe could be improved on the headphones would be to have more equalization settings. The headphones came with two settings. One worked pretty well all around with most genres of music, the other was basically useless. They could add a few more equalizations settings to produce better sound quality for different genres.
Overall I would give these headphones 4.5 out of 5 stars. They perform as advertised, are very durable, and provide decent sound quality. I tested out both the corded and Bluetooth version of the headphones and found them very comparable in almost all aspects. I prefer the Bluetooth version, for the time durations that I use the headphones because of the freedom it allows. My expectations were exceeded in two categories specifically; I was getting 8-10 hours out of a single charge, instead of the 6 hours that was advertised, and the ability to hear my surroundings while using them was much better than I was anticipating. These have become my go-to headphones for most circumstances.