The most innovative and functional component for 2018 that the MTB Lab tested was the AfterShokz Trekz Air headphone which uses the bone conduction technology to transmit excellent fidelity sound through the listener’s cheekbones to the inner ear, bypassing the eardrum entirely along with a rubberized, thin and flexible titanium frame that offers extreme comfort, strength, and durability.
AfterShokz makes open ear sports headphones, which are lightweight, sweat and water resistant. Their design uses bone conduction technology, which allows the user to listen to music and still safely hears the external ambient noise via air conduction. Headphones and earbuds block out most of the exterior noise from the world, which is fine when you are in a safe environment and want to immerse yourself in your music. In the world of sports, whether it’s running, hiking, walking, or biking, you need to pick up the ambient sounds and spatial cues in the world around you. For safety reasons, you want to be fully aware of your surroundings so you can hear cars, traffic, dogs, wild animals, and other trail and road users. It comes in Slate Gray, Forest Green, Midnight Blue, and Canyon Red colors and retails for $179.99.
The headphones are available from many shops as well as online through aftershokz.com. For a full review refer to AfterShokz Trekz Air Headphone Review.
The Trekz Air offers bone conduction technology, wireless Bluetooth V4.2 connection with hands-free call functions is IP55 dust and sweat resistant and has a six-hour listening time. It also has a Micro-USB port to charge the lithium-ion battery and a single LED indicator and is operated using three buttons, a volume up/power button, a volume down button, and the multifunction button.
Bottom Line
The AfterShokz Trekz Air is an excellent open ear headphone for a sport-oriented user, and it utilizes the unique bone conductor technology, so you can hear the spatial cues and ambient noise of the external world and still enjoy listening to your music through your media device. The sound is transmitted through your cheekbones via rubberized transducer pads, which are soft, comfortable, and water and sweat resistant directly to your inner ear. It uses a rubberized, thin and flexible titanium frame that offers extreme comfort, strength, and durability. I didn’t have any issues with wearing the headphones when using a bike helmet and sunglasses, even for extended periods, though depending on the helmet or sunglasses brand being worn interfacing issues may occur. The system wirelessly converses to a smartphone or media player via the Bluetooth V4.2 protocol, and it has a three button interface to operate the power, volume levels, skip songs and deal with calls.
I love the Trekz Air headphones, especially for biking, since they’re incredibly comfy, let me listen to music with great fidelity while riding along the trail, and I can still converse with people and hear ambient and background sounds for the utmost in safety. The new design with the lighter weight, shorter side sections, skinnier and more flexible titanium frame offered improved wearing comfort and helmet/sunglasses interfacing.
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