Aftershokz OpenMove Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones

The AfterShokz OpenMove bone conduction headphones are extremely light, very comfortable and don't block your ears or, as a consequence, the ambient cacophony of traffic stupidity. This new version is half the price of both the Aeropex and the earlier Trekz models, but while you're largely getting what the Trekz offered, they lack the full waterproofing of the Aeropex.

Few, if any, of the issues I anticipated with the OpenMoves actually came to pass. The headband – titanium-sprung for a secure yet gentle grip that weighs next to nothing – is non-adjustable and just lies about on the back of your neck, so I expected collar clashes while riding. In fact they sit easily without snagging, and I never had an issue with them being shoved around by head movements, such as when turning to see why the driver of this Audi thinks a blind bend is so great for overtaking.

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They also have no problem wrapping around helmet straps and cycling glasses at the same time – they're well shaped to loop over specs and sit comfortably without touching them. Plus, the loose-feeling fit and gentle pressure of the headband don't actually struggle to stay put at all.

They never feel less than secure, though deathgripping through rough stuff off-road may challenge that. At just 29g, though, it would take some serious rattling to rip them away.

The main benefit of these for riding is that they leave your earholes completely unplugged, so shouts of 'Get off the road!' and 'Get off the pavement!' can sail right in. There's nothing to block ambient sounds, and you can still hold a conversation quite easily while The Damned hammer New Rose into your skull. It's actually quite a strange sensation.

Should that bother you, AfterShox includes a set of foam earplugs, but that kind of negates the whole point. The OpenMoves are perfectly good for off-bike, use, however – and at lower volumes are almost inaudible to others, so they can be very useful if you actively don't want to hear what's around you in a bus, train or other circle of hell.

They pair easily via Bluetooth with a single long button press, and connected rapidly and without fail to my iPhone each time after that. With only three buttons, operation is simple, and status information is provided (mostly) not by lights, but by Audrey.

Audrey is the extremely American ghost who lives inside the OpenMoves, and says things like 'Welcome to AfterShokz', 'Battery low', or 'Charge me' when prompted. Once your muscle memory learns where to prod behind your ear, it's very easy to check battery status, skip or pause tracks, or change modes. It's not so easy in full-finger gloves (especially winter ones) as the buttons are inevitably pretty small, though the two main ones do stand usefully proud of the surface.

The third button is integrated almost invisibly with the grey stripe on the left ear, and deals mostly with phone calls ('I'm on the bike!') and track selection. It's hard to feel the button actually activate, but easy to prod successfully despite that.

The battery life of around six hours is very usable, and the two-hour charge is OK too.

I suppose I should mention how they sound. As Dave noted in his previous reviews, they struggle with reproducing bass tones. This is because they're actually vibrating your skull, and your skull is more drum than bass. How much bass you get is actually affected by exactly where they sit (fleshy bits seem better) and, curiously – like much of 2020 – if you stick your fingers in your ears it improves.

I personally found the audio more than acceptable, so I'm obviously less concerned about high fidelity than some. To me it's entirely worth the trade-off over normal headphones to have my earballs left wide open. Music is entirely listenable with no sections simply missing from the range. The bass is just low.

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Wind noise, however, can blot music out completely by the time you reach 25-30mph. An automatic, noise-sensitive volume control would be good (perhaps the twin mics could be used for it), because going to 100 per cent to combat it for descents leaves it way too high the rest of the time.

Then again, these are the entry-level model, and appear very similar to the Trekz that cost £150 just a couple of years ago, so you can't really expect massive sophistication.

Unfortunately, that means they lack the serious waterproofing of the Aeropex version, too. With an Ingress Protection (IP) rating of 55, the OpenMoves allow 'limited' dust ingress (but no harmful deposits), and 'limited' water ingress too. They're protected against low pressure jets from all directions, though, and in the real world are fine with sweat and light rain. The charging port is well sealed by a rubber bung. The trouble is knowing when rain is light enough.

At £79.95, the 7th-generation OpenMoves are considerably less than the 8th-gen AfterShox Aeropexes at £149.95, and less than the 5th-gen AfterShox Airs at £99.95 too.

Then again, the R9 bone conduction headphones are around £30 on Amazon – we compared them to the Aeropexes in this video.

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The OpenMove headphones are great. They leave ambient sounds unblocked, which feels far safer on the road than plugged-up ears. They're easy to use, comfortable even with helmets and glasses, extremely light, and can handle rain showers without instantly euthanising poor Audrey and conking out.

They still can't handle heavy bass or wind roar well, but given the significant price drop in recent years, the technology's becoming seriously appealing – as are these headphones.

Verdict

Light, effective and comfortable wireless phones that don't block traffic noise – and attractively priced