14 DAY TRIAL // As a person who spends so much time writing, you can easily imagine that my two best companions every day aren’t coffee and my smartphone (these are number three and four, actually), but my laptop and my headphones, in this exact order.
This is why choosing new headphones is just as hard as a woman buying new shoes. OK, maybe not that hard, but I still spend way too many hours reading reviews, comparing products, and checking out every little information that I find online just trying to make sure that my pick is the best one.
I must say from the very beginning that I’ve always preferred over-ear rather than in-ear headphones, pretty much because they are more comfortable. Plus, I wanted to stick with wired products as much as possible given that I don’t want to care about recharging every single day.
This doesn’t mean I’m not using in-ear or wireless headphones. In fact, I rely on earbuds every time I work out, but I do admit that this doesn’t happen too often, and it’s not because the headphones aren’t comfortable, but because I’m just too lazy.
But in addition to over-ear and in-ear headphones, there’s a third model that rapidly caught my attention. It’s bone conduction, a concept that has evolved so much in the last few years and which has reportedly reached a new milestone this year with the release of the AfterShokz Aeropex.
If you’re new to the bone conduction headphone market, this name might not ring any bells to you, but what you should know is that AfterShokz is one of the companies that have been in this market for several years already. So if you’re looking for bone conduction headphones, you need to check out their products.
Aeropex is their latest model, and it promises to push the experience with bone conduction headphones to a completely new level with major improvements in terms of sound quality, comfort, and battery life.
Let’s talk about how Aeropex improves the concept of bone conduction technology.
In essence, this type of headphones doesn’t cover your ears in any way but instead uses your cheekbones to deliver music to your ears. It might sound awkward at first, but it’s exactly how the hearing process works.
So what AfterShokz does is place a pair of transducers on these cheekbones, sending sound and vibrations to your inner ears.
In theory, this sounds like the tech is out of this world, but in practice, the whole concept is a lot simpler. You simply put the headphones around your head and you start playing music. It’s almost like you’re using traditional headphones, only that they come with a rather unusual design.
And speaking of this unusual design, yes, that’s the term that describes the Aeropex. This new model uses titanium for extra durability and flexibility, and AfterShokz claims it has specifically re-angled the transducers to reduce vibration and improve sound quality.
This is without a doubt a clever design, even though at first you might not feel so comfortable using it. However, it’s all just a matter of time until you forget you’re wearing the headphones, and it’s all because everything is so lightweight. I mean, Aeropex tips the scales at just 26 grams, which is just as light as 5 US nickels.
The flexible design makes everything seem like you can do anything with the headphones, and that’s exactly how AfterShokz wants it to be. And as a matter of fact, there’s not much you can do to destroy Aeropex, as it’s fully waterproof with an IP67 rating and features a moisture detection alert for safe charging. However, they’re not suitable for swimming, and the parent company is working on a new model that comes with improved water resistance.
The design of Aeropex includes controls that are placed exactly where you’d expect them to be. There are dedicated buttons for volume up and volume down, and the first also plays the role of a power and pairing button. The left transducer is the home of a multi-purpose button that can be used mostly for playback controls, like play, pause, and skip tracks, but also for answering calls and redialing the last number.
Aeropex also supports interacting with digital assistants, and it supports both Google Assistant and Siri, depending on the platform that you use. To wake up either of them, you need to do a two-second-long press on this multi-purpose button, so I think that figuring out the purpose for each moment is a little confusing.
AfterShokz wanted to save room on the device but eventually made everything too complicated, especially for beginners who could find it rather difficult to determine how they can do certain things.
On the other hand, what I consider to be a drawback in terms of design is the cord that’s supposed to give them a perfect fit on the back of the head. However, this perfect fit is only possible with an adjustable cord, and unfortunately, there’s way to adjust it on Aeropex.
When it comes to features, AfterShokz isn’t trying to impress you with things you don’t need, so it offers the essential package that just works.
Taking calls, for instance, works exactly the way you’d expect it to work. There are two noise-calling mics to reduce background noise, and the audio quality is more than decent, especially because you’re supposed to use the Aeropex while working out or on the go.
But listening to music is what the whole thing is built for.
AfterShokz says the audio quality of Aeropex is further enhanced with a feature that it calls PremiumPitch and which has already reached version 2.0. The company says this feature “delivers wide dynamic stereo sound and louder volume.”
In theory, this sounds nice, but in practice, the louder volume is not so loud. While everything’s OK when listening to music in a quiet environment like in an office, it’s not the same thing when cycling, for instance. On the other hand, we shouldn’t forget that the purpose of Aeropex isn’t to eliminate all noises and provide you with a fully immersive music listening experience.
Nope. What Aeropex does is provide a situational awareness experience, which means you should be able to listen to music while also being perfectly aware of what’s happening around you. This is critical in so many scenarios, like when cycling or running and you still need to hear the traffic.
However, the audio quality is still far from what you’d expect when you hear things like PremiumPitch 2.0 and wide dynamic stereo sound. Audio quality is just average, and the lack of bass is without a doubt the easiest to notice from the first seconds of using Aeropex. The vibrations that the headphones generate might at some level trick you into believing there’s more bass coming out of these headphones, but for some people, it’s just an annoying ear tickle they would rather not have.
And of course, there’s no option to disable the vibration, and there’s a good chance there’ll never be.
The audio quality is probably the biggest drawback, and truth be told, this is quite a drawback. Especially because these are headphones that you’re supposed to use for listening to music, that is.
Battery life is just average, but this isn’t necessarily a problem given they charge fully in 2 hours and need only a few minutes to provide some 30 minutes of listening time. AfterShokz says Aeropex can offer around 8 hours of continuous play and 10 days in standby mode, but I think 6 hours and 7 to 8 days are more realistic estimates.
There’s a proprietary connector, and I know you hate them (I do too!), but AeroShockz has tried to compensate for using this approach with two cables in the box. What you should know is that the charging port comes with moisture detection, so make sure you wipe it off if you hear a warning when plugging in the cable.
THE BOTTOM LINE
AfterShockz is focusing more and more on improving the concept, and I really have no doubt the company will at one point push its products closer to perfection.
But for the time being, Aeropex is not there yet.
I mean, the idea behind the whole thing is excellent because after all, situational awareness is exactly what we need to stop being walking (or running) zombies with earbuds plugged in and music playing at maximum volume.
What’s more, Aeropex is living proof that headphones can be comfortable too, and as I said in the beginning, I’m one of those people really having a hard time finding a comfortable model that I can wear several hours every day.
But for me, the disappointing audio quality remains a deal-breaker. Some would gladly give up on the vibration and stick with the current audio quality, but I’d rather do the opposite. The vibration is something that you get used to after a while, but the audio quality just can’t be ignored, especially when your favorite tunes start playing.
At the end of the day, I do recommend you to give Aeropex a try before buying them, just to see what side you’re on. If audio quality isn’t a problem for you, then you’re in for a pretty good investment.
