AFTERSHOKZ Xtrainerz Open-Ear MP3 Swimming Bone Conduction
AFTERSHOKZ Xtrainerz Open-Ear MP3 Swimming Bone Conduction Headphones with 4GB memory
| Dimensions: | 13.5 x 9.36 x 16.9 cm; 29 Grams |
| Brand: | AFTERSHOKZ |
| Model: | AS700 |
| Colour: | Black Diamond |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. |
| Manufacture: | SHENZHEN VOXTECH CO.,LTD |
| Dimensions: | 13.5 x 9.36 x 16.9 cm; 29 Grams |
I previously had a set of swimming ear phones but they were hard to keep in my ears and the sound was not great. It was also difficult to download music onto it. These bone conduction headphones are however fantastic. They are very easy to keep on and the sound is amazing. It has really helped to pass the time when I swim, an hour goes past very fast and I love the quality and standard of these headphones. Brilliant product, a little pricy but worth every penny.
These are sublime. When I initially looked, I was very sceptical and assumed they were junk. How wrong I was. I bought them and within 48 hours I had my music on them and was in the pool. They work brilliantly whilst swimming and if you use the earplugs that come with them, the sound quality is amazing given that the sound is not actually pumped INTO your ears. They stay in place and make a swim much much more enjoyable. Very very happy
my husband swim 6 times a week. he didnt know these exist until I have gifted them to him. he loved it from day one. i went extra mile and have created usb for him with discographies of his favourite bands, so he can rotate the music . he says the swimming in pool and doing his in water morning work out will be not the same ever again without them. made me fell like genious bying these for him. I also have to say the service from the seller was amazing. immediate response and action. Can recommend
I had a different set (different brand) and enjoyed having my favourite music to swim too…. but these aftershokz are a million times better. The music is great above and under water. I would highly recommend.
These headphones were a bit of an investment in myself to kick off my New Years resolution to swim more consistently.
Like everyone looking at this product and it’s reviews, I get incredibly bored swimming lengths in the pool – In the past I’ve cut training sessions short or given them a miss entirely.
The headphones look awesome, they’re a very small and lightweight form factor. I went for the black diamond colour, which is matte black with silver fleck on the contact points – the pictures don’t really do them justice.
Sound quality in ‘swim mode’ is great – plenty of bass and depth of sound especially with earplugs in – this makes the experience really immersive and its easy to get into a flow state in order to pass the time.
You’ll need to load MP3’s onto the device, which is easy enough to do. I’ve been streaming from Spotify for the past 10 years so If you’re in the same boat think about factoring the cost of a few albums on Amazon into the purchase price.
No issues with the headphones moving around while swimming front crawl / freestyle and doing tumble turns with swimming goggles on to keep them in place.
I swim for leisure and fitness a couple of times a week for an hour or so. I have previously tried the Sony swimming mp3. They were the best of a bad bunch. I have bought two of them and was given some. All three were brilliant to start with but the performance always tailed off to nothing as water inevitably crept in. After lots of research I chose Aftershokz. The sound quality out of the water is very good. When I first used them I couldn’t hear a thing, as the sound of the water was like a lion roaring in my ears! That’s why they provide ear plugs and a swimming hat! I can’t pull off a swimming hat but when I used the ear plugs it made a massive difference and I was really impressed. The sound is a little muffled when underwater but I think that’s inevitable, but the volume is good and they are so comfortable to wear. I secure them with my goggles. I would definitely recommend them. They seem expensive but when I got them I felt they were actually cheap for the quality and presentation.
This product is amazing first swim with it today, the laps just ticked by as I listened to my music. I look forward to getting back in the pool.
Absolutely made up with these. So easy to use. Very comfortable and secure on the head however very uncomfortable to wear with a swimming cap (supplied with the earphones. ) The sound quality remains good with or without a cap so no problem for me. Really easy to add music. I added it from a CD in my laptop using media player to rip the CD to my library in MP3 format then just drag them over. I’ve seen complaints about the same songs playing but I have not found that plus it’s easy to set to shuffle and /or to skip songs. This is a must for swimmers. Great sound quality.
These are amazong for swimming. It feels like the water is talking!
On the surface they’re also very good, but it gets a bit difficult to hear in noisy areas (e.g. traffic)… but it could be because I listen to audiobooks and not music. Definitely recommend!
These are great!! I’ve been swimming for years and never really been happy with anything as much as these. My advice if you swim pay the extra you won’t regret it.
Waited till I’d used a few times. Sound is very good underwater – perhaps a little distortion in the bass but hard to tell as I use in an exercise pool and have motors going all the time. Charged up easily, battery still full after ~90mins of combined use. Music easy to upload. Very happy – makes a swim workout quite enjoyable.
I’ve had quite a few different MP3 players over the years for swimming and this is the best one by far. Would strongly recommend.
Over the years I used lots of different waterproof mp3s for racing swimming the problem was that didn’t last long or the earphones either also don’t last long or they were getting out from my ear the aftershokz is amazing two modes normal and swimming the sound for swimming amazing easy to wear in the sea extremely comfortable you don’t worry that you will lose them when you swim fastno wireless connections no Bluetooth. You plug it with its charger to a laptop to charge and load songs don’t leave it for more than two hours I think one hour charging is enough check the info manual and online about the charging time which has to be no more than two hours treat it with respect and it will last longits even good for running in the normal mode and you can be aware of your surroundings cause yes you hear the music and what’s is going on around youit’s not cheap but if swimming and music makes you happy it’s totally worth buying it.
I’ve resisted getting these for the longest time as they are pricey. Wish I’d got them sooner, they’re fantastic for swimming. Better with a cap as they ensure 100% contact.
If I was being picky, I’d prefer an adjustable band as I have a small head and it sticks out a mile at the back. The only way I can get a cap over it is to move it to the top of my head, which then shifts the position of the contact points. It’s a bit fiddly getting them back in position under the cap, but worth it for the sound quality.
I have owned a few swimming music mp3s but these are strokes ahead of them. I’m blowing away by the sound sounds like an orchestra underwater.Two different modes for swimming and out of water. I downloaded my Spotify playlist and converted to MP3. I can’t fault these,best ever buy
Swim cap is very poor quality split on second use
These are pretty good- and are probably the best on the market currently. How could they be improved?
1. They need to be able to have a higher volume setting. You have to use ear plugs with them otherwise the sound of the water on open ears drowns out (no pun intended) the content being played. It would just be good to ‘turn up the volume’.
2. When in their case they can ‘turn themselves on’ by the button being ‘clicked’- which means they are then playing in your sports bag and the battery runs down. To avoid that I have taken to attaching the protective charging case so that the buttons are not exposed.
3. The ‘software’ is a bit fiddly when adding content from one’s computer- this is not a problem- it just could be slightly more user friendly.
4. I swim 3.5 kilometres daily- which takes an hour- and these XTRainerz have made a welcome difference in filling that time with music or content. So that is a significant plus for these.
I recently started swimming and an hour of laps is a little dull. With these, I can have a dose of Megadeth at 6.30 am to spur me on to greatness.
Ok, so the Olympics will be a while off yet, but with the supplied earplugs and set to swimming mode, the sound is perfectly adequate. I just have to resist the temptation to sing-a-long 🙂
The charging cable is stupidly short, but that’s about the only complaint. I was a bit sceptical about the idea, but it seems to work well.
I swim in an endless pool, for about 40mins per day, which can be a tad boring. The waterproof Aftershokz, allow me to listen to music, podcasts, audio books etc. Great sound. Best with ear plugs. Highly recommended.
I have searched for reviews far and wide for headphones used successfully in a swim spa which means I swim against jets. Never found a review anywhere. I used to have a very cheap 30 mp3 for swimming.. but recently only one ear works and the sound has always been very average. These are in a DIFFERENT league sound quality is fantastic. They are secure, comfortable and very easy to use and easy to copy multiple songs on to. Worth every pound.
I’m no expert on music but have found the sound quality perfectly acceptable for my undiscerning ears, the earplugs are soft and comfortable and really improve the perceived volume and quality of the sound. I use my own speedo earplugs which do the same job, but fit my ear canals better. Last weekend I swam for 2.5 hours in the lake ( head down freestyle) and the battery easily lasted for that ( I haven’t run them all the way down yet) and at the end of the swim I had had no issues with rubbing or discomfort as I turned my head to breathe. Charging and uploading music was pretty straightforward once I’d made sure all the tracks I wanted were in MP3 not MP4 format. Really very pleased that I purchased them! 🙂
SO little to dislike about this! I have researched SOOOO much before commiting to this one.
Pros:
I CAN LISTEN TO MUSIC WHILE SWIMMING
Dont have to fiddle with bothersome earbuds that wont fit
Comfortable and has never fallen off
Very easy to transfer music
Had no issues with understanding how it works and what each button does (love the “swim” mode)
Cons:
(This is a big one for me) Can’t believe we are in 2021 and we cannot stream (even if it was offline) music off spotify whilst swimming!?! Really struggle to find free music out there to listen to
Overall, I really feel that this is the most reasonable solution out there! And so far have no regrets
Fantastic for swimming. I like to listen to audiobooks while I swim and this allows me to do this without wires in the way. You cannot fast forward or rewind but you can skip tracks. I used an aax converter to get my audible books chopped up and in mp3. Now I can listen to books in the water. It remembers what track you were on when you last switched on. Brilliant. It has a swimming mode as well which changes the bass i think. Definitely recommend.
I spent a long time reviewing different swimming headphones and selected these Aftershokz. I’m so glad I did! Light, comfortable and easy to use, they deliver great sound quality in and out of the pool, they have great battery life so I can swim for literally hours and I have never had any issues with them moving as I train.
Overall, 5* purchase and would highly recommend for anyone looking for versatile headphones for use in and out of the pool!
Amazing product – you don’t need to fit with swim hat or goggles as it stays attached to your ears regardless. The sound is brilliant , the design means no water can get into the headphones causing it to break ( unlike most other underwater headphones). The only reason I gave 4 stars is because these no skip button so if a song / podcast comes on that you don’t fancy you have no option to skip but other than that they are brilliant. I use them purely for swimming ( front crawl) but can imagine they would be even better for running / cycling ect.
Brilliant product and worth the money for sure.
Love these, they are amazing but you do need to wear earplugs when swimming. Will be even better when the next-gen comes out with Bluetooth.
The comparison between this and the Sony is miles. This is an amazing product. The volume could be a bit higher, but 100% good buy.
I have spent month researching underwater headphones and even asked a few people in the pools what headphones they had. I looked at these along with the delphins and duos.
I ended up choosing these as they don’t actually go in your ear so you don’t get the issue with water ingress between headphone and ear. I also liked that the mp3 player is all very compact.
Once received and tested I was so impressed with the sound quality, putting music on to the player was very simple (I found an app to convert my music to mp3). They are really lightweight and comfortable. Volume is perfect. It also comes with ear plugs, swimming hat and lovely quality case. I didnt use the hat and they stayed on no problem but I wasn’t tumble turning or in open water so I would wear the cap in the situation.
Overall so far an excellent product which has changed my swimming experience!!
I have been very impressed with these since having to replace my Finns recently. They are head and shoulders above those. I have really enjoyed using them underwater sound is good, as it is above ground.
I dare say others might be able to hear noise if you were right next to them but a bit of distance (mandatory these days!) means that’s not a problem.
Battery life is excellent
If I had to be critical I would say the size, because clearly I have a small head, so feels a bit like it might fall off occasionally, but it hasn’t (so far at least!) but I do wish they were either adjustable or made in different sizes.
Other than that I am very happy indeed with my purchase
I have to write this review because I am SO pleased with these Aftershokz Swimming Bone Conduction Headphones. These are the fourth type of headphones that I have bought for swimming. The others have been awful and I have returned them. However, these are so wonderful and I can’t recommend them highly enough. The sound quality is very good – the headphones are bone conduction, therefore you wear ordinary swimming ear plugs in your ears to stop water getting in whilst the headphones rest on the cheek bone area giving you a clear and consistent sound quality throughout your swim – unlike the others I have tried. The battery life, after swimming for two hours, still says it’s ‘high’. I am so impressed with these headphones and I now look forward to swimming even more because they are so simple to operate, they don’t move once in place, they give non-stop good quality sound and are absolutely excellent!
Secondly, my first attempt was with the Sony nw-ws625, which were good initially, in terms of wow-factor of music and carefree training, but I couldn’t get a good fit into one ear despite trying all the sizes of buds provided (I never knew I was that asymmetric), and even the better fitting one would ultimately allow water in. Also, the volume is not good with these, to the point where I used the non-swimming buds (having read a review where someone else does), which improved things but it was disappointing to have to keep stopping and either putting back in or clearing water out.
Then, stand forward bone conduction. I was a bit sceptical before they arrived, but these are incredible.
My first attempt was without any plugs in, and this was immediately better than the experience with the Sony in-ear ones. Louder and clearer. (It’s worth noting that the headphones do make an audible sound, albeit very low volume, so these might be irritating if you’re using them ordinarily on a flight or somesuch). There’s a button to switch from “General” to “Swimming” mode, and this makes a lot of difference because when in the water the sound changes quite a lot. But these really work, and make my swimming workout even better.
I then tried with the plugs in. They come with little soft blue plastic plugs, which according to another review I read were not as good as the silicon putty ones for keeping water out, but these work for me. And the effect is even better! This takes out all the swimming sloshing noise, making the music even clearer.
They’re not cheap, but by not having to go into your ear canal they avoid all that difficulty of getting a good fit versus preventing the water getting in. So for me, these are just right – finally no need to look any further.
I dropped one star on the sound quality, just to make the point that these things are never going to be as good as full-cover headphones, and you shouldn’t expect them to. But for me I can now trough up and down for over an hour without even thinking about the time.
Yes, this gadget gives me the energy to swim even further – even though it’s the most boring thing I know. And in that respect a great (and the main) reason to buy them. Sound quality is so-and-so, especially in the water (I find it really hard to listen to podcasts as talk easily drowns out (no pun intended)), but who cares? This isn’t art – it’s doping.
I bought these when my cheap and cheerful in-ear swimming headphones died. It took me a while to convince myself to spend the money on the XtrainerZ, they aren’t cheap, but so glad I did. As a regular swimmer I find swimming listening to music a real boon. Set to swimming mode and with the supplied ear buds inserted, the sound quality in the water is fantastic. They are also incredibly light and comfortable to wear.
I also wear them when out walking, using general mode, and have found them excellent for that.
Honestly, I’m not normally one to write reviews. These are ridiculous. The first couple of lengths I was literally grinning as the sound quality was so good. I put in a 2km time of around 30 mins – so I was going hard, pushing off hard and fast and tumble turning – no interruption or drop in quality. Absolute game-changer. I think I’m going to use them for running too as it’s safer to run with ears open. Honestly – don’t hesitate. Buy ’em.
Completed lots of research for the best headphones to use whilst swimming. I didn’t want to leave a review until I had an opportunity to really use them.
The design is great, they fit well and sound quality is good when swimming.
Very easy to download music on to, added m4a and mp3 files. I’ve added over 200 songs already and still have plenty of room for more.
Good value for money.
I got these for my husband! His review:
These are the first ‘swimbuds’ I’ve tried, after reading several reviews of types and models. They’re excellent and do exactly what they say. Easy to set up, use and download mp3 music files on to from laptop. The sound is very good, and here’s a couple of ‘tips and tricks’ that I’ve discovered after a bit of trial and error : 1. use the provided earplugs, they modulate the bone-conduction sound beautifully 2. insert them in what you will have to find as the ‘optimal’ position so that the sound is even whether your head is above or below water while swimming 3. keep the volume just one or two notches below maximum, for clearer sound. Great product for the price, perfect for taking the monotony (and occasional tiredness!) out of swimming laps for long training and exercise durations.
The sound quality is good during normal use but is fantastic when under water when swimming
Battery life is good but being forgetful would have preferred longer run time
I donor swim in them as yet,so cannot comment on water performance
Makes swimming so much fun. I was sceptical as first but I was thrilled. Put my earphones on, hat, goggles and then to my delight my 80s playlist came thundering through. You need a pc or laptop to transfer the music, which I didn’t have so I had to borrow a pc to sync music to my mp3 but I knew that prior to,purchas. If you swim and like me struggle with ear buds then I would strongly recommend. But don’t start singing mid stroke or you will swallow a large amount of water lol.
I have used the headphones for few months now while swimming, running, biking…here are my observations :
+ the sound is great they feel comfortable, very light
+ while running-biking next to musing you can hear what is going around if you pay attention (great for safety)
– the wraparound cord should be adjustable as it is not comfortable under swim cap. I have about 2 cm gap between my head and wraparound cord and the plastic swimming cap is thus creating pressure on the system.
I’m a marathon swimmer, I swim for multiple hours a day and I haven’t swam without these headphones since I’ve bought them. They charge insanely quick and are the most comfortable and best sound quality in any other headphones or bone conductors I’ve ever used.
No faults in my opinion, open water, sea swimming and pool swimming, it handles it all.
100% worth the price
I ordered these headphones after doing a lot of research about them. It was either these or the Finis ones. I can not say how glad I am that chose these ones…they are amazing. I’ve left it a couple of weeks before writing my review to see if there are any tweeks that are needed but NOPE, they are perfect. I swim every morning before work and swim freestyle about 1.5 to 2km every morning. They are AMAZING, when pushing off the wall etc they hold firm and don’t move. I noted some people were a bit funny about there being no bluetooth etc but I don’t find this a problem I just dragged and dropped the files onto the player and good to go. The sound quality is really good and I didn’t find that I needed to use the earplugs that you get with the player.
On another note, the packaging it comes in is beautiful and very Apple-esk, it makes the opening of the item part of the full experience. Thank you Aftershokz, you’ve earned your 5* review.
Claire (a very happy customer)
Almost brilliant. But cannot download audible books as MP3only format not compatible with ‘Audible’
These are amazing! A total game changer. The sound quality is crystal clear, and it’s quite loud too. My only bit of feedback is that it would be good if you could adjust the side of them, as they do feel slightly big and I have to readjust them occasionally to get them back into place. However this is really just a minor point as overall they really are brillia
Just received it – used it once. Very impressed! I have only given 3 stars for battery life etc because I’ve not owned the device long enough to be objective. I think if asked in a months time – I may be inclined to give it a full 5* rating.
Great to be able run and listen to music without taking my phone and then afterwards left on while in the show. Just put a pile of songs on it and it plays…not sure what order and can’t skip songs. It’s exactly what I wanted so I’m very happy.
As a designer of technology products I am always sceptical about buying new stuff. There’s a lot of hype. Kit gets cheaper very quickly too so I’m always inclined to go with cheaper tried and tested products rather that new top of the line.
I’m a GB age group triathlete and train lots. I’ve tried lots of ways to make my training more interesting, which can be up to 30 times a week! This is simply the best system I’ve ever used short of having buttons actually surgically added to my ear. When I first put it on I thought it would fall off in the pool – nope, tumble turning has no effect.
The sound quality is good. There is shuffle for 1000 songs, or other spoken audio. It is light and you really don’t notice it while running. It fits neatly with my helmet and glasses on my bike. I can wear it in the shower, or the shop without really feeling it.
It’s not an iphone or a mobile laptop and has no screen, it’s designed for precisely what it’s used for which is rough and tumble mobile audio. There’s no in ear wax and dirt accumulation with the bone conduction either, which I had to have a minor procedure to fix last year (too many earbuds + sweat).
I had a bike accident and damaged it. AfterShokz immediately replaced it. Lots of technology and apps are just fluff dressed up but this is really excellent and it has made my training just that little bit more enjoyable and helps to break up the monotony when the going gets tough. They’s made something very hard very cool – brilliant 🙂
Game changer!
Drag and drop DRM free (not file protected) mp3 tunes and jump in the pool.
I Hardly ever write reviews but couldn’t not for these. Could they be better, possibly. Is there anything half as good out there at the moment… no.
Are these expensive? Yes. Are they worth it if you are a swimmer? Absolutely! The sound quality is amazing especially underwater. I have only used them twice now and they are the best investment I have made. Actually easy to transfer music etc too.
Wow, these are really, really good! Fit, weight, streamlining (very important in swimming – no cables and bulky mp3 players as from other brands), overall comfort – they could not be better engineered and designed!
Sound quality – my main concern when choosing bone-conduction headphones – exceeded my expectations or, at the very least, is as good as I could hope for! At first, when I tried them out on dry land with the few songs that came preloaded in the player, I was literally blown away from the sound quality – this is how good it was, exceeding by far any expectations I had for the bone conduction technology. I guess, however, it all depends on the lossless quality of the specific mp3 or wav (etc.) format, because some of my mp3 songs do not sound as good as the factory preloaded ones. With good quality mp3s, though, sound quality is really, really good – both on dry land and in the pool!
How songs sound changes when you are in the water swimming, when you pop your head in and out of the water, but that’s normal and it can’t be any other way, when listening to music while swimming. There are two EQ modes – “general” and “swimming” and both are good in (under) the water, although the swimming mode is definitely better (when your ears are under water) as it is well balanced in terms of bass, etc. The general mode under water is not for the “sound-quality” expert but is sort of cool for certain songs as it sounds really bassy, so it might be fun sometimes, all the more that when your ears are out of the water the general mode sounds definitely better (as in sounds really nice, depending on the quality of the mp3). However, the swimming mode is the one appropriate for use in the water – it does sound really good and balanced under water and to the extent your ears are above water for a second, still filled with water (more or less), the (big) difference in the sound between in and out of water is something you stop even noticing after a couple of lengths.
The Xtrainerz come with ear plugs, in case you would like to totally isolate yourself (at least sonically). I have not tried them yet but plugging my ears with my fingers, just to see whether the sound quality would change in any substantial way, I don’t think it would change much if using the earplugs and definitely don’t think it would somehow improve (contrary to what I read on forums and reviews that sound quality would “improve” when using the earplugs.) I have not tested them together, though (headphones and earplugs), so I can’t be really sure about the supposed improvement in sound quality. The thing is, sound quality as really good as it is, so there is no need for me to use the earplugs to improve it.
Overall, bone conduction – when made by Aftershokz, anyway – works really great and for me it’s the best option, for two reasons: open ear is the best for open water swimming – I would not feel safe or even comfortable swimming in open water without being able to hear what is going on around me (think jet skis, all sorts of boats, other swimmers, your friend or family member calling you from the beach, etc., etc.) Even in the pool, it might be a good idea to be able to hear what is going on around you. The other reason is I hate earplugs type of headphones (i.e., all swimming headphones that are not bone conduction), all the more that in water you better use silicone gel (or something like that) to get a tight fit or else they might easily get dislodged, ruining your listening experience. No such concerns with bone conduction.
Now, two minor (for me) negative points: the Xtrainerz do not have bluetooth, so you can only rely on the built-in mp3 player. This is ok as these are primarily swimming headphones and bluetooth does not really work in water, but if you would want to use them on dry land, for other types of workout, you won’t be able to use streaming or, for that matter, you won’t be able to use them for phone calls. This is rather unfortunate for many users but not a problem for me personally, because I bought them practically exclusively for swimming. If you want to use your bone conduction headphones outside the pool (or ocean), then you should probably consider the newest product of Aftershokz – the Aeropex, which have bluetooth, but don’t have a built-in mp3 player, so would not be usable for swimming. There is no perfect world, after all, but the Xtrainerz are more versatile than the Aeropex, although only if you want to use them for swimming. It would have been nice to have swimming headphones that are bone conduction, have a built-in mp3 player (for use in the water), AND have bluetooth (for streaming and phone calls on dry land), AND, I would add, that are manufactured by Aftershokz (because these guys are really good in their engineering and design)… But that does not exist on the market – yet, so that’s that.
The other minor negative point, which is more of a concern for me, is that the Xtrainerz’s player does not, apparently, read any and all mp3s. Depending on the codec used for conversion you might end up with an mp3 that can’t be read by the Xtrainerz, so you need to pay attention to that when converting (I am still not sure which codecs exactly do not work.) Besides the two minor points above, however, the Xtrainerz are as perfect product as they get.
Packaging, materials, battery life and charging times – everything is at the level one would expect from a product at this price range (these ARE expensive, no question about it.)
Overall, these are hands down THE BEST swimming headphones on the market right now, deserving their top place in the various reviews and worth every penny!
Both swimming mode and the general mode provide an excellent experience. People say that bone conduction earphones are generally not as good as regular earphones, but I disagree. They might not match the real headset, but they definitely match good quality earphones. Enjoyable for music and more than enough for podcasts.
Doesn’t support Bluetooth yet, so you need to own the music/podcasts.
I have tried lots of waterproof headphones and these are the best by miles, in a league of their own. The sound is amazing with a special under water setting. It is so so easy to transfer music or audio books onto the headphones.everything about the box and product is solid and screams great quality. My husband has had some for a year and loves them too. The best product on the market. Get some!
Very comfortable and easy to use. Great for language learning. I am wearing them now and seldom take them off. You can reach up to behind your right ear and hit the pause button which is fantastic when listening to Say Something In Welsh mp3s 🙂
Diolch!
No wires getting in the way, no phone swinging about, just these sitting a bit on your ears and sending the tunes through your bones. Yes you can hear the traffic and the tunes at the same time. However have them on loud and you can only hear the tune and not sounds from the outside world. have them at sensible levels and you are good to go from a music point of view and sound awareness of your outside environment. Unlike other reviews I did not notice them while wearing them with very slight pressure on the top pf my ears but in my case likely because I have a large head. Just for your MP3 sounds and nothing else which suits me just fine. Great product suits me just fine. Not tried them swimming yet but shall give them a go in open water this week. Used so far for cycling and swimming and would be happy to have them just for that.
I received my xtrainerz earlier today and I’ve just given them a go in the Endless Pool and I’m amazed by how great they sound. I bought a pair of bone conducting headphones many years ago (can’t remember name of manufacturer) and they were so uncomfortable and a faff to use. I had reservations about buying these but took the plunge. I cannot believe how comfortable these are and the sound quality is amazing. Time will tell how robust they are and how well the battery lasts. For now though, I’m very pleased.
I love swimming with these. It make the workout more focused and fun! Fully waterproof. Instead of a swim cap I wear a swim band designed to keep water out of the ears and that keeps the unit where it gives the best sound. Have fun! It works with iTunes purchased songs. Just drag and drop into a folder on your desk tops and arrange your playlists. For ease I created one playlist. I found it fiddly while swimming to change from one playlist to another.
I’ve had this about a week now and use it twice a day in my training pool. A 4mx2m out of ground pool with a bungee at one end. The music is great especially when the cap is on. Increases the base and means you don’t have to have it to loud. This has increased my time in the pool to 40 minutes non stop swimming. Found that hard to do before this headset. Cycling just as good. Very secure and can still hear around. Ride alone alot so this allows you to really zone out. Hope they last. They feel good, so expecting them to. Daughter uses them to swim in the training pool while covid 19 is on. So they are in the water near on 4 times a day. She trains for 2 hours.
Nicely packaged; good looking product; easy to charge, to load music and to operate; sound quality is great in the water and out – there is a swim mode and a regular mode. I have used Aftershokz before, as I have a pair for running and only recently learnt that they do a swim pair. I was concerned whether they would work well when wearing a hat i.e. will it all be a bit of an uncomfortable muddle but no – felt different at first, but once swimming other than hearing the music you wouldn’t know you are wearing them. My only concern is dropping them as they are not cheap, and being dark in colour I think they would be tricky to find if you dropped them in a lake – so perhaps a brighter colour for the next design – but that said they would not just fall off and I haven’t been brave enough to see if they would just float. Oh and you get a cool swim hat too. In all I would definitely recommend. I had initially purchased the Finis Duo but it would not charge or load music well – and although their customer service was great – the product was clunky and cheap compared to the Aftershokz. Definitely recommend paying that bit extra and getting these Aftershokz.
such a neat set of headphones , I bought them for swimming and the sound quality when in the water is absolutely fine. Im no guru on technology but theses are doing everything I needed them to do. It was easy to transfer music from my iTunes account as well no faffing just drag and drop.
I love these headphones. I use them for swimming and they are really good. Easy to download MP3 tracks onto them, and the battery life is good. I tend only to surface swim though so I don’t know how good they would be if you go under water a lot, maybe fine, I just don’t know. Highly recommended.
I am a swimmer and my training lasts 70-80min. I was looking for waterproof bone-conducting MP3 player since I found uncomfortable with an earphone style device. My previous bone-conducting MP3 player was OK but wobbling when I do quick turn and it needed to attach onto my water goggle. Perhaps those reasons, a cable near the pad has torned off one day.
Instead of buying the same device, I bought Aftershokz. It was the great improve of my training. Easy to wear and operating, long battery life, clear and high quality sound and big capacity. I keep listening to the music while I am changing as it has non-swimming mode. I wish my gym reopns and I enjoy swimming with my favourite music in the near future.
I saw these advertised and thought I’d bite the bullet. After always buying cheaper versions…again and again I spent some money. I was in awe of the packaging and the simplicity of how everything works. So much so I’ve bought the Aeropex as well. 2 yr warranty (once registered).
Great for swimming. Sound quality is great for the use. It’s of course not hi-fi standard but I was still impressed by volume and level of bass when swimming. A great set that makes me want to swim for longer.
Controls are somehow fiddly but if you just loads songs and just play them random or in a straight list without trying to select them manually it’s absolutely fine.
Excellent. They really work. I swim two or three times a week for an hour or two in a large, busy pubic pool. Sound quality I think is very good. Copying music to the device is simply a file copy onto the device.
I’ve also ended up using it as my normal audio player because it’s so convenient to wear, to put on and off, while also being able to hear what’s around you.
The only flaw is the message when you start the device, “welcome to aftershokz”, becomes a bit long after you’ve heard it for the millionth time – “power on” would be better.
I used to own a Finis Duo, that was pretty good but the Aftershokz is far superior. It is easier to add music from iTunes, no conversion necessary just drag and drop. The controls are far better and less fiddly. The music quality is far superior. I used it without the earplugs and then used it with them and it makes a huge difference. I don’t wear a hat or try and use my goggles to hold the device in place – it just sits where it is supposed to sit and doesn’t move, even when tumble turning. It truly is an excellent product. I would recommend this to any swimmer.
These are a little pricey but worth it because they work well. I have tried cheaper versions that just don’t match up to these. Sound quality is excellent both in and out of the water. Can push off in the water and they do not slip – stay secure. Easy to load music and podcasts etc onto them. A little fiddly to use but not so bad once you get the hang of it. I use them for swimming and would highly recommend for anyone looking for swimming headphones. The sound is maintained even under water unlike Bluetooth headphones where the sound is obviously interrupted when you submerge. Only criticism would be that even at max volume they are not really loud enough in the water.
Love these. I bought a cheaper set when I first started swimming but after a couple of weeks upgraded to these. They are brilliant. Comfortable to wear and easy to work. Work best with the included ear plugs. Stay in place even during fairly vigorous front crawl. I haven’t tried tumble turns so cannot comment and I don’t know if they would stand up to a diving entry. Nice little storage pouch. Came with a swim cap that I haven’t used. We’ll worth the investment if you’re swimming more than 30 mins a few times a week. Excellent purchase.
I don’t normally write reviews but I just have to. I’m a synchronised swimmer and was looking for underwater ear phones that can withstand the moving in all directions when I train. The sound above water if fine but…wow.. once underwater the sound is amazing and nothing like what I expected. They stay in place for 2 hours of training with A LOT of turning, tumbling etc. I wish they could be synced with others so my team could use them at the same time. But for Solo or Duet they are absolutely perfect. They even block out underwater music from other teams that train at the same time. Love, love, love my new toy!!
One of my best ever sport related purchases.
Swimming in a pool is back again on the list of favourite activities!!
In my opinion worths every penny.
Amazing sound quality especially when used under the water (with water proof ear plugs).
When used on running or cycling, xtrainerz allows you a descent sound quality and also 100% awareness of road traffic..
Highly recommended!
I love them and they work just as I expected. They’re comfortable and what a difference swimming with music. I love that they also allow me to hear what’s going on around me especially when walking at night. I do wish the back strap was a bit closer to my head but it doesn’t detract from the product at all. Very pleased with my purchase
I researched for ages to find a product that I would like. I was wary as there are lots on the market, many with bad reviews. I bought this and wow! The sound quality is amazing – I listen to audio books when I swim/train and not music, so I need to hear the spoken word. Easy to use. My only issue is that the head strap is not adjustable, and as a female with an average sized head it’s quite big for me, and slightly awkward under the swim hat, but I figures it out. Also you can fast forward through tracks which for audio books would be helpful. However its an excellent product and I highly recommend it for any swimmer, or someone looking to train in a wet environment!
Fantastic product, I was hesitant due to the cost and had waterproof MP 3 already with earbuds but these still let in water when swimming. No issue with the aftershock, they do come with small ear plugs which are good for swimming anyway. The player has two listening setting, one for normal listening and also a swimming mode. This adjusts the equaliser to less bass and once your head is in the water it boosts the bass sound for the bone conduction speakers. That are more than loud enough if you use the ear plugs as well even in a noisy pool. Highly recommended, for me value for money.
Definitely is not a cheap product but, the quality of a product starts from the packaging and they nailed it!
Everything is just perfect.
It is lightweight, it has a very good sound quality and it does what is made for. To listen to music while you are swimming.
Definitely I recommend it.
I’m not a fan of tech gadgets but this product is really a breakthrough. Due to pain to my back I had to stop exercise. Only swimming allowed but it was so boring… Now I can swim for 60 minutes listening to my favourite podcasts.
I had a small problem and contacted the support. They replaced the product in a few days.
Highly recommended!
After several years of ipod shuffles where the batteries stop working and the earphones break, not to mention muddy sound – I decided to invest in these. The sound is fantastic. I can now listen to podcasts and as I can use earplugs am also suffering from less ear infections. The first ones stopped working but were quickly replaced by Amazon. The second pair are so far brilliant. Only downside is that it is not so easy to navigate through folders and there is no way of going back in a podcast if you miss something. However, small price to pay for crystal clear uninterrupted sound.
I used to have the Finis version of these that attached to the google strap. They did the job. These are amazing. Sound is clear no matter how noisy the pool is. If you want to get fitter by swimming but find it dull these change that. I download a few chapters of an audiobook and swim until it finishes. Brilliant.
Having tried other devices for swimming – i360 (great supplier but device unreliable in the water) and Finis Duo (large, uncomfortable, terrible sound quality and broke) I was overjoyed when I tried the Xtrainerz. Easy to charge and add music too, great to hear the battery level when you turn them on, comfortable to wear, reliable as water in your ear does not make any difference and GREAT sound quality (when you remember to turn it to swimming mode, which I didn’t do on the first swim and was disappointed in the terrible sound and nearly sent them back!). They are very lightweight, and hardly noticeable when swimming and come in a useful zipped bag. This is a quality product, which revolutionized my swimming.
Very pleased with them and would thoroughly recommend. My only worry is that I’ve only had them a month and my other swim MP3 players have not lasted long before breaking. But it has a year guarantee, so fingers crossed!!
These take my swimming to a new level, I swim further and faster which is brilliant!
I love them, yes they are expensive but worth every penny.
They are well made and come with a pouch to keep them safe and secure in my swim bag.
They have buttons on the side so you can switch to normal mode to swim mode, had voice activation so she tells you how much battery life you have left which is a genius idea.
Love love love!!!
If you are a fast swimmer and enjoy front crawl, butterfly and tumble turns these are the headphones for you!
Since I purchased this product I didn’t use anything else whilst during outdoor sport ( in the gym I still prefer earphones that can isolate me completely). It si absolutely outstanding in the swimming pool, it allows you to ride being able to hear cars coming behind you, and to run listening to the music but allowing you also to interact with the environment. What a surprise…. It is so good I will buy a second pair as a back up. The only downside is the battery life; if used to highest volume level the battery life is less than a hour. But this product really rocks 🙂
I’m a frequent swimmer, about 3 times a week and tend to swim at my local Lido (50meter open air pool) and in this weather I tend to freeze if I don’t swim fast enough. I chose a Lido as you burn more calories but it does get really boring. So I used ear buds MP3 and I found I started to get frequent ear infections due to water pressure. I had to stop swimming because of the repeated ear infection. So was looking for an alternative and found Finis Duo Bone Conduction Technology, I had to return the Finis Duo as I did not get on with them at all. Found these and really found them great I’ve had them for two weeks and swam with them. Sound quality is acceptable, considering you are underwater, recorded voice confirmations for headset button presses very useful and the fact that it tells you your battery life is really an added bonus. I feel motivated to swim again. Only con is that it does not have Bluetooth but I just don’t know how this can be achieve when my apple watch is constantly underwater when doing strokes. I would recommend that, ooh I forget 2 year warranty too what a bonus worth the expensive cost of the MP3 payer.
I liked the idea of listening to music whilst swimming, but people I’ve spoken to about ‘conduction’ headphones have said they were average, at best, and I didn’t like the idea of trying to swim with ear buds actually in my ears.
I saw these on Amazon with nearly all 5 star reviews so thought I’d give them a try. I was a little worried as I really didn’t want to wear a swimming cap or ear plugs, both which are supplied with these headphones, so I didn’t know whether they would stay in place without a cap on, or sound OK without ear plugs in too.
I needn’t have worried. I swim a mix of front crawl with a bit of breast stroke if I get tired, but these headphones didn’t move once regardless of stroke, breathing, swimming under water etc. They stayed firmly planted, no cap required. They were comfortable too. I could have quite easily forgotten I was wearing them, was it not for listening to some Serious Jockin’ (No G!) by Steve Wright as I was swimming along.
Sound is excellent. I switched on the ‘Swimming’ EQ and started swimming. With your head above water they sound great, but these actually sound even better when you’re under water, or doing front crawl, so your ears are submerged. You do get a perceived change in tone when you swim breast stroke. This isn’t the ear phones themselves, just your ears being filled with water one second and then being empty the next. The supplied ear plugs would fix this issue completely, but A) it didn’t bother me that much and B) I like to hear what’s going on around me, and you can still talk to people with these on as your ears aren’t covered with the earphones, they sit just in front of your ears. When swimming front crawl the sound was always level as my ears didn’t have time to drain, even when turning my head sideways to breath.
I can’t rate these highly enough, and wish I’d found them months ago!!
Only used once, so can’t comment on longevity, but with no holes for water to get in, these should be good for years as long as the battery lasts.
I also found them easy to transfer music to. If you’re OK with using Windows Explorer (or Finder on Mac), and dragging and dropping files, you’ll be fine. I haven’t played with setting up folders or anything yet, so can’t comment on that.
Its hard to believe just how good the sound quality is while swimming. I assumed the sound would be muffled to some extent but the sound is crisp and clear. I have even been able to listen to an audiobook while swimming. Very lightweight and comfortable in and out of the water, you forget your wearing them. I will be buying a second set for my wife.
Now for the drawbacks, which by comparison are minor: Unfortunately they do not do a Bluetooth capable version of these waterproof ones meaning even “out of water” for everyday use you’re always limited to only the music you own and have in digital form for loading onto them and cannot simply stream from Spotify on your phone etc. Also the rear of head ‘band’ isn’t customizable so while fine in the water it makes it difficult to sit back against a seat (like a bus seat, sofa, etc) without slightly dislodging them.
Note: Also worth bearing in mind that while there is nothing in the instructions etc to indicate so you should be careful when loading music onto them as if you put music files in a folder that is inside another folder the device will not recognize or play them, it will only find music files not in a folder at all or in just a single folder and when you rip music from CD to PC or download digital purchases they are often arranged in a way that is more than 1 folder deep, so just keep an eye out when loading music onto them
I have a pair of the original Aftershokz bluetooth headphones which I use. So when they released a set for swimming I had high expectations.
I can honestly say that my expectations have been MET!
Loading music to the headphones was super easy. They fit great – they worked well for front stoke, breast stroke and back stroke swimming. Good sound quality and you are still aware of your surroundings.
If I was to suggest an improvement for the future it would be to raise the control buttons or make them a different colour so that you easily know the difference between the + – and power button.
Very Happy with my purchase. I can now swim for longer because the music helps me forget that it is actually exercise.
Ordered this one as the previous bone conducting headphones from a competitor company broke (wire frayed at connection to body after only a few uses). I use these for sea swimming and so far they are excellent. Good sound quality under a range of sea conditions. They’re so light weight that you hardly notice you’re wearing them. Outside the water they’re also great – the mode button toggles between ‘normal’ and swim use which is great. Transfering content is easy – just plug into computer and drag and drop sound files.
Great design and completely pain free. Sound quality is exceptional in and out of the water. Initial set up was easy and the headphones detail the battery level each time they’re powered up. Can wear comfortably with a swim cap (although the cap can’t quite sit as low on the back of my head as I’d normally have it) and stays in place for the duration of the swim. Would love for them to be available in the future with streaming functionality!
They are comfortable and stay on even with vigorous swimming, something which the Sony ones just couldn’t hack. It comes with a swimming cap which was a bit naff, but they work fine without it.
I’ve swam for about 4 hours with them so far and it’s still says it’s on high battery.
Switching between folders is easy, and it has a normal Vs shuffle mode. Like other reviewers, it’s true that the shuffle mode just randomly picks a song when one finishes, rather than creating a random queue, and so I heard the same song about 4 times in 10, out of a folder of 50 songs which isn’t ideal but that’s my only gripe.
Overall, a fantastic solution to music underwater. Definitely worth the price, would 100% recommend!
For swimming, they are extremely loud, in fact i have them on half volume and the base is brilliant.
For the bike rides, i have always been against using headphones for safety reasons but i must say that with these headphones i can hear quite clearly the sounds around me therefore have no concerns about not hearing approaching cars.
The build quality of the headphones are good and easy to use. Very please and can’t recommend them enough.
Most everything negative below is really nit-picking/possibly improvements for future iterations
I will update again once i’ve had some more time with these to see how they hold up 🙂
Strengths:
* Makes for really great swimming experience. Nothing feels better than doing backstroke with music in rooftop pool downtown looking up at sunset and mountains in Seattle
* Audio quality in and out of water easily exceeded expectations
* Pretty secure, sound quality pretty great throughout all strokes/turns.
* Battery holds up well
* For me did not seem noticeable, and was overall a comfortable fit in the pool for 1+hr of swimming
Areas for improvement:
* Shuffle mode doesn’t seem to let you restart song, or replay recent song (seems to be random song on back/forwards always). If this is user error let me know.
* would have been nice to have blue-tooth for dry-land usage. Would also allow to navigate the mp3 files with smartphone/bluetooth between sets.
* Without cap sometimes moves/produces weird flapping/distortion in audio during turns, especially for butterfly/breast into backstroke.
* Folder navigation is sufficient but a bit limiting
* The complimentary cap is pretty mediocre
* Storage capacity pretty terrible if your library is entirely FLAC
I have now owned 3 versions of Aftershokz’s products, And I remember thinking so many years ago with one of their first product Bluez 2S, Wouldn’t it be great if they made a version for swimmers, So Xtrainerz is somewhat of a dream come true. I have so far used them during 3 swimming sessions and I can already tell they are so much better than any other product on the market. The sound quality is amazing under water, And they actually have great base wich none of the competition have. Great build quality and very pleasant “normal listening” experience if you can cope with a drag and drop mp3-file situation and best of all you don’t need to worry about earplugs falling out.
I’ve never had swimming earphones before, but find pool swimming mind-numbingly boring most of the time. I’ve never heard good things about ‘traditional’ swimming earphones so have never bothered to take the plunge; but having used the Trekz Titanium headphones over the past year I thought I’d pull the trigger on these. Used them prodigiously over the last few weeks whilst exercising and have found them to be brilliant both in and out of the water, they are now my go-to training partner, and (for me) have made the time spent swimming much more enjoyable
Pros:
– Lightweight and comfortable to the point you forget you’re wearing them
– sound quality underwater is surprisingly better than above water!
– easy to change between swimming and General EQs on the fly
– ability to be used in pool and open water is excellent
– earplugs and swimming cap that come with it are decent quality too
Cons:
– Lack of Bluetooth. I know this is something that’s not needed whilst in the water, but if these had a Bluetooth connection then they would be completely ideal for those that swim and do land-based exercises.
– Shuffle mode doesn’t seem to queue all tracks in a random order, rather it just randomly plays whatever’s in the folder you’ve selected (meaning that some songs will be replayed several times during an extended listening period)
– Fit. Not a major issue but it’s best to wear a swimming cap (especially when open water swimming) as it would be an expensive loss if these get dislodged!
However these downsides are relatively minor and I would definitely recommend these to anyone getting bored with swimming
I’ve used these in the indoor pool and the sea . I can honestly say they are absolutely amazing . I’ve tried most of the other in ear swimming headphones and these are in a different league . Brilliant design ,you don’t know you’ve got them on and they do not move at all . No more fiddling interrupting your swim . Just get them !!!!! Five stars plus some
Dont look for any cheaper devices and forget SONY. the Bond Conduction is the ONLY WAY to listen to clear music underwater, even with loads of noise from the waves or screaming at the pool.
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED!
I just had my first 2k meter swim with my new Xtrainerz’s on Thur! This is my first experience with Bone Conductive headphones of any kind and was truly amazed. I am ecstatic about the sound quality and comfort, I had no issue with them moving around on my head while swimming and only adjusted the volume once during my swim.
I am so happy with the Xtrainerz that i’m Thinking seriously about purchasing a pair of the Bluetooth models to use while doing my cardio and weightlifting on the days I don’t swim!
Great product and I Highly recommend them,
Cheers,
Tony
Only issue I’ve had was when loading the songs, you need to do them one at a time, as the system orders them when they are copied onto the device. Thus if you have a book that has chapters, with each chapter being an MP3, you need to make sure they go on one after another, rather than copying them all at once (as the smallest ones will go on the device first, and mess up the ordering). Once I understood this, it was easy to organize my books into folders, and then the chapters in each folder.
Overall, after two weeks it’s been great! My biggest concern is how they last with the constant use in the pool, but with a 2 year warrentee, even that isn’t the biggest worry. These are my go to swimming (and exercise) headphone/playback device from now on! Totally love them.
I’ll update if I get any issues:)
I wasnt sure when I ordered them if once again it was going to be another promise off music while you swim not fulfilled…. But I can tell you they have fulfilled their promise and are a great addition to my daily swims.
They’d re really easy to set up and what I like most is that I don’t have to take my phone with me. The ability to have 4GB worth of music means you have plenty of music on your person while you are in the pool.
Would highly recommend. Certainly made my swim more interesting and actually helped me switch off and focus. I will never be without these headphones when I am in the pool from now on.
UPDATE – In the water they are possibly even better – amazing bass, and light years ahead of any other swimming headphone I have tried. Highly recommended, and I don’t often write Amazon reviews, but just had to for these.