Review: Review: AfterShokz Trekz Titanium Bluetooth Headphones

There’s absolutely no doubt about it, the AfterShokz Trekz Titanium Bluetooth Headphones are a canny piece of kit. Offering wireless sound is cool for sure, but doing it through bone conduction (more of this later) and allowing you do still hear your surroundings elevates the AfterShokz way past simply cool.

I’ve been using AfterShokz’s Titanium headphones for about a month now, in the gym , on the road, all the way through to housework and marking coursework and they have been unfailingly excellent in every situation.

Straight out of the box it all feels a little strange, with no need to put the headphones near your ears you can’t help but wonder what magic is at work here. But it’s not magic, it’s science, with the sound travelling through the bones to do its thing, AfterShockz say that their ‘patented design guides mini vibrations through your cheekbones to your inner ears, delivering stereo sound without plugging or covering them. Sound waves travel directly to the cochlea, bypassing the eardrums completely’, which sounds exactly right to me.

This means that you are able to still hear trail noise or traffic if you are out and about, or engage with the family whilst listening to something else – obviously that sounds worse than I mean, but I’m sure you get my drift…..

I normally ride with wired headphones, just using one side to allow me to hear through the other ear, as a comparison I think that the AfterShokz offer a better audio experience, but also more access to the outside world at the same time.

Should you want to shut off the outside world completely then AfterShokz also provide some ear-plugs to do just that, ad by doing so you also increase the volume inside the ear.

The sound quality is superb at all volume levels, with no issues for a range of music. I wouldn’t turn up the bass too much however as the mechanics of the headphones means you will feel the vibrations in your cheekbones – which is a curious feeling to say the least!

Battery life is respectable, giving 6 hours of sound, and a very rapid recharge, whilst they’ll happily sit for a week in standby. They are also super easy to connect to a device, with a voice giving you updates as you do so.

Speaking of voice, they are also a set of hands-free headphones for your phone and the sound (both in and out) is excellent, i’ve spent many a conference-call with them and never had any challenges in being heard or listening in.

The headphones are kept in place by a wraparound titanium headband, this is flexible and incredibly lightweight and in most circumstances very comfortable, it is however one size fits-all, so you may need to fiddle with placement and positioning to get it just right, and if you are riding there are also helmet straps and sunglasses to consider.
The headband stays firm throughout even the most energetic of usages, and the headphones themselves are sweat resistant, i’ve given them a good drowning in stink juice and they’ve carried on quite happily.

At £110 they are not cheap, but why would they be? They are packed with tech, offering excellent quality and genuinely useful features, and lest we forget, they are also helping you to stay that little bit safer. Well worth the investment in my eyes!