The best headphones I’ve ever owned, sound the worst

I’ve always been a bit of an audiophile. I used to be obsessed with the quality of what I listened to. I spent years building a collection of great gear, decades later I still have and use most of it. I even have a few items from my father’s youth.

But I love technology in equal measure, and when the wireless personal audio revolution began I was all on-board. It started with the gym where the wire-free benefits are obvious, and expanded to replace all wired headphones in my life.

I’ve owned a total of 9 Bluetooth head/earphones over the years ranging in price from under £20, to over £250. But there’s one pair that over the past 4 years I use 98% of the time; AfterShokz Trekz Titanium Bone Conduction headphones.

These headphones are unique as they do not go in or cover your ears. Instead they rest on your temples and vibrate your skull to translate sound directly into your inner ear. This is a strange sensation at first, one that tickles slightly as your ear hairs vibrate. It sounds as if the audio is coming from inside your head rather than an external source. They’re also very lightweight to the point you effectively forget you’re wearing them which adds to the effect.

This is beneficial as I do a lot of things where I want to hear the world around me. Cycling is the most obvious one, which I do every week day where I need to be aware of my surroundings but also want to be listening to content. I wear them when walking, running, gardening, just at home, almost everywhere. They’re IP55 certified, which means they can be all but submerged in water and still work fine - great for outdoor sports where you might be exposed to prolonged rain.

If I’m already wearing them and need to drive a short distance I’ll also drive with them on rather than plug my phone into the car stereo. Another use case that’s perfectly fine as you can hear everything around you.

They have physical controls, charge via micro-USB. A six hour battery (mines at under five hours after four years now) that charges really fast. They’re pretty durable allowing you to chuck them in a bag without worry, or I mostly leave them around my neck when not in use.

However, they are among the worst sounding headphones I’ve ever owned. This matters not one bit.

Why? My audio listening habits changed. By the mid-2000’s music was no longer my go to, podcasts had completely taken over my listening time. 15 years later that’s still the case. Spoken word compressed below 100kbs really doesn’t benefit from high end audio gear, so the quality of audio my headphones can produce is of less importance. Therefore convinience, and portability take priority. Airpods would fulfill most of my needs too and come with other benefits, but I have asymmetric ear holes so I’m doubtful they’ll fit. Also they’re twice as expensive and not safe to cycle with so I’d still use my Trekz Titanium everyday regardless.

The Treks are obviously not perfect. The complete lack of sound isolation that is their main feature for me means you can’t hear your audio in loud environments. For example when I commute with my Brompton via train, if a train travels through the platform I need to pause my podcast while it passes. Anything above 80db is disruptive to your listening.

The physical controls are only three buttons, meaning they all have secondary or tertiary actions which can be hard to get right every time. They also have branding inserted as audio in the boot-up sequence that says “Welcome to Trekz Titanium”. A phrase that soon gets permanently burned into your brain, but you’ll never forget what they’re called.

The microphone for calls is just okay, and as you’d expect useless when cycling due to wind noise, but still fine in a quiet enough environment.

Despite these minor forboyles, I’ve used and loved these headphones more than any other in my life. I can’t recommend them highly enough, especially if you love podcasts and cycling.

The model I have is available on Amazon: UK / US
The newer model released last year: UK / US