Optishokz headphone glasses for those who do not like the sun and love music

    Aftershokz will introduce two new products this year, one of which is already raising money for IndieGogo. It is launched in a separate brand - Optishokz. Glasses with bone conduction sound.



    Of course, we already have these glasses. And here is what we think about this:

    Technical capabilities of “consumer” bone conduction are still limited by the head area. Of course, you can attach a piezodynamic to your elbow and listen to music through your finger, but this is rather an exceptional “fan experiment”.

    In any case, products with such functionality are not very well-known, but there were not so few of them: a ring, a bracelet for watches, etc. Therefore, developers in this niche are forced to seek new ideas from above the human body.

    So there are bicycle helmets, baseball caps and, of course, glasses. And if directly in the category of headsets based on this technology Aftershokz were one of the first, in any case they have the competitive advantage and the widest fame here. Then they enter the glasses much later than the rest, and therefore, perhaps, this is done under a separate brand.

    Glasses with music

    To date, there are probably a dozen of them. One of the first bone conduction glasses was introduced by Zungle , setting a record at Kick for two million dollars.



    Currently, just in parallel with Optishokz / Aftershokz, another campaign has been launched on Indiegogo - MusicLens , and many others.

    I must say that the vast majority is still the category of “Bone Conduction”, although there are examples of other developments - Bose glasses , which use ordinary speakers. How it works in practice, we still do not know - it has not happened, but they assure us that almost no sound is heard around - this is at least.



    In general, we must pay tribute to the headphones with bone conduction - nevertheless, the main idea of ​​safety in the city, on the road somewhere, etc. they conveyed, if not to the mass user, then to the mass developer, and “open ears” as a concept took root . Why go far, here, for example, are classic Sony headphones that do not block external sounds.

    What are the problems with sunglasses

    Any company that produces headphone glasses probably understands that it cuts a possible audience great. First, someone is already wearing glasses.

    In principle, there were no such problems with headphones. The Trekz Air headset , say, was (and still is) perfectly compatible with any glasses. There are many examples of this.



    With sunglasses, it’s not so simple either. Someone likes a certain brand, someone a certain design, etc. There will be much more tastes here, unlike headphones. Plus, finally, not all weather generally has such an acquisition (there should be a joke about athletes from St. Petersburg).

    Optishokz

    All these questions / problems they, of course, have. Currently, the campaign is nearing the end, the total bill is about 410 thousand dollars. Headphones-glasses have already visited the Unbox Therapy channel, and now they have reached Habr.



    They are delivered in a sufficiently durable large case, since the latest models of headphones do not have the flexibility. A bag, meanwhile, is included in the kit, but it does not have protective properties.



    The glasses have a pronounced sports design, which, as in the case of headphones, clearly addresses them to runners, cyclists in the first place.



    With regard to functionality and control - almost everything is here, as before: the control buttons on one of the arms, the battery is in the same place.



    The main difference from the headsets is the location of the speaker. The speakers in Optishokz are located at the ends of the arms, that is, not at the zygomatic bone, as was the case with the headphones (and like in MusicLens), but behind the ear.

    Next will be a few dark photos with comments.



    In the “unfolded” form, the arms look like this. The speaker does not touch the head. To clearly hear what is being played back, you need to press the speaker to your ear.



    For this, a simple mechanism of flexion-extension is provided. That is: put on - pressed.



    In fact, there were fears that this would somehow additionally “protrude” the ear, and when worn, you will look somewhat comical. Not confirmed. Try to guess, for example, in which photo the bow is in the normal position, and in which - the speaker is pressed while we fire the photographer:



    The glasses use a piezodynamic, as in headsets with bone conduction. Here it is slightly smaller in size due to the design features.



    The outer part is something like a cushion in shape, to make it more convenient, because the glasses do not slip, do not crawl behind the ear - that is, the fixation is quite rigid and it will abut one point throughout the workout.

    Along the edges of the hole. They, as in Aftershokz headsets, provide compensation for sound leakage .

    How does it sound

    Well here just opens a huge field for maneuvers. Firstly, they sound definitely better than Persol and Ray-Ban, because they do not sound at all. And such a verdict will be when compared with most sunglasses.

    But seriously, how to measure is not very obvious. Comparing again with ordinary headphones is difficult, because in principle they are not headphones. In their category, with headphones based on bone conduction - here they are similar in sound to the Trekz Air model . Technically, the range is designated as 20 - 20,000.

    Aftershokz Trekz Air, in terms of sound, gives a good middle, as any headphones with bone conduction are worse distinguished by us at too low and too high frequencies + have a vibration response.

    In general, in their class - they sound good, especially considering that they are positioned as sound in the background during training. Nevertheless, for some reason, it seems to the form, it seems, this time there will be the most questions.



    For fans of the same "classics", namelywith bone conduction headphones , we extended the coupon from the article above describing the features of the Trekz Air sound until the end of April. AIR20 - 20% discount on this headphone model.

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