AfterShokz OpenComm Wireless Stereo Bone Conduction Bluetooth Headset with Noise-Canceling Boom Microphone for Office Home Business Trucker Drivers…

Michael C. Jackson’s review is comprehensive and I agree with him on all points, but since there aren’t a lot of reviews yet I just wanted to add one more positive vote for these. I’ve been looking for a headset like this for a long time and am so grateful to AfterShokz for producing them.

Everyone has different needs, so I’ll list what mine are and why these respond so well to them:

* I work from home and am on a lot of conference calls or one-on-one calls throughout the day at various times. These pair immediately and solidly so that I don’t have to worry about my connection or wait for them to pair (I use a Mac, if that matters)
* I don’t like things directly on or around my ears – they get hot & uncomfortable with pretty much anything on them. And I got an ear infection a few years ago from wearing true wireless earbuds so haven’t been thrilled about sticking things in my ears either. These AfterShokz are comfortable enough to wear all day, and the battery lasts well beyond a day so I put them on in the morning, have them on throughout the work day, and then charge them at night.
* I like being able to hear the call clearly but also being able to hear what’s going on physically around me. These are stellar for that.

As soon as I got them, I tested the sound quality with a coworker and compared my iMac’s build-in microphone, my AirPod Pros, and the AfterShokz OpenComms. He said that there was no comparison – the OpenComms were clear and vivid, as if I were talking directly into the phone, and it was the best I’d ever sounded on calls.

I’ve used AfterShokz bone conduction headphones for years for running, hiking, or walking my dogs, so I’m used to the sound quality – I wouldn’t wear anything else for those purposes, and I was super stoked when I saw that AfterShokz had made a headset for calls and was really, really hoping that the boom mic would deliver, but they exceeded my expectations – my coworker, who is literally a professional audio engineer, said they sound great.

As others have noted, you don’t wear these expecting high-end audio on your end, although they do sound surprisingly good (and even better if you wear earplugs – they include a pair in the box), but for calls the sound of your callers’ voices comes through clear with no problems – I have zero difficulty making out what anyone’s saying and after about a week’s worth of use I don’t even think about it anymore – it just feels natural now.

If comfort, sound quality of your voice on your listener’s end, and reliability of connection matter to you, I can’t imagine anything beating these guys. It’s an absolute home run for me and has made my working life a heck of a lot easier.

This is my first experience with bone conduction, and I’m glad i took the plunge. I had some questions going into this that I think others may have, so in no particular order:

1) They aren’t silent to others around you. In fact, they’re quite audible – akin to open back headphones or non-sealed IEMs like Yuin PK1s or original Apple earbuds. I think these are great when you’re alone or outdoors, but I wouldn’t use these in a shared office or in an airport lounge unless you keep the volume low to avoid disturbing others
2) Very comfortable and plays nicely with glasses. Can easily wear these all day
3) Mic quality is good for a Bluetooth headset, but beware you’re still limited in terms of audio bandwidth like any other Bluetooth headset. This means your voice will be understandable but phone-like, as opposed to wired USB headsets that can sound more natural
4) Lip sync with video is acceptable. It doesn’t support low-lag protocols like AptX, and you can tell, but it’s better than most Bluetooth headphones and headsets I’ve tried
5) As far as I can tell, it doesn’t support multi-device pairing, however it’s easy enough to re-sync with different devices
6) Music quality is acceptable. In fact it was better than I was expecting, maybe approaching the aforementioned Yuin PK1s. This translates to: biased towards mid range, with minimal bass, but still clear and not muddy.

Overall, I like these. You can comfortably wear these for all-day conference calls without the sweaty, sore ears associated with traditional earbuds or headsets.

I’m relatively new to bone conduction headsets – prior to this, I’ve only used the opencomm air. Getting that particular headset was revelatory for me – I’ve always had some hearing loss, and in particular, have had a hard time understanding speech. The air just completely cut through the muddiness of my hearing – and while it was certainly not perfect, the tradeoffs were worth it. I am on video calls all day long – the battery just couldn’t cut it, and the mics picked up way too much, so I didn’t really use it for this.

I had high hopes for the opencomm – I’m fairly sure I’m one of the first people to get this, I sort of found it by accident, and it didn’t seem like there was a lot of info out there about it. So this was a total leap of faith — and it has paid off. That being said, keep in mind that I’m writing this early in the product cycle, and without the “pro” to compare it to.

At this point in time, there’s only a bit of information out there about this headset, and there’s some mention of the Aftershokz Pro – Those aren’t out yet, but it’s also not immediately clear what differentiates them, there’s no clear comparison. As far as I can tell, the Pros will offer an IR sensor to detect when the headset is on or off that frankly is not an important feature for me to have, and I consider myself a “professional.” I haven’t found anything different yet, but again, we are early in the product cycle.

I’m a few days into it, but what I’m getting form this that I wasn’t getting from the air is enough battery life to handle my days full of calls, a mic that picks my voice up with better clarity and no background noise, and higher quality audio.

So what’s to complain about?
– A dedicated hardware mute button would catapult this into absolute perfection – You can mute via holding both volume buttons, but it’s slow, and you get the loud double beep periodically (I found it to be loud, but not painfully loud as some have describe some of the other headsets). I really don’t understand why more headsets don’t offer a better mute experience, given it’s something that can see heavy use.

What some other people may notice:
– The air would pair with two devices simultaneously, the opencomm only works with one device at a time. Note that I don’t mean that you have to re-pair the device whenever you want to switch, you just have to manually disconnect from one and connect to another. This isn’t a problem in practice for me, and the two device functionality could always be a bit odd, so I don’t see it as a loss.

Things I am really surprised by:
– The audio is significantly higher quality than I expected. You are still going to be lacking bass, but not as drastically as the air. I’d still prefer my sennheiser HD600s for music, but that’s hardly a fair comparison, and there are tradeoffs due to my hearing (lyrics are harder for me personally with any non-conductive headset/headphones – but I’m a weird edge case).
– Wearing earplugs and switching the EQ in the headset fixes the bass issue – like, entirely. This was something that was just “OK” on the airs, there were times I couldn’t tell the difference. Not the case here, it’s a clear difference. It’s still not going to be a perfectly flat curve, but it’s REALLY good given the tech involved. Is it as good as a headphone amp hooked up to studio grade headphones? No, and it isn’t supposed to be- but it’s damned good, and stands up to surprisingly critical listening.
– Bluetooth range is REALLY good, at least for my house/setup.
– Probably the most comfortable full headset I’ve worn, the mic doesn’t change the comfort you’d get out of the Air (again, the only other comparison I really have)

Things I am ambivalent about:
– I could take or leave the magnetic charging. It’s a trade-off between the ease of use and lack of wear from magnetic charging, or the ease of finding widely available standard USB cables and not having to keep track of the one cable that works. It’s probably a win for you if you only use this headset in the same location or with the same laptop, as the lack of port wear should make it more reliable.

Bottom line is that this is a really good headset, and I feel like it’s priced fairly for what all it offers – and for me personally, the benefits MAJORLY outweigh any of my complaints, which are admittedly minor complaints… really, just that there are some quality of life things that could be done for muting.

I’ve been using a Sennheiser presence for the past few years, and while I’ve tried other headsets, it’s always been the wireless headset with the best battery life, range, and fidelity, and certainly the best sounding mic of any I have used. Nothing has knocked it off of its throne, but I think the OpenComm just might.

If you have not used a bone conduction headset before, you should be aware that this is a very different experience, and you shouldn’t expect that you will get hi-fi full-range audio beamed directly into your cochlea. You will lack bass, and you will still hear more of the world around you which may or may not be good depending on your scenario (and you can always use earplugs to help with both of these things.) I wouldn’t use these to replace my studio headphones for audio mixing.

I am not in a position to say if this will help with any hearing loss for you personally, and this is not a medical device, nor does it claim to be beneficial here. My experience with this should not necessarily guide any decisions made for hearing loss reasons, I am an edge case. But if you have found bone conduction headsets to be beneficial, this should be a no-brainer for you. And if you have perfect hearing, this could still be a great option due to the clarity of speech through it, the comfort, the battery life, and the range.

My wife cried when she tried them on. She has slowly been losing her hearing and she states their crystal clear and she can hear phone conversations and music like twenty years ago. Just ordered a second pair!!