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As a city runner, I never think about wearing noise ear plugs. In the past, I was involved in open buds, but most of the time I ran in a park with sufficient light, where my greatest danger was to avoid goose dung. It is different in the suburbs. Recently I was almost smashed by a Range Rover that was going at least 10 degrees over the speed limit. Even though I had my headphones in surround mode, I never heard any sound from them.
So I've spent the last two months testing the Suunto Wing $199 and the Suunto Sonic $149. Both wings and sounds are bones that are leading headphones. Sound is more of a basic entrance unit, while the wing has increased some well -being, namely LED lighting, portable power library and main movement management. The Wing's IP67 water and dust resistance rating is also slightly better compared to the Sonic's IP55 rating.
Bone conduction works by sending sound vibrations through the cheekbones instead of traveling through the air to the ear canal. Some athletes swear by bone conduction because it keeps your ears open, meaning you're more aware of your surroundings than with any transparency mode. (As a bonus, it helps the hearing impaired listen to the audio.)
I've known all this for a long time, but I'll admit, I've never really cared about bone conduction. My old AfterShokz headphones weren't comfortable at all, but the real problem was my reliance on heavy bass to drive my playlist. And bone conduction? It's not the best bass. Still, a speeding Range Rover almost getting squashed is a good reason to give bone conduction another try. My old remaining wave head has the surrounding collar, which can be dug in my skin, ruin my little ears and never sit. These headphones also have the surrounding design, but I don't feel uncomfortable. During my runs and walks, the headphones were stable and secure. Additionally, the over-ear portion was thin enough to not cause problems when I wore glasses or a headband, an issue I've had with other open earbuds like the big Bose Sport Open Earbuds. The bass still isn't amazing, but I was surprised how much better it sounded on the Wing and Sonic compared to my first forays into bone-conduction headphones. The booming intro to Stray Kids' "Megaverse" didn't sound as cool as it would have on my Beats Fit Pro, but it was good enough to get me going. After a few weeks, I stopped noticing the difference. (Suunto provides a variety of sound configuration files, including an external mode that can improve bass.)
However, although audio is better than I expected, they are still bone conductive headphones, which means they are not in a loud environment. I wish these headphones could function as everyday commuter headphones, but unfortunately, listening to audiobooks or podcasts on a noisy subway or a passing taxi isn't a great experience. I had to turn up the volume, which in turn increased the vibration until the front parts hummed in my face. They also wouldn't be the first headphones I'd reach for if I were running a race with cheering crowds. This is a bit of a bummer since the Suunto headsets are more expensive at $149 and $199. As a reference shokz headset ranges from $ 80-180.
The price is also part of the reason. Not only is the sound quality the same, but I wasn't sold on the Wing's extra features. The LED lights are nice, but I felt they were hard to see against my hair. (I'm also not a fan of Wing player Kylo Ren's vibration.) As for Wing's head motion controls, I could never get them to work reliably. You should be able to answer calls or hang up and skip recordings by nodding or shaking your head. Instead, people looked at me funny as I ran over and shook their heads wildly as I wanted to move on to the next song.
