Performance and Comfort

For my testing I spent a little time using the Gamez with my phone, with my laptop, and on my main PC as well. This gave me enough time with the headset to get a better feel for their comfort and also for their audio performance.To start things off let’s touch on their overall comfort. First and foremost, they didn’t really fit my head completely, I don’t have a huge head but it is larger than most. The Gamez fit but I could have used a half inch of extra length in the band, the bone conductive pads pulled closer to my ears than I wanted and when I moved my head around they would pull even tighter.  That said because of their light weight they were comfortable from the start, at least when I could keep them in the proper position. They got a little uncomfortable over time, similar to any headset that pushes on your ears. I think a larger size would have lessened that for me though. I had my wife test them for a while as well to get a second opinion, see how they fit her, and also to get a few photos of how they should properly sit. Her smaller head needed the included band to keep things snug.

inuse 1

inuse 2

For performance I was initially really impressed with the whole idea of the bone conductive audio. For one it allows you to keep your ears open so if you want to listen to music or game without it completely taking you out of the world around you it’s a good option. This is why Aftershokz are allowed in marathons where they normally don’t allow earbuds, because you can hear a car coming up on you. Once I got over the coolness of the technology I was able to really get a feel. For starters the headphones in normal use don’t have as much bass as a headphone with a cup might have. They are clear and crisp. Overall I would say they sound good, but not amazing. You are going to find earbuds that sound better but they did sound better than a cheap set of earbuds or cheap on ear headphones.

I did find it interesting though that if you plug your ears when listening to the Gamez that the sound quality improves greatly. I initially did it to find out how much sound was going through my bones, as it turns out it’s a lot. Closing your ears seems to have the same effect that having a headset or speaker with an enclosure does. This got me thinking, in a situation where you might not want to hear things like on a flight you could use earplugs and completely cut out the outside sounds and still listen to your music.

The built in microphone did its job well as well. It wasn’t a high end microphone but it was similar to the microphone on any of my normal headsets. It was obviously designed for phone use but it worked Just as well on my laptop for Skype and my PC for TeamSpeak.  Speaking of that being a bluetooth device getting it connected to any of my devices was simple, I did have to read the instructions once to figure out how to put it into search mode. It worked with the Bluetooth on my PC just like my phone and laptop although I did learn that the bluetooth on my PC is a little weak with the antenna being on the back of the PC.

As for battery life Aftershokz suggested you will see about 6 hours of continuous use and10 days of standby. I think that is about spot on if you are listening to music, when using it for voice chat the battery life was a little better because it’s not always in use. 6 hours though is enough time for me to get tired of having the headband on my head and enough for any flights other than international. In those situations, a backup set of earbuds might not hurt. Charging takes about 2 hours so you don’t have to wait too long to have them back up and running. Having a Micro USB connection was also nice because it matched my phone and other android devices.

As far as taking them mobile they are light weight like I mentioned earlier but the size is also a big issue. Unless you wear them out they are too large to keep in your pockets and even for my laptop I found the design to be too thick to just drop in my bag. If the bone conductive pads would flip and lay flat, I wouldn’t have a problem keeping them in my laptop bag. So I see them getting used around the house, being packed for trips, and for when you are working out as well obviously where you might wear them out of the house.

 

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garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #37571 20 Jan 2016 13:19
Today I check out a wireless headset that uses bone conductive tech to get the sound to you. Check it out
Ropplestiltskin's Avatar
Ropplestiltskin replied the topic: #37573 20 Jan 2016 16:02
I may look in to getting a pair for the Lan Parties they look intresting.
Deb0's Avatar
Deb0 replied the topic: #37574 20 Jan 2016 17:05
These are the kind of interesting innovations I like. The status quo for so long has been noise cancellation and putting yourself in a bubble but sometimes you need to be able to hear other things besides whats coming out of your computer. I agree with Rop on these being perfect for us LAN staffies.

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