Aftershokz Trekz Air Bone Conduction Headphones | $120 | Amazon
Completely blocking out the world around you with noise-isolating or noise-canceling headphones is great if you’re sitting in a loud office, but it poses a hazard when you’re out and about in the city, with cars whizzing by. That’s where bone conduction headphones shine.
Bone conduction may not be the most popular headphone technology, but it’s been around for years, and aims to solve this problem. While most headphones transmit music through the air, entering your ear canal and vibrating your eardrum, bone conduction headphones are different. They sit outside your ear, vibrating the bones of your head until the sound reaches the cochlea—the same place the eardrum sends sounds to be converted for your brain. That means your ear canal is free to listen to the sounds around you.
Aftershokz Trekz are far and away the most popular headphones in the space, and you can a pair at an extremely rare 20% discount right now. You can choose between the Trekz Titanium for $80 (down from $100), or the lighter Trekz Airs for $120 (down from $150), plus a free set of reflective strips for runners. Reviewers note that the older, heavier Titaniums can get slightly louder, but the Airs are more comfortable. In terms of actual sound quality, you probably wouldn’t notice a difference between them.