How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want a work-first headset that keeps your voice clear on long calls and can run for days between charges, choose EKSA Headset; if you need an open-ear pair that keeps you aware of traffic and weather while you run, ride or hike, choose YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone.
• EKSA Headset — biggest strength: a work-tuned calling package. Over-ear cups, a 120° boom mic with ENC noise suppression rated to cut up to 99.8% of environmental noise, and up to 55 hours of music playback or 30 hours of talk time from a 500mAh battery.
• EKSA Headset — biggest trade-off: it's a closed over-ear design at 144g. That's light for the category, but it physically blocks your ears, so it's the wrong tool for running near traffic or anything where you need to hear your surroundings.
• YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone — biggest strength: bone conduction with an open-ear fit. 34g on a bendable titanium headband, IP55 waterproof, and your ears stay open to what's happening around you.
• YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone — biggest trade-off: battery life. A full charge gives you 8 hours of use and 480 hours of standby, which is fine for a day of activity but nowhere near the EKSA's multi-day endurance.
• Who each pick is for: EKSA for the desk, the home office and back-to-back calls; YouthWhisper for runners, cyclists, hikers and anyone who wants audio without sealing off their ears.
The EKSA H6-D is built around one job: making you sound good on a call. The microphone runs through a Qualcomm chip and uses ENC (environmental noise cancelling) that the spec sheet rates at up to 99.8% suppression of surrounding noise, with a noise reduction depth of up to 44dB. In plain terms, that's a headset designed to pull your voice forward and push keyboard clatter, air conditioning hum and background chatter into the background. If you spend your day in Zoom, Teams or plain phone calls, that's the spec that matters most, and it's the main reason to pick this one.
The rest of the design supports that same desk-bound use. Bluetooth 5.0 gets you a stable wireless link with a range of up to 15m/50ft, and the bundled USB dongle extends compatibility to PCs and laptops that are fussy about Bluetooth. The battery is the headline number: a 500mAh cell rated for up to 55 hours of music or 30 hours of non-stop calls, with a full charge in about 1.5 hours. A voice prompt warns you when you drop below 10%. The over-ear cups are leather, the headband adjusts for tightness, and the rotating joints let the earcups settle to the shape of your head — useful when you're wearing it for a full workday. The 120° rotating boom mic doubles as a mute switch: flip it up and you're muted, and a red indicator light signals to people nearby that you're busy.
YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone: Who It's For
The YouthWhisper SuperQ3 Pro is the other philosophy entirely. Instead of pushing sound into your ear canal, bone conduction drivers vibrate against your temporal bone and send audio straight to your inner ear. Nothing goes inside your ear, so your ear canal stays open and hygienic, and — the point of the whole design — you can still hear the world around you. For outdoor activity that's not a gimmick, it's the feature. You hear the car before you see it, the cyclist coming up behind you, the dog, the trail traffic.
Physically it's a different class of object: 34g, soft silicone, and a flexible titanium headband you can bend to fit. The spec sheet calls it all-day comfort without ear fatigue, and that tracks with the open-ear approach — there's no pressure inside your ear canal. It's IP55 waterproof rated, which the manufacturer positions for working, running, fitness, hiking and riding. Bluetooth 5.2 handles the connection with multi-point pairing so it can hold two devices at once, with a range of up to 33 feet. Charging is USB-C, and the included kit covers sponge earplugs, a pair of TWS earbuds, the charging cable and a manual — so you get both the bone conduction band and a conventional earbud option in the box.
The trade-offs are honest ones. Battery life is 8 hours of use per full charge with 480 hours of standby, and YouthWhisper itself recommends running the volume around 80% to get the best runtime — so a long shift or a full day of calls will likely need a top-up. The frequency range starts at 201 Hz, which is narrower at the low end than the EKSA's 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, so expect less bass thump and a more speech-and-midrange-forward sound. For calls it uses dual CVC8.0 and ENC microphones on a boom that adjusts up to 220°, so voice pickup is clearly a priority, but this is not a headset built to isolate you in a noisy open-plan office.
Who should buy it: runners, cyclists, hikers, gym-goers, delivery and warehouse workers, and anyone who wants music and calls without blocking out their surroundings. Who should skip it: people who want deep bass, long unbroken battery life, or maximum isolation from a noisy room.
• Best for call clarity in a noisy room → EKSA Headset. ENC noise suppression rated up to 99.8% and a 120° rotating boom mic with a flip-to-mute gesture.
• Best for battery life → EKSA Headset. Up to 55 hours of music or 30 hours of calls versus 8 hours of use on the YouthWhisper.
• Best for situational awareness → YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone. The open-ear bone conduction design leaves your ears unobstructed.
• Best for outdoor and wet-weather activity → YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone. IP55 waterproof rating and a 34g bendable titanium band.
• Best for long desk sessions → EKSA Headset. 144g over-ear fit with leather cushions, an adjustable headband and rotating earcups.
• Best for PC and laptop compatibility → EKSA Headset. Bluetooth 5.0 plus a USB dongle for machines that don't cooperate with plain Bluetooth.
• Best for multi-device switching → YouthWhisper Open Ear Bone. Bluetooth 5.2 with multi-point pairing.
• Best all-rounder for indoor work → EKSA Headset. If your day is meetings, documents and music at a desk, its feature set lines up almost exactly with that routine.
If I had to pick one, I'd buy the EKSA Headset. In my opinion it covers the widest range of everyday needs: a microphone engineered for voice, a battery that survives a multi-day work week without a charger, and a comfortable over-ear fit for long sessions. The YouthWhisper is genuinely the better choice for one specific job — outdoor activity where you must hear your surroundings — and if that's your main use, buy it without hesitation. But for most people reading this, work and calls come first, and the EKSA is the one I'd reach for.
The EKSA Headset is the more call-focused design, with ENC noise suppression rated up to 99.8%, a 44dB noise reduction depth and a boom mic that rotates 120° and mutes when flipped up. The YouthWhisper also has dual CVC8.0/ENC mics on a 220° boom, so it handles calls well — but the EKSA is built around the office use case.
Can I wear the YouthWhisper for running and cycling?
Yes — that's its core purpose. The open-ear bone conduction design keeps you aware of your surroundings, it's IP55 waterproof rated, and at 34g with a bendable titanium headband it's made to stay put during movement. Just plan on charging it after roughly 8 hours of use.
Both use noise-cancelling microphones to clean up your voice on calls. For what you hear, the EKSA's over-ear leather cups physically reduce outside sound, while the YouthWhisper deliberately lets ambient sound in. They solve opposite problems, so pick based on whether you want isolation or awareness.
The EKSA by a wide margin. It's rated for up to 55 hours of music or 30 hours of calls from a 500mAh battery, with a full charge in about 1.5 hours. The YouthWhisper gives you 8 hours of use per charge plus 480 hours of standby, and YouthWhisper suggests keeping volume near 80% for the best runtime.
Prices change, so check the current price on Amazon before you commit — the button on this page will take you there.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
When you buy through links on this page, we may earn a commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon or its affiliates. This site is an independent third-party review and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Amazon or the product brands mentioned.