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If you want all-day wireless listening with in-ear noise cancelling for the gym and the commute, choose KALOC Headphones; if you need headphones you can actually take underwater, choose SilisoundTek IP68. That's the whole decision in one line — everything below is just me explaining why that split is the correct one.
• KALOC Headphones biggest strength: 12 hours of playback with CVC 6.0 noise reduction, active noise cancellation and a proper in-ear seal — a conventional Bluetooth earbud done properly.
• KALOC Headphones biggest trade-off: IPX7 is sweat-and-rain protection, not swim protection. Bluetooth also doesn't travel through water, so a pool is off the table.
• SilisoundTek IP68 biggest strength: True IP68 deep-water sealing plus a built-in 32GB MP3 player, so it keeps playing when Bluetooth physically cannot.
• SilisoundTek IP68 biggest trade-off: Bone conduction means less isolation and less bass punch than an in-ear driver, and 8 hours of playback is shorter than KALOC's 12.
• Buy KALOC Headphones if you want sealed, noise-cancelled sound for running, lifting, commuting and calls.
• Buy SilisoundTek IP68 if you swim, surf or dive and need audio that survives being submerged.
KALOC Headphones is a fairly conventional product, and I mean that as a compliment. It's an in-ear Bluetooth headset with a dynamic driver, Bluetooth 5.0, and a rated 10-metre wireless range. Around 2 hours on the charger gets you up to 12 hours of listening and a claimed 250 hours of standby, which is the kind of ratio that suits people who charge once or twice a week and then forget about it. Controls live on the headset itself: volume, track skip, play/pause and call answering, all without reaching for your phone.
The interesting part is the combination of active noise cancellation with CVC 6.0 noise reduction on the mic. Those are two different jobs — ANC reduces what reaches your ears, CVC 6.0 cleans up what reaches the person on the other end of a call. Having both on a sports-oriented earbud is a sensible pairing for anyone taking calls between sets or on a noisy street. The IPX7 rating, backed by a nano-layer treatment, is aimed squarely at sweat and rain rather than submersion, and the fit is tuned for movement: lightweight, flexible, four ear-tip sizes from XS to L, and a shape meant to stay put during vigorous exercise.
Who should buy it: runners, gym-goers, commuters and anyone who wants sealed in-ear sound, noise cancelling and long battery life in a single pair. The green plastic housing and in-ear shape make it an everyday carry rather than a specialist tool.
SilisoundTek IP68: Who It's For
SilisoundTek IP68 solves a problem most headphones don't even attempt. It's rated IP68, which the manufacturer describes as the highest waterproof level, and it's explicitly built for swimming, surfing and diving. The trick is the built-in 32GB MP3 player: you load your music beforehand, switch to MP3 mode once you're in the water, and the headphone plays independently of any phone. That's not a gimmick — Bluetooth genuinely cannot carry audio through water, so a local player is the only honest way to promise underwater listening. The claimed 32GB holds more than 8000 songs, which is far more than anyone needs for a swim session.
The design is bone conduction, worn on-ear with an open fit and a silicone enclosure. That open-ear approach is the second half of the appeal: because nothing plugs your ear canal, you keep hearing traffic, other people and your surroundings while music plays. For runners and cyclists on open roads, that's a real safety argument rather than a marketing one. Wireless is Bluetooth 6.0 with a rated 13-metre range and multi-device support, so a phone and a watch can both stay connected. Battery is rated 8 hours of playback, up to 10 days of standby, with a magnetic fast charge that fills in about 1.5 hours. Audio is handled by a bone conduction driver covering 20Hz–20,000Hz at 8 ohm impedance, with hybrid noise cancellation.
Who should buy it: swimmers and water-sports people first, but also runners, hikers, skiers and cyclists who want their ears left open to the environment. The orange-grey finish and silicone build suit outdoor use.
Who should skip it: anyone who wants deep bass, strong isolation or maximum battery life. Bone conduction trades low-end punch and passive isolation for situational awareness, and 8 hours is a full but not endless day. If you want to disappear into a mix on a plane, this isn't that product.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for battery life → KALOC Headphones. Up to 12 hours of playback and 250 hours of standby versus 8 hours and 10 days.
• Best for noise reduction on calls and music → KALOC Headphones. Active noise cancellation plus CVC 6.0 mic noise reduction is a two-sided approach the bone conduction model doesn't match.
• Best for situational awareness → SilisoundTek IP68. The open-ear bone conduction fit keeps your ears uncovered, which matters on roads and trails.
• Best for charging speed → SilisoundTek IP68. Roughly 1.5 hours to full, against about 2 hours for KALOC.
• Best for phone-free listening → SilisoundTek IP68. The 32GB of internal storage means no phone required at all.
• Best for fit variety in the ear → KALOC Headphones. Four ear-tip sizes (XS/S/M/L) let you tune the seal; bone conduction sits on the ear instead.
• Best for wireless reach and multi-device use → SilisoundTek IP68. Bluetooth 6.0 with a 13-metre rated range and multi-device pairing, versus Bluetooth 5.0 and 10 metres.
If I were buying for myself, I'd take the KALOC Headphones. My reasoning is simple: most of my listening happens on land, and on land the sealed in-ear fit, active noise cancellation, CVC 6.0 call clarity and 12-hour battery are the features I'd actually notice every single day. The four ear-tip sizes also mean I can get a seal that stays put through a run. If swimming or open-ear safety is your priority, the SilisoundTek IP68 is the only one of the two that can honestly deliver it — I'd recommend it without hesitation for that job. Two different tools, and the right one depends entirely on whether you get wet.
are headphones waterproof
It depends on the rating, and the two products here prove the point. KALOC Headphones carries IPX7, which its manufacturer describes as resistance to sweat and rain penetration, not swimming. SilisoundTek IP68 is rated IP68 and is explicitly built for swimming, surfing and diving, with a 32GB MP3 player so it can play without a Bluetooth signal underwater.
are headphones water resistant
Many are, but "water resistant" covers a wide range. KALOC Headphones is IPX7 with a nano-layer treatment aimed at perspiration and weather, which suits running and outdoor workouts. SilisoundTek IP68 goes further with an IP68 rating and a silicone enclosure, which is why it can be used in deep water rather than just survived in the rain.
No — not in the way you'd want. The IPX7 rating is designed to resist sweat and rain, and Bluetooth 5.0 doesn't transmit through water anyway, so you'd lose the audio signal the moment you submerged. Swimming is the specific use case the SilisoundTek IP68 was built for.
No. It has a built-in 32GB MP3 player, which the manufacturer says holds more than 8000 songs. You load your music before you get in the water, switch to MP3 mode, and it plays independently — which is exactly why it works where Bluetooth can't.
Whichever one fits your routine, it's worth checking the current price on Amazon before you commit, since both are sold there and the numbers move around.
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