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Updated: 2026-09-27 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
• KualaLup's biggest strength: a plain, light, open-ear Bluetooth headset built for dry-land daily use, with touch controls and a stated battery average life of 8 hours.
• KualaLup's biggest trade-off: no waterproof rating is listed, no on-board memory, and no noise control — it is a Bluetooth-only listen-out-loud headset, not a swim tool.
• RELAXYO's biggest strength: an IP68 waterproof rating plus 32GB of built-in storage, so it keeps playing music with no phone and no signal — including underwater in MP3 mode.
• RELAXYO's biggest trade-off: it is a more specialised device. You have to manage two modes and move files over a cable, and its battery average life is listed at 7 hours with a 1.5-hour charge time.
• Pick KualaLup if your listening happens on land, on a phone, and you want something you barely notice.
• Pick RELAXYO if your listening happens in a pool, a lake or the sea, or if you want music without carrying a phone at all.
The KualaLup set is the simpler of the two. It is an open-ear bone conduction headphone — the driver sends sound through your temporal bone rather than firing into your ear canal — so your ears stay uncovered and you keep hearing traffic, colleagues and gym announcements around you. The listed driver is a bone conduction driver with a 20Hz–20,000Hz frequency range and 68 ohm impedance, and the connection is Bluetooth 5.3 over a wireless link with no headphone jack at all. If your phone still has a headphone socket and you wanted to use it, this is not that product.
Day-to-day, the design is the selling point. It sits around your head rather than inside your ears, the enclosure mixes plastic, silicone and fabric, and the open-ear placement is meant to stay comfortable over long stretches — the kind of thing you forget you are wearing on a two-hour walk or a full working afternoon. Battery average life is listed at 8 hours, and the bullet copy describes a 6–10 hour playback window, which is realistic for a single long day out or a week of short sessions between charges. Controls are touch-based, there is no active noise control, and the item is listed for age 18+.
So who should buy it? Someone whose listening is almost entirely on land and almost entirely tethered to a phone or laptop: runners on pavement, cyclists who want an ear free, office workers who need to hear a doorbell or a colleague, people who dislike things jammed in their ears. In my opinion, this is the better pick if you want one casual headset that does everything adequately and nothing badly.
RELAXYO Bone Conduction Swimming: Who It's For
The RELAXYO is the specialist. Everything about it bends toward one job: keeping music going while you move through water. The headline spec is the IP68 waterproof rating, which the bullet copy says protects against sweat and rain as well as submersion, and which is why the manufacturer explicitly tells you to wear it with a swim cap or goggles. The second headline spec is 32GB of built-in memory — roughly 7,000 songs by their count — so the headset becomes its own music player.
That second point matters more than it first looks. Bluetooth does not travel through water, and RELAXYO says so plainly: you switch the unit into MP3 mode before you get wet, double-pressing the power button to toggle between Bluetooth and MP3, and load tracks by plugging the magnetic charging cable into a computer. Underwater, you are listening to stored files, not your phone. Above water, you are back on Bluetooth 5.4 with a listed range of 10 metres in open space.
The rest of the package is built for the same use case. The frame is memory titanium, which flexes and returns to shape — useful when you are pulling a cap over your head — and the enclosure is memory titanium in Violet. Charging takes 1.5 hours and gives a listed 7 hours of music, which covers a long training block or several shorter swims. Controls are three physical push buttons rather than a touch surface, and RELAXYO spells out exactly what each does: power/pairing/mode switching in the middle, volume up plus next-track and voice assistant on one side, volume down plus previous track on the other. There is a one-year warranty listed, and no noise control.
Buy it if you swim — laps, open water, marathon swimming — or if you run, hike or fish in conditions that would kill a normal headset. Buy it if you specifically want to leave the phone behind. I'd steer you away from it if you want a no-fuss desk headset, because you would be paying in complexity (two modes, cable-based file transfers, a manual to remember) for waterproofing you never use.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for swimming and water sports → RELAXYO Bone Conduction Swimming — IP68 waterproofing is the whole reason this product exists, and KualaLup lists no water rating at all.
• Best for leaving your phone at home → RELAXYO Bone Conduction Swimming — 32GB of internal storage means the headset carries the music itself.
• Best for all-day comfort on land → KualaLup Bone Conduction Headphones — lightweight open-ear build in plastic, silicone and fabric, designed around long wear rather than submersion.
• Best for simple controls → RELAXYO Bone Conduction Swimming — three physical push buttons with clearly defined functions, versus KualaLup's touch surface.
• Best for newer Bluetooth and longer open-air range → RELAXYO Bone Conduction Swimming — Bluetooth 5.4 with a listed 10-metre range; KualaLup lists Bluetooth 5.3.
• Best for a first bone conduction headset → KualaLup Bone Conduction Headphones — fewer things to learn, fewer ways to get it wrong.
• Best for runners who split time between road and pool → RELAXYO Bone Conduction Swimming — it covers both, where the KualaLup covers only the dry half.
If I had to pick one for myself, I would buy the RELAXYO Bone Conduction Swimming (B0H41Q5FHJ). The reason is coverage: IP68 waterproofing plus 32GB of on-board storage means it handles swimming, running, hiking and rainy commutes, and it works with no phone in range. The KualaLup is a perfectly sensible everyday open-ear headset, and if you never go near water I would happily point you to it — it is lighter in concept and simpler to live with. But the RELAXYO does everything the KualaLup does on land and then keeps going where the KualaLup has to stop. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since that is the one thing that could tip a close call.
FAQ
how to bone conduction headphones work
how to wear bone conduction headphones
You rest the transducers on the bone just in front of each ear and let the band sit around the back of your head — not inside your ears. The RELAXYO's memory titanium frame bends to follow the shape of your head, and RELAXYO notes it can be worn with a swim cap or goggles. The KualaLup's open-ear fit is built around the same idea, with a lightweight band and soft-touch materials.
how to use bone conduction headphones
Pair over Bluetooth, then play as normal. The RELAXYO adds a second path: load music over the magnetic charging cable into its 32GB memory, then double-press the power button to switch to MP3 mode — required for swimming, because Bluetooth does not transmit underwater. The KualaLup is Bluetooth-only, and its touch controls handle playback.
are bone conduction headphones good for swimming
Only if they are rated for it. The RELAXYO carries an IP68 waterproof rating and a dedicated MP3 mode, which is what makes pool and open-water use possible; RELAXYO also warns that Bluetooth will not work underwater. The KualaLup lists no waterproof rating, so I would keep it on dry land.
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