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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want open-ear, fully waterproof headphones you can swim with and load up with your own music, choose PSIER Bone Conduction Headphones; if you need a big pile of simple wired USB-C headphones for a classroom, testing station or shared device cart, choose GDBOMA USB C Headphones.
• PSIER's biggest strength: True bone conduction with an IPX8 rating, a 32GB MP3 mode for phone-free listening underwater, and Bluetooth 6.0 for everyday wireless use.
• PSIER's biggest trade-off: Bone conduction sits outside your ear canal by design, so it trades isolation for awareness — and in water you must switch to MP3 mode, since Bluetooth won't carry through.
• GDBOMA's biggest strength: A 30-pack of wired USB-C on-ear headphones — plug in and they work, no charging, no pairing, no setup.
• GDBOMA's biggest trade-off: Wired only, with no battery, no Bluetooth, no microphone and no water rating — these are built for sharing and durability in bulk, not for swimming or wireless freedom.
• Who PSIER is for: Swimmers, runners and cyclists who want music without blocking their ears.
• Who GDBOMA is for: Teachers, schools, test coordinators and anyone equipping a group of people with cheap, simple wired headphones.
The PSIER S18 is built around one idea: keep your ears open and keep the music going, even in water. It uses true bone conduction with 14mm drivers and a 20Hz–20,000Hz frequency range, so sound reaches you through vibration against the bone in front of your ear rather than a speaker jammed into your canal. In practice that means you still hear traffic, a training partner, a lifeguard whistle or a coach shouting splits. For anyone who has ever felt uneasy running on a road with regular earbuds in, that awareness is the whole point.
The headline feature is the IPX8 rating. PSIER states the headphones can be submerged in water up to two meters deep for one hour, and the body uses a fully sealed coating with no exposed ports. Because Bluetooth can't transmit through water, the S18 gives you a second mode: 32GB of internal storage holding up to roughly 4,000 songs, which you load by connecting the magnetic charging cable to a computer. A double-click of the power button flips between Bluetooth and MP3 mode. That MP3 mode is what makes pool laps possible — you leave the phone in your bag and swim to your own playlist.
Who should skip it? Anyone who wants deep, sealed-in bass and total noise blocking. Bone conduction deliberately leaks sound both ways — you hear the world and, at high volume, the world hears a little of you. If you mostly listen on a noisy commute and want to disappear into the music, this is the wrong design. Also skip it if you refuse to manage a local music library, because the 32GB mode is the only way it works underwater.
GDBOMA USB C Headphones: Who It's For
The GDBOMA GDBOMA880 is the opposite kind of product, and that's not a criticism — it's a different job. This is a 30-pack of wired, on-ear headphones with USB Type-C plugs, in mixed colors, made for classrooms, schools, kids, testing sessions and travel. There's no battery, no pairing, no app and no charging cable to lose. You plug the USB-C connector into a tablet, laptop, phone or testing device and audio comes out. That's the entire setup.
The design is on-ear with a plastic and silicone build and 32-ohm impedance, which is an easy load for phones, tablets and computers to drive — no amp needed. GDBOMA lists the age range as kid, teen and adult, and includes a one-year warranty. The mixed colors are a practical touch in a school setting: color-coding a cart of devices, or letting a class of thirty kids each grab "their" pair, is far easier when they aren't all identical black.
The clear use cases are shared and disposable-ish environments. Standardized testing where every student needs identical, locked-down wired audio. A computer lab or library lending desk. Substitute teachers who need something that works in ten seconds with zero troubleshooting. Travel kits for kids on a plane or in the car. Bulk replacement stock for a school that keeps losing headphones.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for swimming and underwater audio → PSIER Bone Conduction Headphones. IPX8 to two meters for an hour, plus 32GB of MP3 storage for phone-free laps.
• Best for running and cycling awareness → PSIER Bone Conduction Headphones. Open-ear bone conduction keeps traffic and surroundings audible.
• Best for wireless convenience → PSIER Bone Conduction Headphones. Bluetooth 6.0, multi-device pairing, built-in mic and up to 8 hours per charge.
• Best for a classroom, lab or testing room → GDBOMA USB C Headphones. Thirty wired USB-C pairs, plug-and-play, nothing to charge.
• Best for zero-maintenance reliability → GDBOMA USB C Headphones. No battery to drain, no pairing to fail, no firmware, no app.
• Best for shared or high-loss environments → GDBOMA USB C Headphones. Mixed colors make it easy to track pairs across a group.
• Best for phone-free music without a device → PSIER Bone Conduction Headphones. The internal storage turns it into a standalone MP3 player.
• Best for sealed, immersive listening → neither, honestly. Both are open or on-ear designs with no noise cancellation, so if isolation is your priority, look elsewhere.
If I were buying for myself, I'd take the PSIER Bone Conduction Headphones. The combination of IPX8 waterproofing, 32GB of onboard music and Bluetooth 6.0 covers swimming, running and daily listening in one device, and the open-ear design is genuinely useful outdoors. In my opinion it's the more interesting and more versatile product by a wide margin. I'd only choose the GDBOMA pack if I were outfitting a group — a class, a lab, a set of test takers — because that's the job it was clearly designed for, and for thirty people it's a far more sensible buy than thirty wireless pairs. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since the two serve such different needs that value only makes sense once you know which job you're solving.
Yes — that's the design goal. PSIER rates them IPX8, submersible to two meters for one hour, with a sealed coating. You do need to switch to MP3 mode first with a double-click, because Bluetooth won't transmit through water.
They work with anything that has a USB-C port that outputs audio — many phones, tablets, laptops and testing devices. They're wired, so there's no Bluetooth and no charging, but also no wireless flexibility.
Yes. The 32GB of internal storage holds up to about 4,000 songs, and you load them by connecting the magnetic charging cable to a computer. That's the mode you use in the pool.
Not better — different. PSIER's open-ear design keeps you aware of your surroundings and works underwater. Regular sealed headphones give you more bass and isolation but block the world out. Pick based on which of those you actually need.
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