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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-26 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
• shokz OpenRun Aeropex — biggest strength: a featherweight 26 g wraparound frame with 8th-generation bone conduction, Bluetooth 5.1, 8 hours of playback and a 10-minute quick charge that adds up to 1.5 hours.
• shokz OpenRun Aeropex — biggest trade-off: IP67 means sweat and rain are fine but swimming is not; it is explicitly not suitable for swimming, so the pool is off the table.
• MARLALL Bone Conduction Swimming — biggest strength: an IPX8/IP68 waterproof seal plus 32 GB of built-in memory, so it plays from its own storage with no phone and no Bluetooth signal needed underwater.
• MARLALL Bone Conduction Swimming — biggest trade-off: Bluetooth does not work under water — swimming requires MP3 mode — and you have to dry the microphone after a swim to avoid call problems.
• Who each pick is for: shokz for runners, cyclists and gym-goers who want calls, podcasts and ambient awareness; MARLALL for lap swimmers and water-sports people who want music with nothing but the headphone itself.
This is the headphone you clip on and forget about. The frame is nickel-titanium alloy wrapped in silicone, and at 26 g it is light enough that the wraparound band does the holding rather than your ears. The 8th-generation bone conduction driver vibrates through your cheekbone toward the inner ear, which is why your ear canals stay completely open. On a road ride or a run along a shared path, that openness is the entire point — you hear cars, bikes and other people without pulling a bud out. The spec sheet lists a 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz frequency range, 105 dB sensitivity and 8.5 ohm impedance, which describes a driver tuned to push vibration efficiently rather than to deliver deep bass.
Bluetooth 5.1 with roughly 10 meters of range covers the normal case: phone in a pocket, armband or waist pack. Battery is 8 hours of music and calls with a 90-minute full charge, and the quick-charge trick is genuinely useful — ten minutes on the cable gets you up to 1.5 hours, which is enough for a short session when you forgot to plug in. There is a built-in mic for calls, physical buttons for volume and control, and a moisture-detection alert that warns you if the charging contacts are wet. In the box you get the headphones, a carrying case, a magnetic charging cable and a Shokz sport headband.
It is also worth knowing the sizing note in the materials: the standard version here uses the regular band, while the Mini variant is built on a band about 21 mm shorter for smaller heads. If you have a smaller head and the band feels loose, that is the variant to look at.
Buy it if you want one pair for running, cycling, gym work and calls, and you value hearing your surroundings over isolation. Skip it if your main workout happens in water — IP67 is sweat and waterproof for land sports, but the manufacturer states plainly that it is not suitable for swimming. A pool will end the relationship.
This one is designed around a single hard problem: getting audio to your ears while your whole head is underwater. Bluetooth radio does not travel through water, so MARLALL solved it by removing the radio from the equation. The headphone carries 32 GB of internal storage and plays from it in MP3 mode. You load your playlist by plugging in with the magnetic charging cable, which gives direct computer access to that internal memory. Then you leave the phone in your bag, and the headphone is the whole system.
The waterproofing claim is IPX8, described as resisting water immersion and covering swimming, snorkeling and surfing. The body is an overmold liquid silicone with an ergonomic ear-hook shape that spreads pressure instead of concentrating it on one spot, and at 22.68 g it is light enough for long wears. Open-ear bone conduction means your canals stay clear, so you still register pool noise, lane mates and whatever is happening around you outdoors. Charging is magnetic — no exposed port to leak — and 1.5 hours of charging yields up to 7 hours of playback.
Read the warnings before you buy, because they define the product. Bluetooth is not supported underwater; swimming requires MP3 mode. Music from a phone app cannot be copied straight to the headphone's memory card, so you manage files through the cable connection to a computer rather than dragging tracks from a streaming app. And you should dry the microphone after swimming to prevent call issues. This is a one-year-warranty product built for water first, not a do-everything everyday headphone.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for swimming → MARLALL Bone Conduction Swimming. IPX8 immersion rating plus MP3 mode is the only combination here that survives a pool.
• Best for running, cycling and gym → shokz OpenRun Aeropex. IP67 sweat resistance, Bluetooth 5.1 and an open-ear fit made for land training.
• Best for battery life → shokz OpenRun Aeropex. 8 hours beats 7 hours, and the 10-minute quick charge is a real advantage on busy days.
• Best for phone-free use → MARLALL Bone Conduction Swimming. 32 GB of internal storage means no phone, no pairing, no signal to lose.
• Best for calls and podcasts → shokz OpenRun Aeropex. A built-in mic and Bluetooth audio make it a proper everyday headphone; MARLALL needs the mic dried and is not meant for underwater Bluetooth calls.
• Best for lightweight wear → shokz OpenRun Aeropex. 26 g versus 22.68 g is close, but the titanium wraparound band distributes it differently than an ear hook.
• Best for mixed land-and-water use → shokz OpenRun Aeropex for the land half, MARLALL for the water half. Neither replaces the other; committed swimmers often end up wanting both.
In my opinion, most people asking this question are runners or gym-goers who saw a "swimming" headphone and wondered whether they should switch. Don't. For land training I would buy shokz OpenRun Aeropex — the 8-hour battery, quick charge, Bluetooth 5.1 and built-in mic make it the more useful object on any given day, and IP67 covers sweat and rain without drama. I would only pick MARLALL Bone Conduction Swimming if swimming is genuinely your main sport, because its IPX8 seal and 32 GB of offline storage solve a problem shokz does not even attempt. Buy for the workout you actually do.
FAQ
how to bone conduction headphones work
A bone conduction driver converts audio into vibrations and sends them through your cheekbone toward the inner ear, bypassing the eardrum entirely. That is why both of these leave your ear canals open — you hear the music and your surroundings at the same time.
Set the transducers against your cheekbones just in front of your ears, then let the band or ear hooks hold them there. shokz OpenRun Aeropex uses a wraparound titanium band; MARLALL uses an ear-hook design that spreads pressure — both should sit snug without pressing hard.
how to use bone conduction headphones
Pair over Bluetooth 5.1 for normal listening, or use the physical buttons for volume and control. For MARLALL, load tracks into its 32 GB of internal storage over the magnetic cable and switch to MP3 mode for swimming, since Bluetooth does not work underwater.
Only MARLALL Bone Conduction Swimming is. It carries an IPX8 immersion rating and plays from internal memory. shokz OpenRun Aeropex is IP67 — fine for sweat and rain, but the manufacturer states it is not suitable for swimming. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit.
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See also: Pmjebe Bone Conduction Swimming vs ZKBSIAXD Earbuds, Kethmeva Swimming Headphones vs Generic 8mp: Bone Conduction, Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming vs Xmenha Open Ear Earbuds