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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want a proven open-ear sports headphone for running, cycling and gym work, choose shokz OpenRun Aeropex; if you need headphones you can actually wear in the water with music stored on board, choose Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming.
These two look similar on the surface — both are bone conduction, both sit outside your ear canal, both use Bluetooth — but they are built for two different athletes. One is a dry-land training partner. The other is a swim-specific device that happens to work on land too. Here's how I'd separate them.
• shokz OpenRun Aeropex — biggest strength: an IP67-rated, featherweight (26 g) wraparound frame with 8th-generation bone conduction, Bluetooth 5.1, 8 hours of battery and a 10-minute quick charge that buys you up to 1.5 hours. It's a mature, purpose-built sport headphone.
• shokz OpenRun Aeropex — biggest trade-off: IP67 means sweat and rain are fine, but the manufacturer explicitly states it is not suitable for swimming, and there's no onboard music storage — you always need a Bluetooth source.
• Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming — biggest strength: a true IP68 rating with submersion up to 2–5 meters plus a 32GB built-in MP3 player, so you can swim with music and no phone anywhere nearby. 10 hours of playtime too.
• Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming — biggest trade-off: it's a newer, less established brand with a 1-year warranty, and its battery spec sheet lists a 2-hour charge time rather than a quick-charge feature.
• Pick shokz OpenRun Aeropex if you train on land and want a headphone with a long track record in that exact job.
• Pick Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming if the pool (or surf) is the whole point and you refuse to leave your music in the locker.
The OpenRun (originally sold as the AfterShokz Aeropex) is the classic bone conduction sport headphone, and the spec sheet reads like it. A 26 g wraparound frame in silicone, an open-ear fit that leaves your ear canal completely free, and 8th-generation bone conduction paired with Bluetooth 5.1 and PremiumPitch 2.0+ tuning. Sound is transmitted as vibration through your cheekbone, so you hear your podcast and the car behind you. For road runners and cyclists, that awareness is the entire argument for bone conduction in the first place.
Who should buy it: runners, gym-goers, cyclists, hikers — anyone who trains outdoors and wants situational awareness plus a headphone that's been engineered around that single job. Who should skip it: swimmers. The manufacturer is explicit that it is not intended for swimming, and with no onboard storage, you'd need your phone poolside anyway. If your main workout is laps, this isn't the tool.
Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming: Who It's For
The Rhyfell Fit 5 attacks the one problem bone conduction headphones have always had: water. Bluetooth doesn't travel through water, so a normal wireless headphone is useless the moment your head goes under. Rhyfell's answer is a dual-mode design — Bluetooth 6.0 for land, and a 32GB built-in MP3 player for the pool. You load your music once, switch modes, and swim with no phone involved. The IP68 rating allows full submersion to 2–5 meters, which is what makes that promise credible.
The rest of the sheet is built around the same athlete. 10 hours of continuous playtime, which the brand positions as double the 5-hour norm. A 28 g frame in liquid silicone, shaped for a stable fit during high-intensity training — swimming, surfing, triathlon, running. 16 ohm impedance, bone conduction driver, open-ear placement so you keep ambient awareness on the road. Bluetooth 6.0 is the newest version here, and the brand claims instant, zero-delay pairing and a stable connection within the usual 10-meter range. Controls are physical push buttons, which is the right call for wet hands.
The honest caveats: this is a newer brand with a 1-year manufacturer warranty versus shokz's 2 years, and the spec sheet lists a 2-hour charge time with no quick-charge equivalent. The 32GB of storage is genuinely useful, but it also means you're managing a music library, not just hitting play on your phone.
Who should buy it: swimmers first — pool lap swimmers, surfers, triathletes — and anyone who wants one device that covers both water and land. Who should skip it: someone who only ever runs with their phone and wants the most established name in bone conduction.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for battery life → Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming on paper, at 10 hours versus shokz's 8.
• Best for top-ups between sessions → shokz OpenRun Aeropex. The 10-minute quick charge for up to 1.5 hours is a real convenience Rhyfell doesn't list.
• Best for running and cycling → shokz OpenRun Aeropex. Lighter at 26 g, 8th-gen bone conduction, PremiumPitch 2.0+ and a fit refined across two band sizes.
• Best for going phone-free → Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming. 32GB of onboard storage beats needing a Bluetooth source every time.
• Best for newest wireless tech → Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming, with Bluetooth 6.0 versus 5.1.
• Best for long-term peace of mind → shokz OpenRun Aeropex, with a 2-year warranty versus Rhyfell's 1 year.
• Best for all-round outdoor use → shokz OpenRun Aeropex if you never swim; Rhyfell if you do.
In my opinion, most people reading this comparison should buy the shokz OpenRun Aeropex — it's lighter, it has the quick charge, it carries a longer warranty, and it's built around the running-and-gym job that the vast majority of buyers actually have. But if you swim laps or surf, none of that matters, because the OpenRun can't go in the water. For swimmers, I'd take the Rhyfell Bone Conduction Swimming without hesitation: IP68, 32GB of onboard music, and 10 hours of playtime make it the only one of the two that solves the actual problem. Match the device to your sport and you'll be happy either way.
FAQ
Yes — that's its headline feature. It has 32GB of built-in storage, so you load music and switch to MP3 mode for pool or surf sessions with no phone required.
Rhyfell lists 10 hours of continuous playtime versus shokz's 8 hours. shokz, however, adds a 10-minute quick charge that gives up to 1.5 hours, which Rhyfell's spec sheet doesn't mention.
If you genuinely do both, the Rhyfell covers both jobs thanks to its IP68 rating and Bluetooth 6.0 mode. If you only run, I'd still lean shokz OpenRun Aeropex for the lighter frame and longer warranty.
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