In today's pursuit of a healthy life, swimming has become one of the favorite sports methods for many people, and more and more people choose to swim in the water to release stress. A great swimming headset not only brings music underwater, but also helps us relax and improve our overall sports experience by providing superior performance to provide a richer sensory experience, enhancing our sense of motivation and concentration in underwater sports.
As the leading brand of professional sports headphones, Shokz has become a leading brand in the industry with its profound technical background. Previously, once the Shokin OpenSwim swimming headphones were launched, they became an indispensable new equipment for many swimming enthusiasts, and now the new OpenSwim Pro has once again upgraded the experience for us, with a new Bluetooth MP3 dual mode, 32GB memory capacity, and longer battery life, all of which have brought us surprises. So what is the experience of using it, let's take a look!
Appearance: Lightweight and easy to use
Underwater sports are different from ground sports, and the complex water flow environment often brings greater challenges to the stability of the headphones, which poses a challenge to the wearing stability of the headphones. The corresponding strategy of the Shokin OpenSwim Pro is to win with a light and agile body shape and ergonomic design, and its overall weight is lighter than the previous generation, only about 27g. In addition, it also uses skin-friendly silicone material, and the ergonomic ear and back hook design with neck strap makes it tough to use without pinching the ear, which is not easy to cause ear fatigue or discomfort.
In the actual experience, whether it is breaststroke, freestyle or backstroke, the headphones are not washed away by the current, even in complex current conditions, and no matter how you kick the wall or shake your head, it can ensure a stable and comfortable fit, which is especially important for intense water sports or open water swimmers. Such a lightweight and slender design may have friends who will worry about whether it is easy to break, in fact, there is no need to worry at all, it uses a titanium alloy skeleton that takes into account both flexibility and sturdiness, and there is no need to worry about strength at all.
There are two colors of the headphones: "red and blue contrast" and "black", and the one we got is the "contrast" model, the official definition is: Coral Sea. The overall appearance of the actual machine is more orange and blue, and the appearance is very high. The earphones also adopt an integrated non-porous design, fully sealed and waterproof, and the rating reaches IP68, so that it can better adapt to water sports and rain and sweat penetration in daily sports.
We test this feature using the immersion method and flushing method, whether it is water droplet splashing, water source rinsing, or one-hour immersion, Shokin OpenSwim Pro can easily cope with it. The physical buttons can also be operated underwater, the logic is simple, and it can be operated blindly after being familiarized, which is very convenient to use underwater.
A new immersive experience for underwater sports
Shokin OpenSwim Pro adopts the bone conduction technology that Shokin has been leading its peers, and its principle is to transmit sound to the inner ear through vibration, rather than through the traditional air, which can better protect the user's safety during exercise, do not block the ear canal, long-lasting transparency, and maintain the perception of the surrounding environment while listening to music, so as to avoid danger caused by immersion in music.
In fact, bone conduction headphones have always been a very unique existence in the headphone market, and they are very different from traditional headphones in terms of appearance, sound principle, and sound quality performance, so bone conduction headphones are often mentioned, and the problem of poor sound quality has become the biggest pain point for many users. Shokin OpenSwim Pro provides us with another breakthrough idea in this regard, through a new generation of bone conduction technology, the mid and high tones are transparent and clear, and users can also flexibly choose according to the audio content and usage scenarios, bringing targeted audio experience optimization.
Among them, the standard mode is suitable for daily use, and each frequency band is relatively balanced, the human voice mode strengthens the middle frequency, which is very suitable for listening to e-books, online courses and other types of audio, and the MP3 mode, in addition to the standard sound mode, there is also a swimming sound mode specially designed for swimming scenes, which is very suitable for use with swimming earbuds. In the actual experience, after wearing the OpenSwim Pro into the water, the water surface isolates the noise of other people, allowing us to enjoy music in the water more "immersively", which is completely different from the actual feeling on the ground, which may change the stereotype of many people about bone conduction swimming headphones.
It is worth mentioning that OpenSwim Pro uses premiumPitch 2.0 Plus technology, the core principle of this technology is to achieve the effect of phase cancellation through the reverse of the sound waves generated by the earphones, so as to reduce sound leakage, improve sound quality, and improve the efficiency of sound transmission. In our tests, even when the volume was turned up to the maximum, the sound of the headphones was almost inaudible at a distance of less than half a meter, which made it effective in reducing sound leakage and enhancing privacy protection in daily use such as running in addition to swimming scenes.
On the official Shokz APP, we can also see the OpenSwim Pro battery level, connection status, etc. more intuitively, and can also switch the headphone mode and sound effect mode as needed, as well as set button customization, switch dual device connection and other operations. It is worth mentioning that in MP3 mode, OpenSwim Pro will not disconnect from the mobile phone, but the content of the music played has changed from Bluetooth to local storage, the advantage of this is that when we swim in the scene, if there is an emergency notification, call, etc. (water conditions) will also be reminded and connected in the headphones, which is really intimate at the moment when the pace of life is becoming more and more tense.
In terms of battery life, Shokin OpenSwim Pro inherits the usual good performance, and the official said that a single charge can provide up to 8 hours of continuous playback time, but in the actual experience, different modes and different volumes may have a certain impact on battery life. Magnetic charging is very "fruity",OpenSwim Pro also has a microphone that was not available in the previous generation,Support voice call function,With the blessing of call noise reduction and voice enhancement, voice calls also have good sound quality。 Obviously, compared to its predecessor, OpenSwim Pro has become more comprehensive.
In fact, OpenSwim Pro is not only used in swimming scenarios, but also in many situations where it is inconvenient to carry a mobile phone, such as long-distance running, trail running, daily training and other use cases, it can store more local music with 32GB of storage, bringing us a longer music experience.
Finally, remember to clean the earphones in time after swimming or exercising, and make sure that the earphones are not affected by salt, chlorine, and other contaminants to prolong their life and make them better our sports partners.
At the same time, it should be noted that shortly before the release of this review, Shokz also released China's first group standard for bone conduction headphones in conjunction with the China Institute of Standardization.
Bottom line: Focus on exercise, not just swimming
It is not difficult to see that compared with the previous generation, this Shokin Open Swim Pro swimming earphones not only adds Bluetooth MP3 dual mode, but also makes it closer to the commonly used in-ear headphones with the addition of microphones, which can also be easily coped with in daily scenes, and the bone conduction design can also allow us to better perceive external sounds while enjoying music, providing additional safety guarantees. If you're looking for a smart device for swimming, I believe the Shokin OpenSwim Pro swimming headphones are worth adding to your "wish list".