It can be difficult to find a good pair of bone conduction headphones as there are a lot of fakes out there or models that don’t quite perform to expectations. Sound quality is also a tough one as bone conduction models don’t sound like normal headphones (lacking full range), which can be a little surprising to newcomers. Instead, they are meant for specific needs and provide ambiance-level sound without distracting you from your environment.
Bone conductions keeps your ears free to everything around you while they project sound to your ears via vibrations that pass through your cheek bones to your ear canal. There is still some leakage of sound, but a lot of it is muted via this process. Unless someone is standing close to you and you have your volume up, no one is going to hear anything. Meanwhile, as mentioned, nothing is covering your ears. So if you are working in a safety zone where you need to pay attention, or you are running in a high-traffic area, you won’t miss anything.
There really isn’t a lot of competition when it comes to quality models in the market. However, once in a while you do come across models like this one from Haylou. This is the Haylou PurFree Bone Conduction Headphones and it does a good job of competing with options like Shokz (previously Aftershokz).
Taking a look at these headphones, they look a lot like Shokz OpenRun model. This is a common design that has become the current (modern) standard with many of the models out there (of the few good options out there). In fact, they are almost a spitting image of each other outside of the Haylou’s side sections being a little larger in size (where you see the company logos in the below image).
They are around the same weight, material, and button configuration. So it is clear as day that Haylou is specifically targeting Shokz in the market when it comes to competition. Call it as you will, the company has put a lot of attention into every detail of the design to make sure of this and it shows in the performance of the headphones as well.
As for that button configuration, there is a multi-functioning button on the left side that is used for various tasks like playing/pausing music, answering phone calls, or trigger your connected device’s virtual assistant (ie, Google Assistant).
This also controls your track control when it comes to skipping to the next track or going back to the previous, via motions like double-click and triple-click.
The other two buttons found on the other side, only under the side module/section. Here, you find the volume up/down buttons. The volume up button also serving as the power button. Next to these is the charging port that uses a proprietary magnetic cable.
It does come with the proprietary cable (of course) as well as a pair of earplugs tucked away into a plastic case (which we will get to in a moment). There are some instructionals that walk you through controlling the headphones in both Chinese and English. Beyond that, there is nothing else in the box.
Performance
As mentioned, bone conduction headphones have a unique use-case scenario. They aren’t your typical in-ear or over-ear full-range headphones. The way they get sound to the ears is quite a bit different and with it comes the difference in sound.
Range typically includes a lot of highs and mid-highs. Sometimes you may get some mids in there and even some slight mid-lows, both of which heavily depending on the conduction drivers inside as this passes through the vibrations (bone conduction, in general, offers very little bass). This model makes use of 17 mm drivers that do a pretty decent job at this while still offering a majority focus on the higher frequencies.
When it comes to the highs and mid-highs, they are crisp and clear for bone conduction headphones. Quite similar to the Shokz OpenRun yet providing their own unique sound profile at the same time. There is also plenty of volume within this range. Enough to say that you can turn the volume up enough to reach a point where it would be too much for the average user. Thus you have enough volume for every listener.
Shokz OpenRun Pro (the step up from OpenRun) has a little more spread in range, with a little more lows present. Although, these are more expensive ($179 MSRP). Considering the $50 difference, it feels right. Thus the HAYLOU PurFree seems well-priced for the most part.
When it comes to sound leakage, these are on par with most bone conduction models we have come across. Again, if someone is standing close to you and you have your volume up pretty loud, they will hear something. However, for the most part, the sound will be isolated to your ears (without having to cover them in any way). We didn’t find these to perform any less than the Shokz models as well as a limited few others that we liked.
As for those ear plugs they come with, this is a unique suggestion the company provides. These earplugs are included with the idea of environmental (passive) noise cancelation. Say you are on a flight and you want to cancel out the noise of the plane while listening to your music. You can use the earplugs to (sort of) do this. We say “sort of” since the effect is a little odd. You do get a little more low-end, which is an interesting effect. However, the overall experience feels muffled and dreamlike.
So if you plan on wanting to cancel out the noise around you, it’s far better to just invest in active noise canceling headphones that actually cover or insert into your ears. It’s interesting that they recommend this approach though as it does feel unique and does sort of work in its own weird way. You likely won’t make use of it though.
You can get up to 8 hours of use from the headphones on a single charge and do offer fast-charging, giving you around 2 hours of listening with just 10 minutes of charge. Gone are the days (mostly) where charging takes longer than a products actual use-time. This is on-part with what’s out there in the bone conduction market.
When it comes to phone calls, I wouldn’t get too excited about what the other person hears. Although this is the case with almost every pair of bone conduction headphones we have come across, so this is no surprise. The only one that had any better performance has a boom that extended toward the mouth (which is a no-brainer). However, the quality isn’t bad either. It’s more on the level of average.
Our Conclusion
Do we like the Haylou PurFree headphones? Yes. We actually do. They compete well with what’s out there and do stand side-by-side with the Shokz OpenRun, at just a few dollars less. Although I think it was brave of the company to price themselves so close to Shokz due to having a brand name that many won’t be as familiar with. However, they do compete well while maintaining their own sound profile. So although the design on the outside is kind of a clone of what’s out there, what’s on the inside sounds unique.
They are heavily water resistant, offer a good/average use-time (up to 8 hours), as well as fast-charging support. The fact that it makes use of a proprietary cable is unfortunate, but many of these models use something similar. Just make sure to do your best to not lose the cable, else you won’t be listening to anymore music.
Finally, something to note. At the time of writing this, it is on sale via Amazon if you click the coupon on the page. It will save you $35 (while the sale lasts), bringing the price down some. Making it much more competitive
Additional Images:
Specifications:
- Material: Titanium alloy
- Weight: 28 grams
- Chipset: Qualcomm QCC3044
- Bluetooth Version: 5.2
- Battery Life: Up to 8 hours
- Charging Connection: Magnetic cable
- Fast-Charge: 10 mins = up to 2 hours use time
- Water Resistance: IP67
- Noise cancelation (for communications): cVc + 2MICs
- Dual-Device Connectivity: Yes
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