Review: Trekz Titanium by Aftershokz

Trekz Titanium Retail Packaging

The Bluetooth headset market has been stale for the past few years while new and meaningful innovations are rarely seen anymore. That's why I jumped at the opportunity to try out these new headphones, the Trekz Titanium by Aftershokz. What makes them so interesting is the bone conduction feature, just like the Bluez 2 we reviewed last year that were also made by Aftershokz. They're not perfect but they paint a bright future for Bluetooth headsets.

Bottom Side View

LETS TALK SPECS AND DESIGN

The Trekz Titanium features Bluetooth 4.0, Dual Noise Canceling Microphones and an IP55 sweat resistant rating. Compared to the Bluez 2, they look very similar in design with a few welcome improvements. The bone conduction amplifiers at either end of the headphones are square in shape and are snug enough that they don't fall off easily. They should be placed just in front of your ear's tragus while wearing them for best results. Behind your ears, at the thickest part of the Trekz Titanium, you'll find two humps. Inside the left hump is the rechargeable battery, I assume, as it has no buttons, LED indicators or other clear function. Behind the right ear is the hump where the volume buttons and Micro-USB charging port are located facing downwards towards the floor. 

One of my favorite features is, what Aftershokz calls, the "lightweight titanium frame". It's the material used to construct the body of the headset and comes in a neutral gray color. The main benefit I found to using this material is that it is very easy to contort and bend while taking them on or off without fear of breaking or cracking the body, unlike some may have experienced with the Bluez 2. It also keeps the headset thin and light yet durable so they're easy to store, carry and use during an outdoor run. Aftershokz boasts a total of 6 hours of music and call time. In my tests, the battery lasted more than a day without the need to recharge. This could be because the hump on the left side of the headset has a decent size battery and the Bluetooth LE allows for energy efficient connections between other Bluetooth LE devices. I wasn't able to test the headset with any devices that use Bluetooth Classic (3.0 or older) as all my devices use Bluetooth LE.

Top Side View

DID ANYONE BOTHER WEARING

THESE BEFORE THEY WERE SHIPPED?

I really wanted to love the Trekz Titanium but comfort was a deal breaker. I couldn't stand to wear them for more than 10 minutes. In particular, the battery hump kept putting pressure on the back of my ear. In my use, the Trekz Titanium kept being pulled down and back behind my head, which in turn started to cause me pain right behind my ear. It begs the question, "Did anyone bother wearing these before they were shipped?"

The location of the volume buttons made it awkward to press them. I rarely found myself changing the volume as I mostly left it low in order to hear other sounds in my surroundings but the few times I did it felt awkward. I also noticed that when listening to music on my iPhone, it didn't directly control the volume level of the music on my phone. Instead, it had it's own separate volume channel that wouldn't go any higher than the current level of my iPhone's volume. In other words, if your device's volume level is at 50% and you pair the Trekz Titanium to your device, the volume buttons on the headset will only change the volume from 0% to 50% on a separate channel. I had to go back to my iPhone and set the volume to the highest setting in order to get full control of the volume. This seems like a huge misstep when designing a bluetooth headset. I don't want to have to go back to my iPhone just to adjust my volume.

Audio quality for music was overall excellent. I didn't have trouble hearing during phone calls or audio playback. My favorite discovery was being able to play a video on my phone, listen to the audio track and neither disrupt others nearby nor miss out on anything my friends might have said to me. It felt like magic. If this is what Aftershokz was aiming for then they definitely nailed it. My friend's and I did disagree on the quality of the bass though. I didn't think there was a problem with the bass but they think it wasn't very loud or clear. I do agree it isn't as comparable to in-ear headphones or over-the-ear headphones but, its clear enough that you can still enjoy your music and movies.

When making phone calls through the headset, you press and hold the multipurpose button until your device's voice assistant chimes in. It took two or three seconds longer than it would have to activate Siri using the home button on my iPhone. I was still able to clearly input voice commands via the built-in microphone. Siri couldn't understand me a few times using the mic but not any more than what I normally experience using Siri directly on my iPhone. While on phone calls with others, they stated they could hear my clearly and did not notice at all I was using a Bluetooth headset. Connectivity range was great and I easily got about 30 feet of distance from my iPhone before I noticed any drop in quality. If it disconnects, you hear a short sound alert to notify you. I was very satisfied with the quality of the mic and stereo speakers.

I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO GO

BACK TO MY IPHONE JUST TO

ADJUST MY VOLUME

The shortcomings of the Trekz Titanium are few but weigh considerably more than it's benefits. Comfort is an essential aspect of using a bluetooth headset. No one will wear your headset if it doesn't feel right. And it's a shame because I think I may have fallen in love with the Trekz Titanium.

Charging Cable, Head Spacers and EarPlugs

Carrying Case

THE TIDBITS

The Trekz Titanium comes with a few accessories to make using the headset a little more convenient. As pictured above, it comes with its own carrying case, micro-USB charging cable, ear plugs and head spacers. Like many other Bluetooth headphone manufacturers, AfterShokz declined to include a USB wall adapter. This decision was disappointing but not surprising and yet would have made the Trekz Titanium stand out even more. The carrying case and USB cable are simple and work just about as you'd expect. The first standout is that AfterShokz decided to supply ear plugs in case you actually don't want to hear everything around you. As a fair warning, you shouldn't always use them; it could be dangerous to wear them when your attention should be elsewhere. Unlike noise-cancelling technology used in over-the-ear headphones, these will completely cancel out any surrounding noise. The other extra included is the pair of head spacers. According to Aftershokz, they are to be used if the Trekz Titanium are not snug enough or fall off during use. I didn't need to use them but it's a nice addition to have.
I never felt the need to use the earplugs during my use. Even so, I felt it would have been too much of a hassle to be putting them on and taking them off. Overall, it is in my opinion that the Trekz Titanium, while having some really interesting features, does poorly in delivering on the essential need for comfort. For these reasons, I can not recommend them to anyone. I look forward to seeing what new bone conduction headsets Aftershokz decides to develop next. Hopefully, when that time comes, at least one engineer will have had the courage to try them on.

Bluez 2 By AfterShokz Review

There isn't exactly that broad of an offering for bone conductive headphones on the market, and not a whole lot of people know the technology even exists. Bone conductive headphones allow you to listen to music by sending vibrations via your skull, now you may think this is unusual but I assure you it's pretty amazing.

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