Wondering if some music will motivate your swim sessions? We try out four sets of headphones designed for use underwater...
WORDS HELEN WEBSTER IMAGES SHOKZ & STEVE SAYERS
BUYER’S GUIDE
When it comes to training with music, most of us have likely put headphones on to help get us through long running sessions or endless, painful hours on the turbo. But music while swimming is a little bit more unusual.
Much of this is likely down to the specialist nature of swimming MP3 players – there aren’t loads on the market and playing music underwater has typically been a bit of a tricky proposition, as it’s harder to get the sound quality when your head’s immersed in a pool or lake.
With recent innovations, though – especially bone conduction – there’s a better range out there. Music can help get you through those long endurance training swims, can lift your mood in a 6am pool session and can help you add rhythm and punch to your swim stroke.
Our tips? Choose a player that suits you – think about whether you’ll use it only in the pool, or want a set that can be used for running and day-to-day as well to make it more cost-effective. It’s also worth noting that you should only swim with music in open water if you’re absolutely sure you’re safe and in a controlled environment. Listening to music can make it harder for people to get your attention, so isn’t advised for places like the open sea!
Opposite, we tried out four units, three of which work by bone conduction (so are worn on the temples and you ‘hear’ the music through vibrations) and one with more traditional earpieces. So whether it’s Black Sabbath or Taylor Swift that gets you moving, read on to find which we rated…
SHOKZ OPEN SWIM
£169.95 Shokz (previously Aftershokz) is the first brand we’re aware of to bring bone conduction technology to market, several years ago now. These hook over your ears and sit under your swim cap, with the conduction pads sitting just in front of your ears. Sound quality was superb here, especially when worn in the water with earplugs, plus there’s a second setting you can use to enhance sound underwater versus using them on dry land. Downloading music onto them was a bit of a faff in these days of streaming, but that goes for all of these units, as you can’t stream with Bluetooth underwater. Once we had a playlist in place, though, these did a great job and with IP68 rating are fully waterproof, with eight-hour battery life (fair play if you can swim for that long!). Our only niggle was that over long swims the top of the ‘wires’ started to pres
