Naenka Runner Diver bone conduction headphones evaluation:

There aren’t a whole lot of headphones for swimmers on the market, so the Naenka Runner Diver bone conduction headphones supply an opportunity to higher serve those that favor a session within the pool over jumping on the treadmill in the gym.

Providing Bluetooth streaming and an MP3 participant in a single, these headphones promise to push out prime quality sound each on land and within the water from an open-ear design, all whereas wrapping issues up in a design that is constructed to deal with extra rugged use.

At $149.49/£136.57, the Runner Diver sits on the costlier finish of the bone conduction headphone market, however few supply the flexibility to be dunked in water to supply some audio motivation once you’re perfecting your entrance crawl.

So, do the Runner Diver headphones sink or swim? We examined them out and in of the pool to seek out out.

Design

• IP68 mud and water-resistant design
• Weigh 35g
• Built-in controls

Naenka wraps up Bluetooth streaming and MP3 participant smarts in a predominantly titanium-built, neckband design that additionally consists of some softer silicone to make it sit extra comfortably in opposition to your pores and skin.

They don’t seem to be as slimline as another sports-focused bone conduction headphones and likewise weigh in heavier than a pair of Shokz OpenRun Pro for comparability. Whereas they do not sit bulkily on the pinnacle, they do not disappear both, which is certainly much less of a problem once you’re carrying them within the water and extra so out of it.

To allow you to take them within the water they have been given an IP68 ranking, making them match to be submerged, although curiously, Naenka suggests solely utilizing them for a most of 40 minutes within the water after which fastidiously drying them off earlier than storing them away.

We have used them for a most of an hour within the water and never skilled any efficiency points, however these hoping to make use of them longer within the water might wish to simply concentrate on this recommendation.

There are three bodily buttons included right here, with two on the precise aspect of the headphones and a bigger one on the surface of the left arm, mirroring what we have seen from bone conduction headphones from Shokz and the Philips A7607. These buttons allow you to regulate quantity, skip forwards and backwards tracks and change between Bluetooth and MP3 modes they usually’re properly positioned to make use of when stationary and – extra importantly – once you’re on the transfer too.

Efficiency

The Runner Diver ship their bone conduction sound in a lot the identical method that different bone conduction headphones do, channelling sound by means of transducers up the cheekbones in direction of your internal ear.

Beginning with the efficiency within the water and the Diver suitably impresses, even with out the bundled earplugs, that are included to enhance their sound underwater. Audio is pleasingly clear – it by no means sounds murky or muddy and makes for a surprisingly vivid sounding pair of headphones throughout swims.

Earlier than you assume you about prepping your Spotify playlists on your swimming classes, you may solely use the headphones within the MP3 mode when in water. Meaning you may have to load tracks on to them out of your laptop – merely hook the headphones up through the charging cable and drag and drop your audio recordsdata onto them.

Whereas the older Runner Diver supported solely MP3 and FLAC file codecs, the most recent model works with M4A, WAV and APE codecs too, with 16GB of storage to play with.

Syncing over your audio is usually a contact sluggish, however as soon as they’re on, you may select to play audio so as or randomly on shuffle with none difficulty.

Again on land, the sound high quality efficiency is equally pleasing – and you’ve got entry to Bluetooth for streaming should you favor. There is a greater emphasis on delivering clear sound and whereas you may get some punchiness right here too, it does imply experiencing the extra noticeable vibrations from that bone conduction strategy.

In busier environments, it wasn’t drowned out by wind and site visitors or the stereo system in our native gymnasium, and the decision high quality was good on the entire, although not greatest at school.

On the connectivity entrance, the upgraded model affords Bluetooth 5.3 and we have had no points connecting it to an iPhone 14, Google Pixel 6a, a Garmin Forerunner 965 or Apple Watch Ultra smartwatch.

Battery life

• 10 hours battery life
• 1.5 hours charging time

In battery phrases, the Naenka Runner Diver promise the form of numbers that put them according to different sporty bone conduction headphones in and round this worth level.

You possibly can anticipate as much as 10 hours battery life with the quantity set to 60 per cent and it takes 1.5 hours to energy as much as full from empty, when linked to the proprietary charging cable.

It is not specified whether or not that 10 hour battery life is tied to Bluetooth streaming or streaming from the MP3 participant, however primarily based on our testing we would say it is when Bluetooth is in play. Listening at decrease volumes will push issues in direction of that 10 hour mark, however enjoying at excessive to full quantity sees that quantity drop just under that.

Stream from the MP3 participant, and you may see that quantity drop far more considerably – we discovered we may get round 5 hours of playback in MP3 mode at cheap quantity.

Verdict

The Naenka Runner Diver are an incredible set of headphones for swimmers who need good sound within the water, however on land too.

Whereas it does lack the extra slimline profile of the Shokz OpenSwim, it affords each Bluetooth streaming and an MP3 participant the place the OpenSwim solely affords the latter – and the Runner Diver does it for much less cash too.

The enhancements made to playback assist and Bluetooth connectivity within the up to date model are welcomed right here too, and should you’re on the lookout for a pair of stable bone conduction headphones for swimming or headphones for swimming usually, these are the most effective choices you should buy.