Bud-style earphones can be uncomfortable for some mobile music lovers, but there are plenty of over-ear, open-ear and bone conduction designs to rock with instead. Audio-Technica offers another option that ditches the bones and aims for cartilage instead.
As you may guess from the name, bone-conduction headphones don't plug into the ear canals but employ pads that rest of facial bones to transmit audio signals to the inner ear via vibrations. The up side of this approach is that sporty types like runners and cyclists can still hear the world around them as well as the workout tunes. The negative is usually sound quality.
For its attractively named ATH-CC500BT2 headphones, Audio-Technica "utilizes the third auditory pathway to transmit sound through the ear's cartilage, bypassing the ear canal for improved hygiene, comfort and safety."
The company explains that the technology came out of research at the Nara Medical University in 2004 via Professor Hiroshi Hosoi. For this application, sound travels as vibrations to the wall of the ear canal. This moves air "to create sound that reaches the cochlea – it’s as if your ears are acting as speakers themselves."
The audio veteran is promising "high-quality audio" from its latest generation of vibration drivers, while something called an Acoustic Pure Sound Stabilizer is designed to stop any external vibrations from leeching in and spoiling the party. As with bone-conduction designs, the ear canal is free to allow ambient sounds to penetrate, so users remain aware of what's going on around them.
The cartilage-conductor headphones can connect to two source devices over Bluetooth 5.3 at the same time, and support both Siri and Google Assistant. They also work with a companion app for sonic tweaking to suit personal preferences while also engaging a feature that limits leakage in public places.
There's a mode to improve voice clarity while taking calls, with AI noise reduction on tap to focus on the speaker's dulcet tones. Audio-Technica has cooked in a background listening mode as well, in addition to a soundscape function that offers up "soothing nature sounds" to help with meditation and relaxation.
Per-charge battery life is reported to be 20 hours for continuous playback or 10 hours on calls. Quick 10-minute top-ups over USB-C result in 120 minutes of music listening if you're in a hurry. The IPX4-rated ATH-CC500BT2 headphones are available in Europe now for €139 (which converts to around US$145, though we've no word on US availability at this time).
Product page: ATH-CC500BT2