Naenka Runner Diver bone conduction headphones evaluation:

There aren’t lots of headphones for swimmers on the market, so the Naenka Runner Diver bone conduction headphones provide an opportunity to raised 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 top 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 provide the power to be dunked in water to supply some audio motivation whenever 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 search out out.

Design

• IP68 mud and waterproof 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 are not as slimline as another sports-focused bone conduction headphones and in addition 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 unquestionably much less of a problem whenever you’re sporting 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 score, 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 could need to simply pay attention to this recommendation.

There are three bodily buttons included right here, with two on the suitable facet 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 backwards and forwards tracks and swap between Bluetooth and MP3 modes and so they’re properly positioned to make use of when stationary and – extra importantly – whenever you’re on the transfer too.

Efficiency

The Runner Diver ship their bone conduction sound in a lot the identical means that different bone conduction headphones do, channelling sound by 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 vibrant sounding pair of headphones throughout swims.

Earlier than you assume you about prepping your Spotify playlists to your swimming classes, you possibly can solely use the headphones within the MP3 mode when in water. Meaning you will must load tracks on to them out of your laptop – merely hook the headphones up through the charging cable and drag and drop your audio information 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 possibly can select to play audio so as or randomly on shuffle with none concern.

Again on land, the sound high quality efficiency is equally pleasing – and you’ve got entry to Bluetooth for streaming when you favor. There is a larger 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 in school.

On the connectivity entrance, the upgraded model provides 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 in step with different sporty bone conduction headphones in and round this worth level.

You’ll be able to 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 based mostly on our testing we might 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 slightly below that.

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

Verdict

The Naenka Runner Diver are a terrific 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 provides each Bluetooth streaming and an MP3 participant the place the OpenSwim solely provides the latter – and the Runner Diver does it for much less cash too.

The enhancements made to playback help and Bluetooth connectivity within the up to date model are welcomed right here too, and when you’re searching for a pair of strong bone conduction headphones for swimming or headphones for swimming usually, these are among the best choices you should purchase.