27th January 2025 - Open Ear Headphones
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Some particularly loud neighbours have reminded me of how annoying 
noisy neighbours can be. Fridays and Saturdays tend to involve some 
music after the common decency time of 10pm and so I have been using 
headphones more. The issue I find is that I then don't hear noises as 
I do thinks and so it becomes disorientating. The weirdest part was 
not hearing liquid pouring. 

Years ago, I had a pair of wired Shokz bone conducting headphones. 
They are knackered now but I wanted to return to something like that. 
A swift search on their site and I ended up deciding that open ear 
were an option. Prices made me nervous though. Â100 is more than I 
want to spend to give something a go. I ended up finding a pair of 
similar devices from Soundcore, the audio arm of Anker, for the 
princely sum of Â30. Now that is worth a punt. 

The model is the V20. They have an arm which goes over the ear and 
then the speaker part which sits across the ear and points noise to 
the lug hole. I am really impressed with the bredth of the sound. 
There was a clarity which far surpassed my expertation. My in ear 
headphones are Shure IEM things which I forget the model number for. 
They are fantastic but the Soundcore V20 felt great enough. There are 
EQs and what not too. The only issue I found was the clash between the 
over ear holder and my glasses. As you have to adjust the open ear 
headphones, the interference is greater than the Shures which have a 
fixed position in the ear. 

Some looking and I found there are open ear headphones which clip on 
the ear... Yes... I ended up spending more money. This time Â99 on the 
Soundcore C40s. They clip to the outer ear lobe and require some 
adjusting. They feel secure and I can wear them for 4 hours without 
issue. The sound is still good but there is more adjusting to get the 
best sound. You feel a weight on the ear but it is not an issue to me. 
These are where my journey into open ear headphones will end. I see no 
point in trying anything else. The V20s will get used. Just not in the 
office.

It is nice being able to hear expected sounds along with the delights 
of aNONradio, knowing I am not annoying neighbours.