Suunto Sonic Headphones Review

For a variety of reasons, I have not listened to things while active. Well, I’ve listened to the birds and the soft rustling of wind through the trees, but never podcasts or music. The wires of my earbuds seemed like they’d be a hassle. Then, when Bluetooth came along, I convinced myself of the certainty that I’d lose a single earbud somewhere on the forest floor, never to be seen again. And besides, isn’t it a bit unsafe, traveling around without the ability to hear the world around you? Then I found the Suunto Sonic, which suffers from none of these issues. And while I still appreciate meditating on the sounds of nature more than any podcast I’ve listened to, it’s quite nice being able to go on a run or a ride and listen to music.

Suunto Sonic Headphones Features:

• Open-ear design allows you to listen to music while still hearing your surroundings
• Lightweight, comfortable design
• Newly designed sound transducer allows for higher sensitivity, enhanced bass effect and a reduction in noise leakage
• IP55 rating for sweat-proofing and water resistance
• Rapidly charges in 60 minutes
• 10 hours of battery life
• Easy tap phone and music controls directly from the headphones
• MSRP: $149

Feelin’ the Vibe with the Suunto Sonic Headphones

Before anything else, what is bone-conduction hearing? Effectively, people hear sound via waves making it through the air to our eardrums, and by vibrations passing through the bones in our skull and into our inner ears. The Sonics are all-in on bone-conduction, sitting outside the ear canal altogether. They wear like the back half of a headband, making contact behind and right in front of the ear at the temporomandibular joint. When you’re playing music, folks can hear it lightly if they’re in the same quiet room. Out on the trail though, it’s effectively silent to all but the listener (the way it should be).

While music is playing, the Sonics vibrate lightly on the upper jaw / ear area. It’s an odd sensation, which might take getting used to for some. Initially, I found it mildly ticklish, but with time, that light buzzing feeling has become more normal to me. The way they sit on my head has also been an adjustment. With traditional earbuds, the speaker is anchored in your ear, and it’s hardly a question of how they’re supposed to be oriented. With the Sonics, however, there’s a fair amount of leeway as to the angle you wear them, and the sound quality and intensity differs depending on how you wear them. This was a real adjustment for me, and it took a full week of activity to get a feel for where they sat most comfortably.

Where the Sonics sit beside your ears also impacts the volume level. When pressed right up next to your ears, they sound louder. When they sit in their more relaxed position though, they’re significantly softer. This matters, because the Suunto Sonics don’t have a terribly broad range of volume overall, leaning slightly on the quieter end. For many activities, this doesn’t matter, but it does quite a bit for others. On a road run, you’ll be happily listening to your things while staying aware of road noises, but on your hefty MTB descent, you certainly won’t be hearing your music. In part, that’s the open ear design doing what it should, but it’s also just not quite loud enough for certain outdoor activities, even at full volume.

What the Sonics lack in power though, they make up for in sound quality. With such a small device, it should come as no surprise that high-notes are their specialty, but they sound great in the mid-range too, and are quite notably precise with many-layered music. For instance, I was listening to an Alt-J album I’ve heard many times before, and I was noticing a depth of layers to the music that I’d never picked up previously. The headphones performed similarly with complex layered beats in Dr. Dre’s latest album. I suppose the best way to describe it would be crisp and precise sound.

Again though, the open ear design does mean that you don’t get to appreciate the full extent of that crisp sound quality when you’re out on a run… too many competing sounds out there in the world. Nonetheless, it’s easy to tell that they’re built for activity. I’ve subjected my pair to a fair amount of sweat during testing, and they’re holding up great. For both running and MTB, they sit comfortably and out of the way. I was rather surprised at how well they fit while wearing a bike helmet and glasses. Somehow, it’s flawless.

For everyday life, they’re reliable and well-suited to the needs of the masses. In particular, I’d highlight their usefulness on Zoom and phone calls. You can hear things well on your end, and folks can hear you well too. I’ve never had a complaint about low sound quality or volume, and you best believe I’ve been asking.

What else? They hold a charge for about 10 hours, which is more than enough for most any outing. Once they’re done (something which they chime a few times beforehand to let you know about), they charge up fully within an hour. I do wish there were some sort of indicator on how much charge the Sonics have though. It’d be nice not to ever run out of battery. So it goes though. At least charging is a quick ordeal. The charger itself attaches magnetically, and is a pretty slick little thing, not unlike the Sonics themselves.

Fit: One size fits my medium/large head, while still fitting my wife’s small head comfortably. These are adaptable and comfortable for the majority of head sizes.

Buy Now: Available at REI