Shokzing Teleconferencing

Teleconferencing has exploded over the last couple of years, fueled by COVID lockdowns and the hybrid work model which has followed. Internet speeds are (almost) not an issue anymore. When teleconferencing from my office or home, my absolutely favorite gear are the Jabra Speak series speakers. They deliver crustal clear audio in both ways. But while they can still be considered portable and used in a hotel room, you cannot really use them in an airport (even in a lounge), a car, or any non-office environment.

Headphones and earbuds are the alternative and while I tried many, none really worked for me well. To the extent that I always carry a Jabra Speak with me in a hope of finding a place where I could use it. The only type of headphones I found really delivering good "outgoing" audio are ones with a boom microphone. But then they are of the on-ear or over-ear, which makes them heavy and sound isolating. 

I don't feel comfortable with sound isolation, as with that comes the isolation from my own voice and that feels awkward. Some new designs, including the Apple AirPods and other brands like Jabra Elite offer a "hear-through" feature, this is "digital", which means there is a (small) delay and the whole experience is far from ideal.

So it did not take much hesitation when I spotted the Shokz bone-conduction open-ear set with a boom microphone. My son has been using Shokz and is very happy with them. But they had not had a boom mike (and that affected the quality of bidirectional discussions). The Shokz Opencomm solves exactly this problem. And wow it delivers. It is super light, super comfortable, I can wear it on all day. The ears are open, so with the Shokz on, you just forget you are wearing them. Until a call, when they behave almost like the calling party was inside your head. The sound clarity is phenomenal. So you just talk like talking to someone sitting next to you. And I can clearly tell it does work in the "outgoing" direction equally well. My voice has been super clear on the other end of the conversation, regardless if I was in a busy airport or a windy outdoor. Bringing the teleconferencing experience to a really new level.