INTRODUCTION

    Whenever TWS earphones land in the lab one of the first things I check is whether or not they come with the hearthrough feature which basically allows you to listen to your surroundings even while listening to music. This has always been a crucial issue for me since I feel very uncomfortable when I lack awareness of my surroundings and that's especially true for when I'm on foot, either while jogging or going someplace. Since I'm by no means a professional runner I never had the chance to use/test bone conduction headphones but It's something I wanted to try and so my very first contact with this technology is thanks to Creative and their Outlier Free+ & Pro+ models.

    Founded in 1981, Creative has pioneered audio technology, revolutionizing how people experience sound by breaking the silence of PCs. With visionary founders and a talented team of sound engineers, developers, and business professionals, Creative has become a key player in the development of cutting-edge audio products. From groundbreaking sound cards to high-quality speakers and headphones, Creative meets every audio need. Whether diving into immersive soundscapes, enjoying portable Bluetooth speakers, or relying on noise-cancelling headphones for clear calls—Creative's commitment to superior audio experiences enriches the auditory world for all.

    Bone conduction technology has been around for roughly 600 years and well, even though it's advanced considerably over the years the main concept/principle has remained the same. Since Beethoven was among the very first people to actually use this technology it's a safe bet that at least initially it was developed for hearing-impaired individuals and has since also become quite popular among athletes who want situational awareness such as runners, cyclists and even swimmers. So, what such headphones do is use a  transducer to generate sound waves (vibrations) which are sent directly to the bones of your head (cheekbones in most cases) in order to reach your cochlea and let the magic happen. Both the Outlier Free+ and the Outlier Pro+ feature rugged housings (IPX5 sweatproof for the former and IPX8 waterproof for the latter), adjustable transducers (20Hz-20.000Hz frequency response, 2402-2480MHz operating frequency), omni-directional microphone (10Hz-10.000Hz), Bluetooth v5.3 connectivity (multipoint connection with up to 2 devices - AAC and SBC audio codecs supported) and a removable 180mAh lithium-ion polymer battery (up to 10 hours of playback). The Outlier Pro+ also features a built-in MP3/FLAC/WAV/APE player with 8GB of storage which clearly makes it a more convenient choice. So, let's see whether or not these two bone conduction headphones deliver as advertised.