****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I have owned several generations of bone conduction headphones by Aftershoks (re-branded as "Shoks" some time back), and have always been pleased with their performance and the improvements they've made over the years. Since (no matter who makes them) bone conduction headphones suffer from weaker bass performance than traditional headphones/earphones, Mojawa caught my attention with their "patented maglev-bass actuator." I decided to get the Mojo2 and compare them to my Aftershoks Aeropex (these were also renamed, and are now known as "OpenRun").FitFrom looking at the product images, I was slightly concerned by the Mojo2's shape; specifically, the part than hangs behind the ear, because on Shoks products, the battery and electronics sweep back along the headband, not down as they do on the Mojo2. Upon wearing the Mojo2, I quickly realized that their design is just as comfortable as Shoks. The Aeropex are very stable and move very little while wearing, but, because of their shape, the Mojo2 move even less. It turns out that the only negative of the Mojo2's shape is that I have to move my ear forward to operate the volume control; it's not really a problem, but it takes some getting used to.Construction and AestheticsThe Aeropex and Mojo2 are both positioned as "premium" by their manufacturers, and they back it up with their looks and build, down to their titanium frames for flexibility and durability. Strictly speaking on aesthetics, I prefer the more minimalist, streamlined look of the Aeropex -- the textured metal on the Mojo2 driver housings and the gloss black over the battery and electronics are nice, but, in my opinion, make them look a bit dated (like a years-old design). Ultimately, it's just an observation that very few people will care about, and I'm happy to wear either of them in public anyway.PerformanceIn my experience, Mojo2 gets 8 hours of playtime just like Mojawa said they would (my Aeropex do, too).Mojo2's voice prompts ("power on," "source connected," etc.) have a pre-set volume seemingly unrelated to music volume, and they're too loud. They're not painful, but they're annoying.Mojo2's Bluetooth connection is rock-solid. No music stutter or disconnections.I never wear earplugs when using bone conduction headphones, (I'll just wear IEMs if I don't need the "open ear" benefit), but I did it for the sake of testing -- and found that Aeropex performs much better than Mojo2. While Aeropex sounds similar (but muffled) with earplugs, Mojo2 also sounds muffled *but* certain frequencies seem to be more affected than others, making it seem like parts of the song are missing. These results are interesting but meaningless to me, because I'll never wear earplugs to listen to either again -- but, it's worth noting for anyone that plans to use earplugs frequently.Now, back to bass: I was very skeptical about the "patented maglev-bass actuator" technology in the Mojo2 making any difference, because bone conduction is bone conduction. But, Mojo2 does in fact succeed in delivering more pronounced bass than Aeropex. To be clear: bone conduction is still bone conduction, and, patents or not, the Mojo2 do not approach the level of bass you'd get from over-ears or in-ears -- if massive bass is the most important thing to you in music, bone conduction in general is not for you. The difference in bass between the two headphones is, in my opinion, noticeable but not significant -- and it comes with a slight downside: I can feel the vibrations from the Mojo2 drivers against my skin more than Aeropex -- the difference is small, but it's there.Regarding the rest of the frequency range, both headphones perform like premium bone conduction should, and I don't have a preference.The EndI have more headphones than anybody should, and I'm pleased to welcome Mojo2 to the family, where it will share equal playtime with Aeropex in the bone conduction rotation... But, if I were looking to upgrade from Aeropex (or the non-pro version of OpenRun), I would not consider Mojo2 a "must buy." However, if you're coming from older Aftershoks, or a junk brand, or you're looking for your first set of bone conduction headphones, I think you'll be very happy with Mojo2.
