I use a Sena 20s while wearing soft foam ear plugs and music is just fine. the limitation being long rides may be longer than battery life of the Sena

 

I was thinking of getting a set of Aftershokz Air headphones to take a my big road trips and wanted to get a first hand opinion on how well they work. Generally I wear earplugs to block out wind noise and none of the ear buds work well at speed - no matter how well fitted.

So, before I again spend $100 plus dollars - will they work? Heading 50, 60, 70 miles an hour with a set of ear plugs in and the noise of my engine, can you still get decent quality sound?

 

I'm using Sena 30k bluetoothed to my Pixel XL3. The music sound is terrible when the volume is turned up. When the volume is below half it is palatable at best. Do not go Sena if you're looking for a great music experience. You will be disappointed.

That said...I'm not sure you're going to find a better solution if you're adamant about in helmet speakers. The logistics of getting music from the speaker into your ear canal is not conducive to audiophile music quality. Think about how ear phones work. A cup seals the area between the speaker and your outer ear. Nothing gets in but the vibrations that come from that little speaker. Pull the cup away from your ear so you can hear your wife nagging at you.../the music quality declines the more you open that space between the cup and your outer ear.

In a helmet comm you have the speaker sitting a few inches away from your ear. You will get all sorts of extra noises bleeding into the experience. It will never sound as good as an ear phone.

So you may have to make a choice. Lower your expectations for the quality of the music, or re-think the need to have speakers inside your helmet. Get a good sound bar mounted to your handlebars for that quality music experience and use the helmet comms for the phone calls...which it is really good at.

 

I have a Cardo Packtalk Slim. The new models come with JBL speakers, and to me, they sound really good. Have one in both my wife's and my helmet. Sounds so good, we sometimes wear them ***** around the house.

 

I also just bought my wife and I the new Cardo Packtalk Slim with JBL speakers. I think they sound really good even with earplugs in. Not too much bass but I think that would be a bit overwhelming while riding and I'm not sure I would care for much more than they are pumping out. They get super loud and have been crystal clear so far.

 

How loud if ringer do you got? Ha.


I say get dresser with built in speakers. Maybe would change my mind but don't want right in my ears. I always turn it on, but like to sorta hear around me.

 

I just added these helmet speakers After giving them a try at the last MC show in Chcago. They have rare earth magnets and are very clear at full volume. Bass is also impressive for such a small speaker. They are designed to work/plug into most comm devices. Currently i am just using my phone for music and map directios. They are wired though...but worth a look. I do plan on getting a comm system or better yet a 2019 Street Glide. 😊

 

Cardo just released upgraded audio via a collaboration with JBL. 45mm in-helmet drivers coupled with new firmware for the main unit. The new speaker drivers will work with any helmet system that has a 3.5mm audio jack for the speakers.

I just got a set to upgrade my Packtalk Bold, and they sound pretty damn good so far. I have only had a couple of hours riding with them, so my opinion is not definite yet, however the bass response is definitely better than the original speakers that came with the Packtalk.

 

I have the new Freedom 4+ w/JBL speakers and as of last week the JBL profile isn't available for it.They don't sound bad with the standard profile when they work, lol. I have not had mine work worth a crap. Worked fine for first 2.5hrs and never again. Cardo support really sucks. It took three days to get an email response that didn't address the issues at all. The return phone call didn't happen, either. Going to try again today. The firmware update per Cardo email requires a "Windows computer running Chrome". I couldn't get the update running Firefox on a Mac but it will sync. Others have had that work. Mac owner won't let me install Chrome, lol and I can't get it to work on my Chromebook. I don't think my problems are just a firmware update, however. If I do a factory reset it works for a short time and then goes south. A couple of yrs ago I had a Cardo system and ended up throwing it in the trash long before it should have been toast. I had hoped for better this time. A lot of folks swear
by them. I have been swearing at them, but mostly at myself.

 

I had fun installing the firmware updater myself. It won't work on my Mac with Safari, but did work with Chrome in the end. To be honest the whole "Cardo Community" web based update thing is poor at best. You should be able to do firmware updates directly from the phone app.

However - the sound with the new updated firmware is very good. I am using the "bass boost" profile and like it as I thought bass was lacking previously.

What I like best about the Packtalk is the voice control. It's great just to be able to say "Hey Cardo, music on", "Hey Cardo, next track", "Hey Siri, navigate to home" or whatever....