I don’t know
about you, but I get so bored when I swim laps.
My brain seems to run on overdrive, thinking about the most random
things or continually counting laps. It
really makes a one hour swim hard to take at times. I ran across an ad on Facebook for waterproof mp3
players and headphones last year and loved the idea of listing to music while
swimming. There are studies that show
that listening to music while swimming laps has some serious benefits, but more
on that later.
I recently
ran across an article “5
Reasons Swimmers Should Listen to Music During Practice” by Bri Groves, a
Swimming World College Intern. Bri stated
some of the benefits of swimming with music. (1)
Upbeat
melodies can increase motivation – That doesn’t mean that you should listen to
any music, but shoot for songs that range with a BPM (beats per minute) of 125
to 140. You can find the BPM for a song
by doing a google search. (1)
In several
studies (2),
scientists concluded that as the BPM’s of music increased, the power output of
the athletes’ increased as well. This
could result in a greater distance per stroke in swimmers. (1)
As you swim
in sync with the rhythm or beat of the music, your stroke rate will increase as
you listen to faster music. (1)
In another
study (3),
they concluded that athletes who listen to music while exercising had a lower
rating of perceived exertion (RPE) than athletes who worked out in
silence. Basically, it states that music
is a subconscious motivator and stress reducer. (1)
Athletes who
train with music regularly had 15% more endurance than athletes that don’t
listen to music. More endurance leads to
a more sustained competition performance. (1)
H20 Audio was founded in 2003 in San Diego by
Kristian Rauhala. He has worked for
Nokia and then co-founded a few companies.
In 2003, these new things called MP3 players were just coming around, which
gave people great quality sound from music files you could download. These products weren’t made for use in pools
or oceans though. H20 Audio filled this void and hasn’t stopped
coming up with great products in this field.
They make everything from cases, mp3 players, and headphones that are
all waterproof. I am testing their SURGE Custom Earphones
and STREAM Waterproof
MP3 Player.
The STREAM Waterproof MP3
Player is an 8GB mp3 player that is extremely simple to use and is
relatively compact. It has one port for
the headphones (standard headphone jack) and five buttons. There are back/volume down, play/pause, and a
forward/volume up buttons. There is also
a button to shuffle the playlist and another to turn on Bluetooth (more on that
in a little). The unit is easy to
use. To turn it on, simple hold the play
button for a few seconds. To skip to the
next song, touch the forward button once or to turn up the volume, hold the
forward button down. The same process is
followed for going to a previous song or turning the volume down, by using the
back button. The player also makes
shuffling the playlist easier than other players I have tested.
The STREAM Waterproof MP3
Player is built to withstand submersion of up to 12 feet of water and the rechargeable
battery lasts up to 10 hours. It even allows
you to stream music from your phone as long as you are within about 30 feet of it. This is great if you want to listen to music
or podcasts on your phone. I tried to
place my phone next to the pool’s edge about halfway down and had enough signal
to work the whole length of the 25-yard pool.
The
headphone jack is where you charge the unit, which only takes about an hour to
fully charge. You also connect the USB
to headphone cord here to download your mp3s from your computer. Simply drop them on the device like it is a flash
drive. My favorite feature of all though
is that with every push of a button, it will tell you “Power On” or “Pause”
which makes it easy when you are in the water and are not able to see the
buttons you are pushing (because you have the MP3 player clipped to the back of
your head).
I was also
able to test out another awesome product from H20
Audio. The SURGE Custom Earphones. I have tested other waterproof earphones and
while they worked, the sound quality left a lot to be desired. It often sounded tinny. Don’t get me wrong, even the other headphones
were a huge improvement over no music at all, but I was left wanting more.
I first read
about how H20 Audio was making custom
fitted earphones that were more comfortable and sounded better than the
competition. I knew I had to test them
out. While I only spend about an hour a
week in the pool, my old earphones hurt my ears and like I said earlier didn’t
sound very high-end.
I was asked
to go to an Audiologist to get a mold of my ears. I ended up going to a local guy who was
amazing. He gave me a free hearing test
while I was there. He injected some
material into my ear canal and after a few minutes, it hardened and was
removed. The whole process only took 15
minutes.
The molded
ear impressions get sent into Westone, who manufactures the custom silicone
earplugs that go on the headphones. The
fitting process costs about $50 and is not included in the cost of the custom
earphones.
After about
2 week, I had my new earphones. I wanted
to get out and test them right away, but unfortunately the heater in my public
pool wend down and I had to wait a few weeks (because they closed the pool). When I was able to test them for the first
time, I was completely blown away by a few things.
The fit and
feel of the SURGE
Custom Earphones was amazing. There
was no discomfort and they felt like they were made specifically for my
ears. Oh wait… they were!
The sound
was leaps and bounds better than the other waterproof earphones that I have
tested. When I talked to Kristian, he
emphasized how proud he was of the sound quality and how he designed the
earphones. The difficult part of waterproof
headphones is that the speaker itself has to be protected and that usually
makes the sound worse, but I would put these headphones up against any of my
non-waterproof headphones for a sound test.
They are that good!
H2O Audio’s Social Media Links:
The fact
that I can not only listen to music when I swim, but the sound is great and the
earphones are comfortable. That is
priceless. With that being said, the STREAM Waterproof MP3
Player runs for $79.99 and the SURGE Custom Earphones
cost $159.99 (not including the ear impressions) at the H20 Audio website. The reality is that if you spend a lot of
time in the pool or ocean, this would be a great investment of your money. I would not hesitate to buy or recommend these.
References:
Note:
I received this product in exchange for a review. The review is my
personal opinion of the product and I was not required to give a particular
opinion of it. I am not a doctor, so
please use all of the products that I review at your own risk.
good blog Waterproof Mp3 Player
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