The number of headphones that are on the market can be hard to keep up with. There are headphones for every type of activity out there, it seems. You’ll find options at every price point and with specific features to try and fit your needs. Bone conduction headphones are just one of the types out there and they offer a ton of flexibility in how you utilize them. Philips GO A7607 sport headphones are a new entry into the bone conduction headphones landscape this year.

The idea of the open ear design allows you to hear ambient sound, and you’ll get music playing from the headphones into your ears through your jawbone. It’s a unique design that many people may not be used to. But for those who enjoy working out outdoors, they are meant to provide a safer environment while allowing the user to listen to music.

As someone who enjoys wearing headphones while running, I’m very interested in open-ear design headphones. I’ve had a chance to use the Philips GO A7607 sport headphones to see how they hold. Here’s what I found.

Philips GO A7607 sport headphones

The open ear design of these makes outdoor workouts easier and safer.

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Pros

Open ear design
Solid battery life
LED lights in neckband
Bluetooth Multipoint

Cons

Bulky and large
Sound quality lacking

Available at Amazon

$196.69

Philips GO A7607 unboxing

Unboxing the Philips GO A7607 sport headphones Image source: Chris Hachey for BGR

As soon as you open the box, you notice the headphones are kept in a drawstring bag, and you can store all of your pieces in that drawstring bag. The headphones come with a USB-C charging cable, and the other end magnetically attaches to the edge of the headphones. It sits next to it, so you have to be sure that it is precisely on while you’re charging, or it may not charge. The headphones light up while they are charging, so you’ll notice when the light goes on.

You’ll also receive ear plugs, which you can use while you’re using the headphones, as your ears aren’t covered up, thanks to the design. When you put the headphones on, you’ll feel the weight of them near your temples. If you have tried other bone conduction headphones before, you may like the weight of these, or you may prefer them to be lighter.

Because of the way bone conduction headphones are designed, they aren’t made to be adjustable. So these come in one size, and they were a bit large for my head. But they are easy to set up, as they have Bluetooth Multipoint technology, meaning you can pair them with multiple devices at the same time. It’s easy to power these up and make them searchable for devices. After that initial pairing, it will pair with your devices as soon as you power up the headphones in the future.

Controls

There are multiple controls that work with the Philips GO A7607 sport headphones. The multi-function button on the side of the left end allows you to play or pause music, pick up a phone call, and more. There are volume buttons on the neckband as well, so you can control how loud your headphones are. This is important to know because, with the open-ear design, you’ll want to be able to turn up the volume when you need to.

It should be noted that these are button controls, not just touch. So you will have to push the button in order to make it respond. But this is a better design than some earbuds that have you pressing hard into your ears.

Philips GO A7607 features

Wearing the Philips GO A7607 headphones Image source: Chris Hachey for BGR

For starters, the battery life of these headphones is strong. Philips touts nine hours, and I got right around that without having to recharge them. Across the neckband, there is a running light that you can control how bright it shines. You can control how bright and how it displays with the multi-function. The Philips GO app also lets you control that. But this will glow or flash red to alert drivers or people around you that you are there, which is a nice safety feature.

When you make a phone call or answer one, there are bone-conducting mics and AI mics that help drown out background noise, so you can hear and speak clearly. For sports headphones, the call quality is strong. What is lacking is the sound quality when listening to music. It comes out a bit low and tinny and needs some fine-tuning. Luckily, you can adjust it with the Philips GO app. But the sound quality isn’t what any kind of audiophile would rave about. Then again, it’s not the most important feature when you’re using sport headphones.

I wore these on a run, and while the design makes you feel safe, they felt a bit loose because of the size, and the headphones felt a bit heavy near my temples. I was surprised by this because my hat size isn’t small, so I never thought I had a small head. These do have an IP66 dustproof and water-resistant rate, so they deal with sweat well.

Conclusions

These may be right for certain people, but the fit and weight weren’t right for me. There are features that are impressive, like the multiple mics for calls and the LED light on the neckband. The price point is high for these, so you better make sure they are what you want.

The competition

Shokz tends to be the most well-known company producing bone conduction headphones. The OpenRun Pro headphones offer a lot of similar features with a more lightweight fit.