Suunto Wing bone conduction headphones

Finnish sportswatch manufacturer Suunto’s claim to have released the first sport headphones developed “by athletes for athletes” is debatable, but the Suunto Wing is undeniably among the best headphones for cycling.

The Wing packs in a range of features designed to make riding your bike while listening to music as safe and enjoyable as possible, while the build quality and aesthetic flourishes are from the top drawer.  

These are bone rather than air-conduction headphones – a market dominated by the Shokz brand previously known as AfterShokz. That means your favourite songs are transmitted via vibrations through your cheek and jaw bones to your inner ear.

Suunto says because the Wing’s design doesn’t cover your eardrum, you’ll be able to detect the first crack of an avalanche – or the sound of an approaching car, if that’s more useful to you. 

The design is also said to create no pressure on the ear canal, making these headphones more comfortable to wear than in-ear buds – especially welcome on big days in the saddle.

Tron-esque LED lights, an IP67 waterproof rating, dedicated Outside mode, 10-hour battery life and balanced sound that betters some in-ear cycling headphones, earn the Suunto Wing a place at the summit of our list of the best cycling headphones. 

The £169 / $199 price is certainly high, although it’s equivalent to the cost of about six new albums on vinyl – and what price your enhanced road safety while you rock out?

Suunto Wing specifications

Built from a mix of titanium and silicone, the Suunto Wing weighs 33g, with a smooth-feeling black band slipping round the back of your neck and connecting to two ‘Lava Red’ sound units. It’s a striking aesthetic.

The Wing has an IP67 rating, which means it can withstand being submerged in one metre of water for 30 minutes, while it’s designed to operate in temperatures as low as -20ºC – ideal credentials for commuting in British winter.

There are sleek-looking customisable red LED lights on the side of the sound module. These are designed to improve your visibility on the road – cycling with headphones on remains a hotly debated subject. 

You can enable the lights and cycle through their modes using the buttons on the Wing or via the Suunto app. However, Suunto says it will accelerate battery drain by an unspecified amount.

Total battery life is a claimed 10 hours – plenty of time for two spins through Acid Mothers Temple’s deep cut The Penultimate Galactic Bordello Also The World You Made, leaving nearly two hours to listen to some white noise and cleanse your aural palate.

The battery charges fully in one hour and the modernistic ‘portable charging station’ can be used as a power bank to double listening time to 20 hours. 

This sleek-looking device is larger than in-ear headphone cases and the only way of charging the Wing, so you’ll need to take it with you if you’re going to be away from home for longer than 10 hours.

The general Suunto app includes a full user manual and the ability to switch the Wing to Outside mode, which works by raising the maximum volume. It’s otherwise fairly limited and doesn’t offer the EQ customisation found in rival headphones.

How I tested

Much of my 20 years’ journalism experience has been while working on guitar, vinyl and tech magazines. In that time, I’ve reviewed a wide musical spectrum of amplifiers, effects pedals, turntables and headphones.

I’ve recently been testing a range of bone- and air-conduction headphones designed for cycling and running to find out which are best suited to the rigours of an active lifestyle.

To assess the performance of the Suunto Wing, I used it on my daily commute, alongside a couple of gravel rides, around 50 miles of running and some gym sessions while training for the Prague Half Marathon.

This enabled me to get a thorough picture of the fit, usability, comfort and hi-fi performance.

Suunto Wing performance

If you haven’t used bone-conduction headphones before, the sensation of vibrations through your tragus takes some getting used to – especially if you’re ticklish.

Fit is simple and far more reliable than the many in-ear buds that have tumbled from my gaping lugs while running or cycling. Simply slide the band round the back of your neck and slip the two smooth silicone-covered sound units over your ears so they rest on your cheekbones. 

The Wing headphones stayed in position, delivering consistent sound, throughout my punishing exercise regime, never needing manual adjustment. I experienced no rubbing or irritation from the band, which is smooth, light and premium-feeling. 

I’d advise against expressing feelings of surprise though – a raise of your eyebrows will lift the sound units momentarily away from your ears, interrupting your immersion in acoustic ecstasy.  

Rather than tap controls, the Wing's functions are operated by mini buttons. The one on the left speaker for play/pause is easy enough to locate, but the volume controls on the band, also used to cycle through the light modes, are smaller still.

Executing the button presses when on the bike can feel about as easy as making an origami model of the International Space Station while wearing oven gloves. 

You can also activate these controls and answer calls by nodding or shaking your head. I found the double shake of the head required to skip tracks surprisingly simple to pull off, although I also accidentally skipped a track a couple of times with an overly enthusiastic gesture.

Suunto Wing sound quality

Sound is well-rounded and substantially better than I’ve experienced from other bone-conduction headphones, which inevitably trail air-conduction buds in the audio stakes.

Across a range of genres, the Wing never felt tinny or fatiguing and there’s ample bass presence without a hint of flatulent distortion.

The bone-conduction design means very little spillover too – a treat for my desk buddy Jack Luke – although the industrious clatter of his keyboard remained loud and clear in my peripheral hearing. If you want noise-cancelling headphones, don’t opt for bone conduction.

On the bike, the Wing continued to deliver an enjoyably full sound. It successfully resisted the challenging effects of wind noise as I rumbled along the towpath to work, while maintaining my awareness of approaching hazards. 

This balancing act is crucial in headphones for cycling, and the Suunto Wing achieves it as well as anything I’ve tested. 

Riding home through rush-hour traffic in a stiff headwind, I was able to enjoy the nuances of Kevin Morby’s pacific alt-country Sundowner album. Morby’s hushed Dylan-esque vocal tones, gentle guitar arpeggios and skronking sax solos held their own harmoniously amid the urban clamour.

The only flaw I’ve picked up is a fringe of crackly clipping around vocals and other volume peaks. It’s a minor issue and one most cyclists will happily live with in exchange for unfettered traffic awareness.

Suunto Wing bottom line

I’m yet to test a set of bone conduction or in-ear headphones that meet the needs of cyclists more wholly than the Suunto Wing.   

Sound quality is the best I’ve experienced from bone-conduction headphones, the build quality is first-rate, battery life is more than adequate and the LED lights are a stylish premium detail designed with road safety in mind. 

If immaculate audiophile sound quality is your primary criteria, consider the excellent Sony LinkBuds – or if you want to leave your ears alert to the world around you while enoying the advantages of air-conduction buds, give the Shokz OpenFits a try. 

However, if you’re looking for the optimum balance of safety on your bike while cycling through sonic utopia, look no further than the Suunto Wing – it’s practically unbeatable.