H2O Audio
H2O Audio TRI 2
$149.99
Released 2024
Best Bone Conduction Headphones · head-to-head
A sourced, side-by-side comparison. Creative Outlier Free Pro is cheaper at $79.99. Every spec and price links to its source.
H2O Audio
$149.99
Released 2024
Creative
$79.99Cheaper
Released 2023
On the specs we track, they're closely matched. The Creative Outlier Free Pro is the cheaper at $79.99.
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✓ marks the stronger figure where "more" — or "less", for price and weight — is unambiguously better.
| Spec | | |
|---|---|---|
| US price | $149.99 | $79.99 |
| Brand | H2O Audio | Creative |
| Released | 2024 | 2023 |
| Transducer type | bone conduction | bone conduction |
| Bluetooth version | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Battery life hours | 8.5 | 10 |
| Charging time hours | 2 | 2 |
| IP rating | IPX8 | IPX8 |
| Weight grams | — | 31.5 |
| Frequency response (Hz) | — | 20-20000 |
| Onboard storage (GB) | 8 | 8 |
| Driver size (mm) | — | — |
| Mic type | waterproof microphone | single microphone (omni-directional) |
| Multi point pairing | — | Yes |
| Noise cancelling mic | — | — |
Sources — H2O Audio TRI 2: h2oaudio.com (verified 2026-06-26). Creative Outlier Free Pro: us.creative.com (verified 2026-07-10).
Where the two actually differ on the specs we track (2 of 12). Matching specs are omitted.
Sourced tester consensus for each — the "what people who used it think" layer, not just specs.
No sourced tester review yet.
Only one whitelisted hands-on review exists: Tom's Guide (July 2023), which tested the Free Pro over a week. It found comfortable, versatile, swim-friendly bone-conduction headphones at a low price, but second-tier, muddy sound and battery that falls short of the rated 10 hours at loud volume. Every finding below is therefore single-source. (1 sourced review, 1 lab-tested.)
Praised: Light and comfortable for long-term wear; Versatile: Bluetooth streaming plus 8GB onboard MP3 player for IPX8 pool swims; Affordable; cheaper than Shokz OpenSwim / Naenka Runner Diver.
Flagged: Bone-conduction sound not best-in-class — muddy bass, boxy mids, grainy treble; Battery falls short of the rated 10 hours at higher volumes; Mediocre call quality from a single mic, plus typical sound leakage.