Motorcycle Audio
What’s the best path to good in-helmet audio?
Like many of you, I’ve been riding for years, sport touring being my favorite way to fly. As I get older, wind noise, traffic racket and even the blare of 1300 CC’s gets old. What to do? Easy; benefit from the years of trial and error I’ve experienced to muffle the outside world with my favorite tunes, a podcast or even GPS prompts.
Here I am in full gear, stopping for some petrol, obviously. There’s nothing like tooling through the curves on the way to the coast, classic rock bopping in my head the whole way. Metallica anyone?
This trip was some years ago, taking HWY 198 west past Lemoore California, Coalinga, and on to HWY 41. Gorgeous in the green of spring, those roads can compete with any among the many within the longest state in the union. As a reward for all my handlebar work, I was welcomed onto HWY 101 and HWY 1, where lives Big Sur, Pismo and Morrow Bay, some of the best destinations.
I kid you not, with the audio setup I have, I might as well have been in a BMW 6 series. Of course, I have to keep a keen eye out for lights, since I can’t hear the sirens, but so what. If I was sailing at 70 on the freeway with no music, the blast of wind would muffle any siren.
The Setup
As one can observe, I have a ram mount for my phone mounted safely behind my windscreen. With a splitter for power and music, I’ve got constant charging and tunes, having run an audio cable under the faring, along the frame, with the female connect point just behind my left leg.
“Bro! You mean you don’t use Bluetooth? That’s Neanderthal, man!”
Boy have I tried all kinds of Bluetooth headphones, from the around the neck battery kind to the dangling batteries behind the ear brands, to the smaller one’s, that are never low profile enough to allow pulling on the helmet without contorting them.
All Bluetooth earbuds have the same issues. They’re bulky, the batteries degrade over time and they never reach the level of volume needed to rip, dip, and rock out through the corners.
Solution? Klipsch inside-the-ear buds are my time-tested favorite, with excellent bass, overall sound and comfort. With the many different earpieces they come with, one can fit the phones deep into the ear with such perfection, it’s like the music is being piped in between the brain lobes!
Invariably, manufacturers of Bluetooth headphones want to please all customers, usually opting for lengthening battery life by limiting maximum volume. This is especially noticeable in the lack of good bass, when the earbuds are lithium powered.
As for the earbuds in the picture, one must be careful not to damage the drums, since they get loud enough to bring flashbacks of eighties hair band concerts.
Powered by the iPhone’s battery connected to the bike batt, one can ride all day with no interruption, almost like listening to a soundtrack while watching the scenery go by in one’s own movie.
But What About a Full Audio, Video Communication System?
Last year I forked out the lettuce for a Sena 10C-Pro 1080p camera, with full rider to rider commo, radio, Bluetooth…the works. It’s a great addition to my ride, but mainly for the hand’s free phone answering and calling, rapping with another rider, and video ability it brings.
As for music audio, the speakers are great, but no exterior speakers can muffle wind noise like earbuds can, nor do they deliver bass to a good degree. Why? Same reason as Bluetooth headphones. Sena want’s the battery to last. As you might expect, I still wear my buds for sound, turning up the volume on the Sena so as to hear a phone call.
As to the battery life of such systems, they’re usually designed for communication, not for hours of music. Even the camera runs down the battery too quick, being good for about 30 minutes of constant high definition filming before the low battery warning begins to squawk.
To defeat the problem, I ran a wire from the Sena’s charging port to one of those external lithium battery chargers for a phone one can get on Amazon for about a twenty spot. Lodged in a rear pocket of my jacket, I can film for hours. Conclusion, Sena type systems are great, but not for music.
This was taken by the Sena using the picture function enabled when the camera is on, be it during filming or not. Just press the button for two seconds and the shutter will snap on a delay, allowing the rider to move fingers out of the shot. Easy as pie.
Nice Advice to for You to Splice
I hope this article helps you determine the best audio choice for your pony. Until next time, give a read to some of the other articles I’ve written, I you like. I try to be informative, concise and up to date with the latest tech.
Like adding yet another loop and wire to one’s overly-stacked positive lead on the battery terminal, knowledge helps tune one’s two-wheeled wonders with style.
Peace in. That is all.
