Review of the Zygo Underwater Audio system

 I saw an ad for Zygo on Facebook and was thinking originally that it was a scam claiming to stream music underwater.  I've tried using Bluetooth technology underwater and it doesn't work.  Not even cell coverage with full bars above water can penetrate 2 feet of water. But I found out that ZYGO is using FM wavelength and that it is able to broadcast just enough to go through a couple feet of water.

The package came yesterday and here's what it comes with:

• 1 Zygo headset
• 1 Zygo Bluetooth receiver/FM Transmitter
• 1 pair of earplugs
• 1 charging cable
• 1 hard shell stow bag which also acts as a dual charger for both headset and transmitter

The claim is that it will go up to 2 feet below the surface if the transmitter is on the pool deck.  In my case, I want the transmitter underwater in a waterproof container along with the tablet I have anchored at the bottom of the 3-foot depth endless pool.  That way I can watch a movie that is downloaded on the tablet, and hear the movie instead of just read subtitles.  

I've tried the swimMP3 before and was greatly unimpressed with the sound quality.  These really aren't much better.  The sound doesn't go in your ears using air obviously.  The little "speakers" rest on your cheekbones and use vibration to allow you to hear.  You'll never get the kind of audio quality that you would get from Bose headphones by any means!  But it's loud enough for you to hear.  And even when cranked up, when you take them off, the vibration doesn't go through the air like a speaker, so you don't need to worry about bugging any friends you might be swimming with.   But the audio quality is a lot like listening to an AM Radio when I was a kid.  Crackly and muffled, but it's better than nothing.  

Until someone can invent biotech that enables connecting audio directly to the brain, I don't think you'll be able to get much better, given the limitations of physics and the human body.

Anyway, my test of playing a movie and listening/watching it while I swim, was a success.  What movie did I watch?  On a Clear Day My favorite swimming movie of all time.  I noticed that the transmitter has a button on the side where you can press it and speak into the transmitter like a walkie talkie and that is actually very clear.  Much clearer than the audio from any music or movie that you might be playing.   So if you are a coach and want to give feedback to a swimmer that is wearing the headset, you can do so while they swim, and hopefully, if you speak clearly they can understand you.

Here's my video review:

Is it worth $300?  Well, that depends on how well it lasts, and time will tell. If I can get 400 days out of this, I will call it a good purchase.  I will track along with my yardage whether I used Zygo or not so I can track the number of workouts used with it. 

So far I'd give it an 8 out of 10.  I hesitate to give it a 10 because bone conduction technology is just so inferior to traditional high-quality headphones, which you can't use underwater.  It's definitely superior to the swimMP3 though.