The fit is uncomfortably tight even on small heads, so the design wont work on people with low ponytails, thick and curly hair, or larger hat sizes. Additionally, if you lose a Beoplay E8 Sport earbud, the stakes are higher, as a replacement will set you back $125 per earbud. Apple's AirPods Pro has active noise-cancellation along with adaptive EQ that automatically tunes music to your ears and spatial audio with dynamic head tracking that places sound all around you. We love the triangle-shaped cutout on the stabilizing wings, which ensures that you put the wing on the earbuds correctly. We liked the hear-through capabilities, but we found that the Bionic Hearing speech-optimized setting sounded too bizarre for actual use in a conversation.
Unlike other Beats headphones, the Studio Buds are compatible with Android one-touch pairing in addition to pairing to Apple mobile devices with ease, and they can support the assistants for both mobile operating systemsbut this also means there is no always listening Siri. But the IPX4 water resistance may not be high enough for the most punishing activities. Plus, they sound great for both music and phone calls. Vocals sound quite clear, so people who listen exclusively to podcasts or verbal coaching might find this set useful. Overall the flaws arent massive, and wed likely include the Beoplay E8 Sport in the Other good workout headphones section if not for the $400 price tag. The app has EQ that can balance out the lows if you spend the time to make adjustments. Finding the right headphones to use during a workout can be tricky. The EP-T32s controls allow for play/pause, track forward/reverse, call answer/end, and phone assistant activation, but not volume adjustment. The noise cancellation, though mildly improved after the firmware update, is still less than wed hoped for the price. You can find better options even for this low price. We tested both the less-expensive Flip earbuds and the more-customizable Sport earbuds and were equally happy with the two. However, if youre curious about a specific model, reach out to our team via Twitter (@wirecutter) or email (notes@wirecutter.com), and well be happy to help. Anker Soundcore Spirit Dot 2: Overall, these are okay earbuds. The beauty of these wireless headphones is that they have long-lasting batteries, too. If you tend to overheat during workouts, this might be a welcome sensation, perhaps if used in combination with other temperature control measures. This is worth remembering if you want to preserve battery life. When Jabra first released the Elite Active 75t, it didnt offer active noise cancellation. But for $120, we want a more seamless experience. Anker Soundcore Spirit: If you want durable headphones for walking around, these are fine. Unfortunately, the removable earpads are particularly difficult to put back on. The EP-T32 pieces feature stabilizing hooks that run over the ears to hold the earbuds in place. Workout headphones are for people who want to listen to music or podcasts while exercising and need headphones that prioritize durability and comfort. The microphones sound like youre under a blanket during calls. The interface is as easy to use as on a USB thumb drive: Connect the player, drag and drop songs in the order you want them played, eject, and disconnect. The lack of volume controls seems to be a trend among many of the less-expensive true wireless earbuds available, and that omission is a bummer because it forces you to keep your music device nearby if you want to adjust the loudness between tracks. When they work properly, the Vista 2 earbuds are wonderful. These headphones should be easy to use and have all the buttons you need, so you can put away your phone during workouts. The seven and a half hours of battery life per charge is long enough to get you through several workouts or a good part of your day, and the charging case gives you just over two more full charges, adding 20.5 hours of use. The open mesh fabric lid on the case seems to be designed to allow airflow, but it wont protect your earbuds from dust. However, those with very small ears and people who are sensitive to tactile response in the ear area may find the wings create a too full feeling that can be fatiguing during long workout sessions. We also discovered that you must power the T5 II Sport earbuds down manually: After we placed both pairs earbuds into their respective cases and sealed the lid, both pairs remained connected to our phone. The sound quality is great with a little EQ adjustment, and the microphones are clear for phone calls, especially if you have a deeper-pitched voice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. We repeat this process every 10 minutes for an hour, and then we listen to each pair for any negative effects. If you tend to lose your headphones at the gym, or if you have a teen in your life who goes through a pair of earbuds every few months, get the Koss FitClips KSC32i. Its essentially identical to the older Aeropex, but adds quick-charge capabilities. The Fit Pro pair sounds great, with slightly boosted bass. So, no matter what you're looking for, there are options for everyone on this list. This is especially nice if you like to keep your phone tucked away during your workouts. Or it might just feel weird, especially since there isnt a ton of airflow in the ear cupsso while the pads feel cold, your inner ears still feel hot. The six hours of listening time (with ANC on) is average, and the quick-charge feature will get you an hour of playback after five minutes in the charging casebut the case itself lacks the option for wireless charging and isnt as small as the Jabra case. When you do remove an earbud, the EP-T32s sensors will pause your music. The stabilizer wings and tips are all one piece, so if your ear-canal size doesnt correlate to your outer-ear size, you may be stuck with a wing thats too small or too large. The Jabra earbuds give you the ability to adjust the sound with equalization controls, whereas with this Beats pair, what you hear out of the box is what you get. Although all of our picks in this guide passed our stress tests and are sturdy and labeled as sweat resistant, theyre still electronics. Jabra Elite 4 Active: We love the fit, high water/dust resistance, and controls, but the device connectivity is fussy, the microphone sounds muffled on calls, and the active noise cancellation is middling. JBL Under Armor True Wireless Streak: The Streak lands in the middle of the pack. Though the earbuds themselves are diminutive, the metal-and-glass construction means they are a smidge heavier than the plastic earbuds you may be accustomed to. The ear tips fit us securely and comfortably, and the sound was decent for the price. Bluetooth models make the best workout headphones because they allow you to keep your phone tucked away and your hands free, and they eliminate the possibility of a cable snagging on equipment. Additionally, the mic quality could be iffy. Were curious to see how this works in practice. However, unlike those of the Jabra, the controls are limited on Android phones; volume controls are an option only for Apple devices. The tap controls are limited; you handle track-reverse and volume on your music device. Though the bass was boosted, it wasnt overly muddy as on much of the competition. This package gives you waterproof headphones and an MP3 player for an affordable price. Subscribe now for unlimited access. If you use a non-Apple platform, you can still activate your digital assistantyoull just need to set it as a control preset in the Beats app.
The vented design allows in external noise, and the noise cancellation cant reduce the sound of weights clanking or the lyrics of the pop music piped onto the gym floor. Game Nights Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley direct. When we initially tested these, we had some concerns with their spotty connectivity and ANC effectiveness. I could get a few walls or a few hundred feet away from my phone without my music skipping. The first pair had one earbud that wouldnt take a charge right out of the box, and the second pair had a microphone short out, which led to a loud hissing in one ear during phone calls and while using the hear-through feature. The sonic profile of the Studio Buds is the characteristic hyped Beats sound (with extra emphasis in the highs and lows that can make consonants and basslines pop a touch more forcefully in the mix), which many people find exciting, especially for hip-hop and electronic pop. The battery life of 11 hours of listening time (up to seven hours with ANC turned on) is impressive for true wireless earbuds. However, there are some minor downsides. Thoughtfully designed, the Swimbuds earbuds have a short cable that you can thread through goggles straps to reduce drag so they stay in place through every kind of flip turn. In contrast to many other true wireless earbuds, the Elite Active 75t earbuds have all of the same controls that traditional Bluetooth earbuds have: play/pause, volume, track forward/back, and voice-assistant activation. People with larger ear canalsas well as those who find it a struggle to get a good seal with most earbudsare likely to favor the Sport design, which comes with a wide variety of tips and shields to prevent water from entering your ear canal (and ruining the sound). An additional Apple bonus: If a friend has a pair of Beats or AirPods, both of you can listen to one iOS device wirelessly using Apples audio-sharing feature, which is especially nifty if you and a friend are following a workout video together. Theyre not just great workout headphonestheyre great work/play crossover headphones. In our tests, the sound quality was somewhat over-boosted in the bass and highs, which means cymbal and snare hits could become fatiguing for sensitive listeners and the bass could seem louder than usual. Additionally, the controls are fiddly and can be tricky to activate while youre on the move. But the low price also brings some drawbacks. However, these earbuds arent as water resistant as the Aukey EP-T32 set, nor are they as comfortable and feature-packed as the Beats Fit Pro. The earbuds themselves are IPX4 water-resistant, and the case is IPX2-rated. If youve seen how Air Tags function, youll be familiar with the process, which is a combination of GPS, Bluetooth proximity, and speaker chirp.
Google says the Volume EQ feature adjusts the tuning as you turn the volume up or down so that the sound stays balanced. The ANC isnt as powerful as on some of our noise-cancelling earbud picks, but it is effective enough to produce a noticeable reduction in the lower-frequency noises around you. However, these earbuds have more-limited controls and no dust resistance, and the microphones were merely passable in our teststhey made our voices sound distant and clipped, and they were particularly susceptible to wind noise caused by a brisk walk. They also come in a variety of different colors and styles. Switching from one device to another is a process similar to that of other Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, and Android users may miss the dual-device pairing capabilities that the Jabra provides. The Elite 7 Active earbuds get a lot rightnotably, they have a more-secure fit and let you use each earbud individually. The Syryn MP3 player is lightweight and unobtrusive, with simple controls that, once you learn them, are easy to use without your needing to look at them. And the microphones sound distant and muffled over phone calls. The IP67 rating is a great insurance policy against sweat and dirt. In the past, Beats headphones were known for their bass-heavy sound quality, which ranged from a bit much to completely overwhelming. However, Beats has comparatively refined the sound profile on the Fit Pro, and this pair sounded pretty darn great in our tests. The earbuds have an IPX8 rating, so you can literally drop them in a bucket of water and theyll survive. In our tests, the sound options were at best super boomy with sibilant highs. Apple users likely wont see this as a dealbreaker, since the Hey Siri function can easily swap listening modes, as can the control panel on mobile devices. But Android users who prefer full controls on their earbuds will want to stick to the Jabra instead. The Fit Pro offers easy pairing and connection swapping to iCloud-connected Apple devices, as well as noise cancellation and touch-free Hey Siri functionality. Tap, and youre good to go. The noise cancellation on this pair is very effective, but only in a specific frequency range. The charging case features a design we havent seen before: Its water resistant on the outside with a vented inner lid that holds moisture-absorbing beads. These completely wireless earbuds are small and comfortable, they connect easily and quickly, and they sound great right out of the box. What we can for certain say is the sound quality is very good for the price, and the buttons are easy to use. I managed to wear sunglasses with them comfortably despite their over-ear hook design (which is usually a concern for anyone who runs outside). Beats Powerbeats Pro: We like this pair a lot, and weve even featured this set as our runner-up pick in our best wireless Bluetooth earbuds guide. After a spring 2022 firmware update, we re-tested them to see if the changes resulted in better performance. We spray every set of headphones with our sweat proxy and mash all of the buttons; after repeating this process four times, we check the performance. But with normal use, Aukey backs the EP-T32 for two full years against manufacturing defects. But we did appreciate the inclusion of 22 pairs of ear tips. In our tests, the sound had a hissing quality that made cymbals sound tinny and added a tape-hiss noise to everything, and the bass was a bit blobby, too. Its light and comfy and has easy-to-use controls, but it wont block gym noises and sending sound waves through your skull to your inner ear isnt the best way to get quality sound. Unlike lots of earbuds, which often have buttons that click loudly or force you to smash the earbuds into your ear canal to activate a control, the Elite Active 75t set has buttons that are quiet and effortless. We had no problem with the sets Bluetooth 5.0 wireless signal at the gym, outside, or indoors. We do burpees, jumping jacks, sit-ups, and jump squats. We regularly look for models that have the most important features and attributes of good workout headphones: Over the years, weve called in every model that meets these criteria (and either has positive reviews or is too new to have any feedback) for our expert panel to evaluate. The charge case is small and lightweight, and should fit easily into the key pocket of exercise shorts.
For gym use, we preferred headphones that block out external noise. Hey Siri can also be used to control volume or toggle between noise cancellation and the transparency mode, which is a good thing since you have to choose between the two as the assigned function for a long button hold. Our test panel found the flexible, stabilizing wings to be comfortable and liked the extra security they provided, but anyone who is sensitive to pressure in the ear might dislike the feeling of the wings. Log information: anonymized data that tracks usage, such as where the user taps within the app and how long the headphones are connected (currently shared with. Zygo: This is a swim headphone system that uses radio frequencies rather than Bluetooth to enable you to hear audio underwater. The JLab Flex Sport was discontinued, so we removed it as a pick. The true wireless Elite Active 75t earbuds dont have a cord between them that can tangle, make noise, or bang against your neck annoyingly when you run or jump. (You shouldnt put your earbuds away when theyre wet from sweat.) Though the IPX4 water and dust resistance rating isnt as high as that of the Jabra Elite Active 75t, it should be sufficient for the average run or indoor workout. However, we didnt care for the hear-through mode, which sounded distractingly unnatural and emphasized high frequencies as though we were holding tin cans around our ears. However, anyone who has larger ears or ears that stick out may find that these simply dont fit. That means their durability has limitations, and long-term water or sweat exposure can still damage them. Folks with the smallest and largest ear sizes who struggle to keep true wireless earbuds in place may benefit from the Reflect Mini NCs stabilizing wings. Although the flaws arent as pertinent for workout headphones, we want excellence in a pair that costs $180. But the small button size might prove tricky for folks with very large fingers or dexterity issues. Apple AirPods: These earbuds arent rated as sweat resistantand because Apples warranty doesnt apply to water or sweat damage, if the AirPods short out, youre out of luck. We consider wind noise, cable noise (if theyre wired), and the ability to hear external sounds. Theyre simply the best waterproof headphones weve found for working out in the water. In our testing, I was actually able to get a little longer listening time per charge, with only brief phone calls and a moderate volume level. Beats Powerbeats3: These headphones have a tricky fit that drastically affects the sound quality and prompts lots of reports of shorting out. Of course, not every earbud will fit every person, but the pieces in this set are 20% smaller than those of the Elite Active 65t, this pairs predecessor, so even folks with smaller ear canals who had fit challenges with the previous version should find the updated 75t earbuds to be comfortable and secure. Jaybird released the updated Vista 2, which didnt fare as well in our testing. However, the microphone on this FitClips pair isnt fantastic for phone conversations.
We discuss those issues in the long-term test notes for the Jabra Elite 75t in our guide to the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds.
Unlike other Beats headphones, the Studio Buds are compatible with Android one-touch pairing in addition to pairing to Apple mobile devices with ease, and they can support the assistants for both mobile operating systemsbut this also means there is no always listening Siri. But the IPX4 water resistance may not be high enough for the most punishing activities. Plus, they sound great for both music and phone calls. Vocals sound quite clear, so people who listen exclusively to podcasts or verbal coaching might find this set useful. Overall the flaws arent massive, and wed likely include the Beoplay E8 Sport in the Other good workout headphones section if not for the $400 price tag. The app has EQ that can balance out the lows if you spend the time to make adjustments. Finding the right headphones to use during a workout can be tricky. The EP-T32s controls allow for play/pause, track forward/reverse, call answer/end, and phone assistant activation, but not volume adjustment. The noise cancellation, though mildly improved after the firmware update, is still less than wed hoped for the price. You can find better options even for this low price. We tested both the less-expensive Flip earbuds and the more-customizable Sport earbuds and were equally happy with the two. However, if youre curious about a specific model, reach out to our team via Twitter (@wirecutter) or email (notes@wirecutter.com), and well be happy to help. Anker Soundcore Spirit Dot 2: Overall, these are okay earbuds. The beauty of these wireless headphones is that they have long-lasting batteries, too. If you tend to overheat during workouts, this might be a welcome sensation, perhaps if used in combination with other temperature control measures. This is worth remembering if you want to preserve battery life. When Jabra first released the Elite Active 75t, it didnt offer active noise cancellation. But for $120, we want a more seamless experience. Anker Soundcore Spirit: If you want durable headphones for walking around, these are fine. Unfortunately, the removable earpads are particularly difficult to put back on. The EP-T32 pieces feature stabilizing hooks that run over the ears to hold the earbuds in place. Workout headphones are for people who want to listen to music or podcasts while exercising and need headphones that prioritize durability and comfort. The microphones sound like youre under a blanket during calls. The interface is as easy to use as on a USB thumb drive: Connect the player, drag and drop songs in the order you want them played, eject, and disconnect. The lack of volume controls seems to be a trend among many of the less-expensive true wireless earbuds available, and that omission is a bummer because it forces you to keep your music device nearby if you want to adjust the loudness between tracks. When they work properly, the Vista 2 earbuds are wonderful. These headphones should be easy to use and have all the buttons you need, so you can put away your phone during workouts. The seven and a half hours of battery life per charge is long enough to get you through several workouts or a good part of your day, and the charging case gives you just over two more full charges, adding 20.5 hours of use. The open mesh fabric lid on the case seems to be designed to allow airflow, but it wont protect your earbuds from dust. However, those with very small ears and people who are sensitive to tactile response in the ear area may find the wings create a too full feeling that can be fatiguing during long workout sessions. We also discovered that you must power the T5 II Sport earbuds down manually: After we placed both pairs earbuds into their respective cases and sealed the lid, both pairs remained connected to our phone. The sound quality is great with a little EQ adjustment, and the microphones are clear for phone calls, especially if you have a deeper-pitched voice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. We repeat this process every 10 minutes for an hour, and then we listen to each pair for any negative effects. If you tend to lose your headphones at the gym, or if you have a teen in your life who goes through a pair of earbuds every few months, get the Koss FitClips KSC32i. Its essentially identical to the older Aeropex, but adds quick-charge capabilities. The Fit Pro pair sounds great, with slightly boosted bass. So, no matter what you're looking for, there are options for everyone on this list. This is especially nice if you like to keep your phone tucked away during your workouts. Or it might just feel weird, especially since there isnt a ton of airflow in the ear cupsso while the pads feel cold, your inner ears still feel hot. The six hours of listening time (with ANC on) is average, and the quick-charge feature will get you an hour of playback after five minutes in the charging casebut the case itself lacks the option for wireless charging and isnt as small as the Jabra case. When you do remove an earbud, the EP-T32s sensors will pause your music. The stabilizer wings and tips are all one piece, so if your ear-canal size doesnt correlate to your outer-ear size, you may be stuck with a wing thats too small or too large. The Jabra earbuds give you the ability to adjust the sound with equalization controls, whereas with this Beats pair, what you hear out of the box is what you get. Although all of our picks in this guide passed our stress tests and are sturdy and labeled as sweat resistant, theyre still electronics. Jabra Elite 4 Active: We love the fit, high water/dust resistance, and controls, but the device connectivity is fussy, the microphone sounds muffled on calls, and the active noise cancellation is middling. JBL Under Armor True Wireless Streak: The Streak lands in the middle of the pack. Though the earbuds themselves are diminutive, the metal-and-glass construction means they are a smidge heavier than the plastic earbuds you may be accustomed to. The ear tips fit us securely and comfortably, and the sound was decent for the price. Bluetooth models make the best workout headphones because they allow you to keep your phone tucked away and your hands free, and they eliminate the possibility of a cable snagging on equipment. Additionally, the mic quality could be iffy. Were curious to see how this works in practice. However, unlike those of the Jabra, the controls are limited on Android phones; volume controls are an option only for Apple devices. The tap controls are limited; you handle track-reverse and volume on your music device. Though the bass was boosted, it wasnt overly muddy as on much of the competition. This package gives you waterproof headphones and an MP3 player for an affordable price. Subscribe now for unlimited access. If you use a non-Apple platform, you can still activate your digital assistantyoull just need to set it as a control preset in the Beats app.
The vented design allows in external noise, and the noise cancellation cant reduce the sound of weights clanking or the lyrics of the pop music piped onto the gym floor. Game Nights Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley direct. When we initially tested these, we had some concerns with their spotty connectivity and ANC effectiveness. I could get a few walls or a few hundred feet away from my phone without my music skipping. The first pair had one earbud that wouldnt take a charge right out of the box, and the second pair had a microphone short out, which led to a loud hissing in one ear during phone calls and while using the hear-through feature. The sonic profile of the Studio Buds is the characteristic hyped Beats sound (with extra emphasis in the highs and lows that can make consonants and basslines pop a touch more forcefully in the mix), which many people find exciting, especially for hip-hop and electronic pop. The battery life of 11 hours of listening time (up to seven hours with ANC turned on) is impressive for true wireless earbuds. However, there are some minor downsides. Thoughtfully designed, the Swimbuds earbuds have a short cable that you can thread through goggles straps to reduce drag so they stay in place through every kind of flip turn. In contrast to many other true wireless earbuds, the Elite Active 75t earbuds have all of the same controls that traditional Bluetooth earbuds have: play/pause, volume, track forward/back, and voice-assistant activation. People with larger ear canalsas well as those who find it a struggle to get a good seal with most earbudsare likely to favor the Sport design, which comes with a wide variety of tips and shields to prevent water from entering your ear canal (and ruining the sound). An additional Apple bonus: If a friend has a pair of Beats or AirPods, both of you can listen to one iOS device wirelessly using Apples audio-sharing feature, which is especially nifty if you and a friend are following a workout video together. Theyre not just great workout headphonestheyre great work/play crossover headphones. In our tests, the sound quality was somewhat over-boosted in the bass and highs, which means cymbal and snare hits could become fatiguing for sensitive listeners and the bass could seem louder than usual. Additionally, the controls are fiddly and can be tricky to activate while youre on the move. But the low price also brings some drawbacks. However, these earbuds arent as water resistant as the Aukey EP-T32 set, nor are they as comfortable and feature-packed as the Beats Fit Pro. The earbuds themselves are IPX4 water-resistant, and the case is IPX2-rated. If youve seen how Air Tags function, youll be familiar with the process, which is a combination of GPS, Bluetooth proximity, and speaker chirp. Google says the Volume EQ feature adjusts the tuning as you turn the volume up or down so that the sound stays balanced. The ANC isnt as powerful as on some of our noise-cancelling earbud picks, but it is effective enough to produce a noticeable reduction in the lower-frequency noises around you. However, these earbuds have more-limited controls and no dust resistance, and the microphones were merely passable in our teststhey made our voices sound distant and clipped, and they were particularly susceptible to wind noise caused by a brisk walk. They also come in a variety of different colors and styles. Switching from one device to another is a process similar to that of other Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, and Android users may miss the dual-device pairing capabilities that the Jabra provides. The Elite 7 Active earbuds get a lot rightnotably, they have a more-secure fit and let you use each earbud individually. The Syryn MP3 player is lightweight and unobtrusive, with simple controls that, once you learn them, are easy to use without your needing to look at them. And the microphones sound distant and muffled over phone calls. The IP67 rating is a great insurance policy against sweat and dirt. In the past, Beats headphones were known for their bass-heavy sound quality, which ranged from a bit much to completely overwhelming. However, Beats has comparatively refined the sound profile on the Fit Pro, and this pair sounded pretty darn great in our tests. The earbuds have an IPX8 rating, so you can literally drop them in a bucket of water and theyll survive. In our tests, the sound options were at best super boomy with sibilant highs. Apple users likely wont see this as a dealbreaker, since the Hey Siri function can easily swap listening modes, as can the control panel on mobile devices. But Android users who prefer full controls on their earbuds will want to stick to the Jabra instead. The Fit Pro offers easy pairing and connection swapping to iCloud-connected Apple devices, as well as noise cancellation and touch-free Hey Siri functionality. Tap, and youre good to go. The noise cancellation on this pair is very effective, but only in a specific frequency range. The charging case features a design we havent seen before: Its water resistant on the outside with a vented inner lid that holds moisture-absorbing beads. These completely wireless earbuds are small and comfortable, they connect easily and quickly, and they sound great right out of the box. What we can for certain say is the sound quality is very good for the price, and the buttons are easy to use. I managed to wear sunglasses with them comfortably despite their over-ear hook design (which is usually a concern for anyone who runs outside). Beats Powerbeats Pro: We like this pair a lot, and weve even featured this set as our runner-up pick in our best wireless Bluetooth earbuds guide. After a spring 2022 firmware update, we re-tested them to see if the changes resulted in better performance. We spray every set of headphones with our sweat proxy and mash all of the buttons; after repeating this process four times, we check the performance. But with normal use, Aukey backs the EP-T32 for two full years against manufacturing defects. But we did appreciate the inclusion of 22 pairs of ear tips. In our tests, the sound had a hissing quality that made cymbals sound tinny and added a tape-hiss noise to everything, and the bass was a bit blobby, too. Its light and comfy and has easy-to-use controls, but it wont block gym noises and sending sound waves through your skull to your inner ear isnt the best way to get quality sound. Unlike lots of earbuds, which often have buttons that click loudly or force you to smash the earbuds into your ear canal to activate a control, the Elite Active 75t set has buttons that are quiet and effortless. We had no problem with the sets Bluetooth 5.0 wireless signal at the gym, outside, or indoors. We do burpees, jumping jacks, sit-ups, and jump squats. We regularly look for models that have the most important features and attributes of good workout headphones: Over the years, weve called in every model that meets these criteria (and either has positive reviews or is too new to have any feedback) for our expert panel to evaluate. The charge case is small and lightweight, and should fit easily into the key pocket of exercise shorts.
For gym use, we preferred headphones that block out external noise. Hey Siri can also be used to control volume or toggle between noise cancellation and the transparency mode, which is a good thing since you have to choose between the two as the assigned function for a long button hold. Our test panel found the flexible, stabilizing wings to be comfortable and liked the extra security they provided, but anyone who is sensitive to pressure in the ear might dislike the feeling of the wings. Log information: anonymized data that tracks usage, such as where the user taps within the app and how long the headphones are connected (currently shared with. Zygo: This is a swim headphone system that uses radio frequencies rather than Bluetooth to enable you to hear audio underwater. The JLab Flex Sport was discontinued, so we removed it as a pick. The true wireless Elite Active 75t earbuds dont have a cord between them that can tangle, make noise, or bang against your neck annoyingly when you run or jump. (You shouldnt put your earbuds away when theyre wet from sweat.) Though the IPX4 water and dust resistance rating isnt as high as that of the Jabra Elite Active 75t, it should be sufficient for the average run or indoor workout. However, we didnt care for the hear-through mode, which sounded distractingly unnatural and emphasized high frequencies as though we were holding tin cans around our ears. However, anyone who has larger ears or ears that stick out may find that these simply dont fit. That means their durability has limitations, and long-term water or sweat exposure can still damage them. Folks with the smallest and largest ear sizes who struggle to keep true wireless earbuds in place may benefit from the Reflect Mini NCs stabilizing wings. Although the flaws arent as pertinent for workout headphones, we want excellence in a pair that costs $180. But the small button size might prove tricky for folks with very large fingers or dexterity issues. Apple AirPods: These earbuds arent rated as sweat resistantand because Apples warranty doesnt apply to water or sweat damage, if the AirPods short out, youre out of luck. We consider wind noise, cable noise (if theyre wired), and the ability to hear external sounds. Theyre simply the best waterproof headphones weve found for working out in the water. In our testing, I was actually able to get a little longer listening time per charge, with only brief phone calls and a moderate volume level. Beats Powerbeats3: These headphones have a tricky fit that drastically affects the sound quality and prompts lots of reports of shorting out. Of course, not every earbud will fit every person, but the pieces in this set are 20% smaller than those of the Elite Active 65t, this pairs predecessor, so even folks with smaller ear canals who had fit challenges with the previous version should find the updated 75t earbuds to be comfortable and secure. Jaybird released the updated Vista 2, which didnt fare as well in our testing. However, the microphone on this FitClips pair isnt fantastic for phone conversations.
We discuss those issues in the long-term test notes for the Jabra Elite 75t in our guide to the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds.