No matter what sort of train you’re into, if you happen to’re understanding, you’ll desire a pair of wi-fi exercise headphones. They let you be free and untethered throughout a severe weight-lifting session, a 5K run, an hour on the skate park and all over the place in between the place you’re shifting and sweating a ton. There are dozens of nice wireless headphones and wireless earbud choices on the market, however for train specifically, there are extra components to think about earlier than choosing one up like water resistance, battery life and total consolation.
At Engadget, we’ve examined a bunch of fitness-ready headphones and earbuds to provide you with our high picks, plus some recommendation to think about earlier than you decide up a pair. All of our high picks beneath will work out and in of the health club, so you’ll be able to spend money on only one pair and make these your every day driver. When you’re primarily a runner, take a look at our checklist of best headphones for running.
What to search for in exercise headphones
Design
Earlier than diving in, it’s value mentioning that this information focuses on wireless earbuds. When you may put on over-ear or on-ear headphones throughout a exercise, many of the best headphones accessible now wouldn’t have the identical degree of sturdiness. Water and dirt resistance, notably the previous, is essential for any audio gear you intend on sweating with or taking outside, and that’s extra prevalent within the wi-fi earbuds world.
Most earbuds have one in every of three designs: in-ear, in-ear with hook or open-ear. The primary two are the most well-liked. In-ears are arguably the commonest, whereas these with hooks promise higher safety and match since they’ve an appendage that curls across the high of your ear. Open-ear designs don’t stick into your ear canal, however somewhat sit simply outdoors of it. This makes it simpler to listen to the world round you whereas additionally listening to audio, and might be extra comfy for many who don’t just like the intrusiveness of in-ear buds.
Water resistance and dirt safety
Even when a pair of headphones for understanding aren’t marketed particularly as train headphones, a sturdy, waterproof design will, by default, make them appropriate for train. To keep away from repetition, right here’s a fast primer on sturdiness, or ingression safety (IP) scores. The primary digit you’ll see after the “IP” refers to safety from mud and different potential intrusions, measured on a scale from 1 to six. The second refers to water resistance and even waterproofing, in one of the best instances. The scores for water resistance are ranked on a scale of 1 to 9; larger numbers imply extra safety, whereas the letter “X” means the machine will not be rated for cover in that regard.
The entire earbuds we examined for this information have a minimum of an IPX4 score, which implies there’s no mud safety, however the buds can stand up to splashes from any course and are sweat resistant, however most likely should not be submerged. For an in depth breakdown of all of the potential permutations, take a look at this information printed by a provider known as The Enclosure Firm.
Energetic noise cancellation and transparency mode
Energetic noise cancellation (ANC) is turning into normal on wi-fi earbuds, a minimum of these above a sure worth level. When you’re in search of a pair of buds that may be your exercise companion and serve you outdoors of the health club, too, noise cancelation is an efficient function to have. It makes the buds extra versatile, permitting you to dam out the boring roar of your own home or workplace so you’ll be able to focus, or offer you some solitude throughout a busy commute.
However an earbud’s skill to dam out the world goes hand-in-hand with its skill to open issues again up must you want it. Many ANC earbuds additionally assist some form of “transparency mode,” or numerous ranges of noise discount. That is essential for running headphones as a result of exercising outside, alongside busy streets, might be harmful. You most likely don’t need to be completely oblivious to what’s happening round you if you’re working outdoors; adjusting noise cancelation ranges to extend your consciousness will assist with that. Stronger noise cancelation could be extra interesting to these doing extra indoor coaching in the event that they need to block out the boring roar of a health club or the man exaggeratingly lifting weights subsequent to you.
Battery life
The entire Bluetooth earbuds we examined have a battery lifetime of six to eight hours. Normally, that’s what you’ll be able to count on from this area, with a number of outliers that may rise up to fifteen hours of life on a cost. Even the low finish of the spectrum must be adequate for many athletes and health club junkies, however it’ll be useful to maintain the buds’ charging case on you if you happen to suppose you’ll get near utilizing up all their juice throughout a single session.
You’ll get a median of 20 to twenty-eight additional hours of battery out of most charging instances and all the earbuds we examined had holders that offered a minimum of an additional 15 hours. It will dictate how usually you truly should cost the machine — as in bodily join the case with earbuds inside to a charging cable, or set it on a wireless charger to energy up.
How we check exercise headphones
In testing wi-fi exercise headphones, I put on them throughout each little bit of train I do — be it an informal stroll across the block, a brisk morning run or a difficult weight-lifting session. I’m in search of consolation arguably most of all, since you ought to by no means be fussing along with your earbuds when you need to be specializing in understanding. In the identical vein, I’m cognizant of in the event that they get free throughout quick actions or slippery once I’m sweating. I additionally use the earbuds when not exercising to take calls and hearken to music all through the day. Many individuals will need only one pair of earbuds that they will use whereas exercising and simply doing on a regular basis issues, so I consider every pair on their skill to be comfy and supply an excellent listening expertise in a number of totally different actions.
Whereas I’m additionally evaluating sound high quality, I’m admittedly not an audio skilled. My colleague Billy Steele holds that title at Engadget, and also you’ll discover far more detailed details about audio high quality for a few of our high picks in his opinions and shopping for guides. With these headphones for understanding, nonetheless, I’ll make notice of associated points in the event that they stood out (i.e. if a pair of earbuds had noticeably robust bass out of the field, weak highs, and so on). Many of the wi-fi exercise headphones we examined work with companion apps which have adjustable EQ settings, so that you’ll be capable of tweak sound profiles to your liking typically.
A notice about Jabra headphones
Jabra introduced it would exit the consumer earbuds business, which is disappointing contemplating the corporate has made wonderful headphones for understanding. Our high picks embrace two Jabra fashions and we really feel comfy recommending them nonetheless as a result of Jabra plans to assist its present earbuds for “a number of years.” Nevertheless, we’re continuously testing new buds and reassessing our high picks, so we’ll replace this checklist accordingly sooner or later.
Greatest exercise headphones for 2025
Beats
Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear with wingtip | Assistant assist: Google Assistant, Siri
Read our full review of the Beats Fit Pro
The Beats Fit Pro got here out on the head of the pack due to their comfy, safe design, good sound high quality and transparency mode, amongst different issues. As my colleague Billy Steele detailed in his review of the Fit Pro, the buds’ wingtip design units them aside from different Beats earbuds and makes them notably good for working and different exercises. The buds are pretty small and light-weight, and the wingtip on every is versatile sufficient to hug your ear properly with out placing an excessive amount of stress on it. This helps them really feel safer if you’re shifting round lots be it throughout a morning jog or whereas taking a HIIT class. The buds are additionally IPX4 rated — not the best quantity of safety I encountered, however sufficient to maintain the buds working nicely even throughout my sweatiest classes.
Because it had been, the Beats Match Professional stayed put throughout each single exercise. Nevertheless, adjusting their place on the fly can result in one in every of my few gripes with the buds: unintended presses of the onboard controls. There have been numerous instances once I went to regulate a bud and I ended up pausing my music within the course of as a result of the buttons are really easy to set off.
Sound high quality is stable and notably nice for exercising due to its punchy bass and total balanced profile. Spatial audio assist is nice to have, and whereas Adaptive EQ means you’ll be able to’t alter the EQ your self like you’ll be able to with different buds, it does make for persistently good audio high quality. It’s additionally one much less factor to play with out of the field, which I count on many individuals will recognize; these earbuds are a real unbox-and-go choice. ANC can also be robust and transparency mode will turn out to be useful for many who usually run, cycle or in any other case train outdoors. It was essentially the most natural-sounding transparency mode of any earbuds I attempted, and it’s straightforward to activate or off both with onboard controls or from the management panel in your iOS or Android smartphone.
Talking of, the Beats Match Professional work notably nicely with iPhones due to their built-in H1 chip, however Android customers can obtain their companion app to entry issues like fast pairing, management customizations and a battery standing indicator. I didn’t get into element concerning the setup course of as a result of, nicely, there isn’t a lot of 1. However I’ll say that, upon unboxing, I used to be shocked how low cost the charging case feels. Whereas it offers an additional 21 hours of charging on high of the buds’ promised six hours of life, the construct high quality looks like an actual step down in comparison with the buds themselves. Except for that and the contact controls, although, the Beats Match Professional provide an entire package deal for athletes, one which can be utilized all day along with coaching classes. Plus, their normal $200 worth isn’t too cost-prohibitive, and so they can usually be discovered on sale for much less.
- Snug IPX4 design
- Nice sound high quality with Adaptive EQ
- Efficient ANC and helpful transparency mode
- Multipoint connectivity
- Stable battery life
- Onboard controls are straightforward to by chance press
- Charging case feels low cost
Jabra
Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear | Assistant assist: Siri, Google Assistant
The Jabra Elite 8 Active virtually bested the Beats Match Professional, however in the end the latter received due to their wingtip design and extra natural-sounding transparency mode. However except for these two issues, the Elite 8 Energetic are simply nearly as good, if not higher, than the Match Professional.
At the start, the Elite 8 Energetic has one of many highest sturdiness scores of any earbuds we examined. Rated IP68, it’s protected towards all types of mud and particles and it’ll survive being submerged in water at excessive stress. Jabra additionally subjected the Elite 8 Energetic to military-grade testing, defending them from extreme humidity, excessive temperature, rain and altitude. That is extra safety than most want, however it would probably give some individuals peace of thoughts to know that these buds can take a beating (and, most essential, they’ve basically sweatproof).
That additional safety doesn’t make the Elite 8 Energetic cumbersome or unattractive as one would possibly assume. These buds are a number of the most comfy I attempted, with a light-weight design and a safe match. The soft-touch end on the buds and their charging case provides a degree of luxurious that almost all othersI examined didn’t have, too. There are onboard controls as nicely, and so they’re not as straightforward to by chance press as these on the Beats Match Professional.
The Elite 8 Energetic has an excellent sound profile out of the field however you’ll be able to alter the EQ inside the companion cell app. The app has six preconfigured settings to select from too, and I discovered myself utilizing Bass Increase and Energize most of all whereas exercising (they’re fairly comparable with robust bass, however Energize emphasizes highs a bit extra). The Elite 8 Energetic positively has a bonus over the Beats Match Professional for anybody who prefers to customise EQ, or needs to have totally different sound profiles relying on what they’re doing. On high of that, these buds assist spatial sound with Dolby Audio.
The Elite 8 Energetic assist adaptive noise cancelation, and so they do an excellent job of analyzing your surroundings and blocking out interferences. “HearThrough” is Jabra’s model of transparency mode, and it’s the setting to make use of when working outdoors in a metropolis or an space with numerous visitors. Sound isn’t drowned out by wind on this mode both since HearThrough is designed to neutralize wind noise whereas additionally letting you keep conscious of your environment. I ran in some notably windy climate whereas testing these out, and I had persistently good listening experiences each with HearThrough and ANC activated.
As for battery life, the Elite 8 Energetic will get eight hours on a cost with ANC turned on, and a further 24 hours when using their charging case. You’ll be able to rise up to 56 hours of whole use if you happen to’re not utilizing ANC, which is outstanding. The case additionally helps wi-fi charging, a function that the Beats Match Professional’s lacks, and it additionally feels extra substantial.
In the end, you’ll be able to’t go unsuitable with both the Beats Match Professional or the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic. However Jabra’s buds provide a bit extra customization and sturdiness than the Beats Match Professional, and never everybody will want the latter’s bonus options. Nevertheless, if you happen to’re an athlete who likes to mess around with sound profiles or need a number of the most sturdy wi-fi earbuds accessible right now, the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic are those to get.
- Snug match
- IP68 water and dirt safety
- Spatial sound with Dolby Audio
- Robust ANC
- Multipoint connectivity
- Stable battery life
- HearThrough doesn’t sound as pure as different transparency modes
Jabra
Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear | Assistant assist: Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant
The Jabra Elite 4 Active provide one of the best worth for the cash of any decide on our checklist. For $120, you get an IP57-rated design, stable sound high quality with adjustable EQ, good ANC, the identical HearThrough transparency mode that the Elite 8 Energetic have, app connectivity and a complete of 28 hours of battery life. These had been a number of the best buds for me to “decide up and go” with, whether or not it was for an impromptu stroll across the block, a sweaty HIIT session in my basement or an hour of labor during which I actually wanted to dam out distractions and get issues executed.
Just like the Elite 8 Energetic, the Elite 4 Energetic is tremendous comfy and Jabra has actually gotten the onboard controls proper on this collection of buds. The buttons usually are not really easy to press that you just by chance set off them everytime you alter the match, and so they present satisfying suggestions if you truly do deliberately press them. Sound high quality and ANC are spectacular, and I principally by no means needed to fear about working out of battery.
The principle variations between the Elite 4 Energetic and the dearer Elite 8 Energetic are that the latter have the next IP score, voice steerage, spatial sound assist with Dolby Audio, an extended total battery life (56 hours with the charging case) and that satisfying soft-touch end. The IP score and prolonged battery life are the 2 important options that might compel some to spend the additional cash on the Elite 8 Energetic as a substitute. Additionally, spatial audio is sweet to have in case you have the buds semi-permanently positioned in your ears continuously pumping out tunes, whatever the exercise. In any other case, although, you’re getting a ton of fantastic options with these $120 earbuds.
- Nice worth for the cash
- Snug IP57-rated design
- Good sound high quality and ANC
- Multipoint connectivity
- Good battery life
- No spatial sound with Dolby Audio just like the Elite 8 Energetic has
JLab
Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear with hook | Assistant assist: None
When you have lower than $50 to spend, the $30 JLab Go Air Sport are an excellent choice. I didn’t have excessive expectations going into testing these buds, however I used to be rapidly impressed by their consolation and sound high quality. A number of headphones designed for exercises have this hook that wraps across the high of your ear, and it does assist the Go Air Sport keep securely connected to your head. The hooks listed here are fairly versatile and have a soft-touch end, which provides to their consolation (I attempted a number of equally designed buds with a lot stiffer hooks that had been a ache in additional methods than one.) Admittedly, this design will take some getting used to if you happen to’re new to it, however it’s a surefire option to get a bit additional stability throughout excessive depth exercises.
Sound high quality is fairly good on these buds as nicely, though not practically as balanced as that of the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic or the Beats Match Professional. I additionally recognize that you would be able to cycle by way of three totally different EQ modes — Signature, Balanced and Bass Increase — utilizing the buds’ onboard controls. There’s no app to fuss with, and that was a pleasant change of tempo after largely testing buds with some form of app connectivity.
You’ll be able to count on eight hours of playtime on the Go Air Sport, plus one other 24 hours of battery life with its charging case. Whereas the USB-A cable constructed into the underside of the case is useful, I really feel prefer it must be a USB-C connector as a substitute. The case can also be on the cumbersome facet; you’ll be able to nonetheless throw it right into a backpack or purse simply, however it’s not as svelte as instances you’ll see on dearer buds.
- Inexpensive
- Spectacular sound high quality for the worth
- IP55-rated design
- Good battery life
- Constructed-in USB-A charging cable is a bit outdated
- Giant case
- Hook design received’t be for everybody
SHOKZ
Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: Open-ear | Assistant assist: None
I used to be apprehensive about open-ear headphones, particularly throughout exercises. However the Shokz OpenFit pleasantly shocked me from the primary time I put them on. Earbuds with open designs like this enable for extra situational consciousness, with the aim being to let noise in somewhat than block it out. The OpenFit buds do an excellent job of this with out skimping on sound high quality or consolation.
The buds themselves virtually float over your ear cavern and Shokz’s soft-finish “dolphin arc” hook is versatile sufficient to securely wrap across the high of your ear with out placing an excessive amount of stress on it. There’s a bud-like portion on the different finish of the hook that acts as counterbalance, leading to a dependable match that by no means faltered throughout all types of actions together with working, power coaching and indoor biking. Granted, none of these workouts contain shaking your head up or down or facet to facet an excessive amount of; perhaps don’t put on the OpenFit to hearken to head-banging dying metallic (if you happen to can’t management your self).
Sound high quality is stable contemplating the design, and the OpenFit will get fairly loud as nicely. These buds have Shokz’s Direct Pitch expertise, which makes use of reverse sound waves to optimize the gap and angle from the buds to your ear canal. The corporate claims this helps maintain the sound directed in the direction of your ear and reduces audio leakage. In my testing, I discovered that to be true to a sure extent. The OpenFit had one of the best sound high quality and total quantity out of all the open-ear gadgets I attempted, however if you happen to crank the quantity as much as the max (or shut), the particular person subsequent to you’ll positively hear what you’re listening to. General, these are an excellent choice for anybody who doesn’t discover in-ear buds notably comfy, or those that simply want to have extra consciousness of their environment whereas understanding.
- Snug open-ear design
- Design permits for extra situational consciousness
- Good sound high quality and quantity
- No ANC
- Not as safe when in comparison with in-ear or hook-toting buds
Others wi-fi exercise headphones we examined
Apple AirPods Professional
The Apple AirPods Pro have an IP54 score, which protects them from temporary encounters with mud and splashes. Whereas that’s extra mud safety than many different earbuds we examined, it’s the identical degree of water resistance that almost all exercise-specific rivals have. We usually just like the AirPods Professional, however the Beats Match Professional provide most of the identical options and conveniences (particularly good transparency mode and the H1 chip), with a design that’s extra acceptable for understanding.
Beats Powerbeats Professional
The Powerbeats Pro are an excellent different to the Beats Match Professional if you happen to’re a stickler for a hook design. Nevertheless, they price $50 greater than the Match Professional (though they usually hover round $180) and don’t provide any important upgrades or extra options except for their design. They’re additionally fairly previous at this level (launched in 2019) and it seems Beats is placing extra effort into upgrading and updating its newer fashions somewhat than this mannequin.
Anker Soundcore AeroFit Professional
The Soundcore AeroFit Pro is Anker’s model of the Shokz OpenFit, however I discovered it to be much less safe and never as comfy because the latter. The precise earbuds on the AeroFit Professional are noticeably bulkier than these on the OpenFit, which brought about them to shift and transfer far more once I was sporting them throughout train. They by no means fell off my ears fully, however I spent extra time adjusting them than I did having fun with them.
JBL Endurance Peak 3
Probably the most noteworthy factor concerning the Endurance Peak 3 is that they’ve the identical IP68-rating that the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic do, however they solely price $100. However, whilst you get the identical safety right here, you’ll should sacrifice in different areas. The Endurance Peak 3 didn’t blow me away when it got here to sound high quality or consolation (the hook is extra inflexible than these on my favourite buds of an analogous model) and their charging case is very large in comparison with most rivals.
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