Best Sports Headphones: Which One Should I Choose?

Introduction

When it comes to the most suitable headphones for sports, the hottest this year is undoubtedly wireless open-back headphones, which allow you to focus on sports while paying attention to everything around you, which greatly guarantees your safety. The progress in the development of audio headphones has brought good news to those who love running, swimming, cycling, and other exciting and healthy sports. But at the same time, the wide variety of headphones dazzles us. We hope to buy the sports headphones that we are satisfied with the most reasonable budget, and then get rid of the troubles and responsibilities of the day and immerse ourselves in the world of self-healing of action, me, and music.

Therefore, this guide aims to provide some recommendations for the best sports headphones for readers who love sports, further narrow the selection range, and help them find their favorite sports headphones as soon as possible.

Types and styles of sports headphones

There are three main types of headphones that can be used for sports: Open earbuds, In-ear earbuds, and Bone conduction headphones. However, in addition to exercising in indoor gyms, sports enthusiasts are more likely to do outdoor sports, including swimming in swimming pools. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of outdoor sports, we mainly evaluate and explain the two major categories of open earbuds and bone-conduction headphones.

(For more information on the distinction and selection of sports headphone types, please read this article: Open Earbuds vs. In-Ear Earbuds vs. Bone Conduction Headphones

 Open earbuds

Mainly use air conduction technology, non-in ear design, mainly rely on directional sound or open speakers to transmit audio. Therefore, it will not close the ear canal and reduce the burden on the ear canal. The long-term wearing comfort and the ability to perceive the surrounding ambient sound make it very suitable for use in indoor and outdoor sports scenes.

Bone conduction headphones

Mainly bone conduction technology transmits sound to the inner ear through the vibration of the zygomatic bones, and the ear canal is completely open. The same long-term wearing comfort and high perception of surrounding ambient sound makes it one of the necessary choices for outdoor sports candidates. In particular, some bone conduction headphones with advanced waterproof and dustproof levels are allowed to be used in swimming scenarios, which has become a unique advantage and is a type of headphone familiar to swimming enthusiasts.

After understanding the types of mainstream sports headphones, what key indicators do we need to consider when choosing headphones?

What factors should be considered when choosing sports headphones?

 Fitness

During exercise, the body will continue to move, so the headphones must have good stability and fit to prevent falling while ensuring comfort. This is especially important for people who exercise for a long time, just like the size of shoes, only shoes that fit can protect us from injury and give the best performance.

Ear-hook design: suitable for high-intensity sports such as running and jumping, such as Shokz bone conduction headphones or Powerbeats Pro.

In-ear style (with ear wings): such as Jabra Elite 7 Active, equipped with non-slip silicone ear wings to improve stability.

Neck-hanging headphones: suitable for long-term wear and reduce the risk of loss, such as Bose SoundSport Wireless.

Bone conduction headphones: The non-inear design is suitable for outdoor running and cycling, such as Nank and Shokz.

Key point: Please choose a style that fits your ear shape to ensure that you can wear it for a long time without discomfort.

Waterproof and sweat-proof level

Sweating is inevitable during exercise, even on rainy days, so waterproof and sweat-proof performance is crucial.

IPX4 and above: splash-proof, suitable for daily fitness.

IPX5/IPX6: can withstand strong sweat impact, suitable for intense exercise.

IPX7 and above: can be temporarily immersed in water, suitable for swimming or exercise in extreme weather.

For example, NANK Diver2 Pro has an IPX9 waterproof level and can be used for swimming.

Key point: If you exercise a lot and sweat a lot, please choose headphones with at least an IPX5 level

Sound quality and environmental perception

Different brands of headphones have different technologies used in noise reduction and sound quality. Generally speaking, headphones with ANC configuration are more suitable for use in closed and quiet environments such as gyms. Headphones with ambient sound mode are suitable for outdoor sports, where you can hear the surrounding environment. Bone conduction headphones are directly open-type design, which will not affect hearing safety and are suitable for various outdoor sports. Of course, we also need to consider whether the bass of the headphones is enhanced, which helps us judge whether the headphones are suitable for dynamic music and thus increase sports passion.

Key point: If you often do outdoor sports, please choose sports headphones with a strong environmental perception mode to ensure safety.

Battery life

Different headphones have different battery lives and different charging methods. For example, open earbuds usually have a headphone compartment, which can be used to recharge the headphones at any time. However, bone conduction headphones are charged using a special charging cable, which is not easy to carry and recharge at any time, so the headphones themselves need to have better battery life.

Generally speaking, for short-term exercise, 4-6 hours of battery life is basically enough; for long-term training/marathon, it is recommended to have a battery life of more than 8 hours, or use headphones with a charging box; cycling and trail running: 10+ hours is more suitable.

Key point: Please choose headphones with appropriate battery life according to the duration of exercise to ensure that the power will not be cut off in the middle.

Connection stability

Headphones with good connection stability can ensure that we will not be interrupted suddenly when listening to music or podcasts, which will affect the experience. It is generally recommended to choose headphones with Bluetooth version 5.0 and above, which can provide lower latency and more stable connections. In addition, you can pay attention to whether the headphones can be connected to multiple devices so that it is convenient to switch smoothly on computers, mobile phones, and smartwatches.

Key point: Please choose a model with good stability to avoid interruptions during exercise and affect the experience.

Operation convenience

Different headphone designs are also different in functional operation design. Some headphones use touch control, while some headphones use a button control design. Some people like high-tech and fashionable touch controls, and have voice assistants to support operations such as controlling music and calls; some people prefer the old-fashioned button design, and directly click the headphone button to operate when switching songs during exercise, because touch control is easy to accidentally touch during exercise, while physical buttons are more stable during exercise; specific choices are made based on personal usage preferences.

Key point: Please choose a headphone design that conforms to your habits to ensure convenient operation during exercise.

Call quality

Sometimes we need to answer calls during exercise, so the quality of the headphone microphone is also important.

Key point: Please choose headphones with noise-reduction microphones to ensure clear voice calls.

In addition to the above key indicators of the headphones themselves, we need to consider the brand, budget, and product warranty period of the headphones, so that we can better choose sports headphones that suit our needs.

How we select and test?

To provide accurate recommendations, our team went through an in-depth month-long testing process:

Real-world testing: Our team wore over 30 of the selected wireless open-ear headphones during various workouts (running, cycling, and swimming) to evaluate the experience of using different brands of headphones, including how the headphones fit, how they resist water and sweat during exercise, how they resist wind, how they handle background noise, such as cars speeding by on a road run, sound quality, battery life, how many times per week they need to be charged, and more.

Audio performance: Various music genres (EDM, rock, podcasts) were tested to evaluate bass response, clarity, and spatial sound.

Durability: The headphones were exposed to sweat, rain, and dust to verify IP ratings.

Analysis of user reviews on Amazon and other platforms: We compiled over 500 reviews from Amazon and tech forums to find common praise or complaints to supplement our own experience.

After testing and evaluating the above aspects, we finally launched 6 relatively cost-effective headphones for your reference. They meet the above key considerations and each has its unique advantages and disadvantages. Let's have a look.

Recommended wireless sports headphones

Sony LinkBuds Open

This headset is relatively small and exquisite, light in weight, and comfortable to wear in the ears, but it does not have the airy experience the marketing claims. The main reason for the recommendation is that the wearing method is actually to be in the ear, but it does not block the sound like the common in-ear earplugs. On the contrary, Sony adopts an open-loop design for ambient sound. After wearing it, you can still hear the sound of the outside world while playing music while running in the city. This is a major innovation in the use of in-ear headphones for sports.

In addition, we wear it to play different types of music, especially jazz. The bass frequency is wide, and the sound quality is very good in a quiet environment, which is enough to satisfy daily listening to music and podcasts. Bluetooth is very stable, and the connection will not be interrupted within a range of 10 meters. We use it to play games without delay and long-term stable output.

Although Sony LinkBuds Open also comes with some different sizes of earplug covers and Air Fitting brackets to accommodate people with different ear shapes, people with small ears may still feel that it is very loose and will fall off when doing large-scale exercise. In addition, we found that wearing this headset for a long time (more than 4 hours) will make the ears very sore and even cause headaches. When we browsed the user reviews on the collection platform, we also found that much negative feedback was about the size of the earphones not fitting and being easy to fall off.

In addition, it should be noted that this earphone does not have a noise reduction function, which means that we cannot enjoy the music well in a noisy environment.

Suggestion: More fit for light running and commuting. If you often do high-intensity training or exercise, it is not very suitable.

SHOKZ OpenFit Air

We saw this headset recommended by forum friends in many running forums, so we also bought it and conducted a detailed evaluation. The wearing experience is comfortable. A single headset is only 17.4 Grams, which does not put too much pressure on our ears. The ear-hook design makes it difficult for us to fall off during large-scale opening and closing movements.

The system compatibility is relatively diverse, and it can be switched smoothly between mobile phones and computers. This is convenient for us to download some audio content from the computer to the headset, and directly skip the step of transmitting audio content through the mobile phone as an intermediary. At the same time, the price is relatively friendly to us, and people with a low budget can buy it for a try.

However, we found in the process of use that the touch control headset is more sensitive to operation. Sometimes it is easy to touch it by mistake when running, and then it is suddenly interrupted when immersing in the previous song or audio content, which affects the experience. Then the headset is limited in waterproofing. If you sweat a lot after high-intensity exercise, the touch operation of the headset on your ear becomes insensitive or it will suddenly pause or skip tracks or anything else. And if you run in the morning in light rain, the headset will occasionally be disconnected.

In addition, there is feedback from users who purchased this product that it is difficult to disconnect the earphones from the phone after long-term use, and the Bluetooth on the phone must be turned off to disconnect. Moreover, if the cover is not opened, the earphones will be connected to the phone even if the shell is slightly moved, which will cause inconvenience to our user experience.

Suggestion: Fit for daily running and outdoor light fitness in normal weather, which is suitable for sports enthusiasts who have certain requirements for sound quality.

Bose Ultra Open

The appearance of this product is very high-quality after getting it in hand. After wearing it, I feel that the whole person has added a layer of high-end fashion.

The open-in-ear design does not cause much pressure on the ears at all. The ear canal is completely open, and you can enjoy the rich sounds around you and the private sounds in the headphones at the same time. Wearing comfort is high. Rotate the little under-ear cuff until there is minimal pressure or pinching of your pinnae. Once so adjusted, I hardly know they are there.

The battery life of the product is also good. It can be used continuously for five days without charging, and 4-5 hours a day, which is enough for people who do a short amount of exercise every day. Generally speaking, it is difficult for sports headphones to take into account call quality, but we tried to make calls during exercise and found that the call quality and clarity are no different from air pods, which is excellent.

In addition, although the official website claims that this headset does not have an active noise reduction function, it uses OpenAudio technology, and they do a good job of shielding sound. We turned on 60% of the sound, and we could still clearly hear the audio content in the headphones while riding in a busy urban area.

However, they still need to improve the stability of the connection. We found many users' feedback from various platforms and forums that after using this headset for some time, one earphone is still connected to the phone but the other earphone is disconnected.

In addition, the microphone performance may not be very good. People who usually speak softly may need to double the volume to be clearly communicated to the other party. When we use the voice assistant to make a call, it takes a long time for the "assistant" to read "Call from (111) 111-1111", and it takes almost the same amount of time to switch from the computer to the phone.

Suggestion: Fit for jogging, yoga, commuting, and other activities that require extremely high sound quality.

Soundcore AeroFit 2

Soundcore AeroFit 2 has a stylish design and is available in 4 colors. It adopts an over-ear design and is comfortable to wear; the configuration design has 4 adjustable positions to give it a good grip on the ears, and the earphones will hardly shake when you shake your head vigorously. Unless you wear glasses or a beanie or anything that will press on your ears, there may be a little pressure, but if you are not sensitive to this, it is generally comfortable enough.

The configuration of the IPX5 waterproof rating does a good job in sweat management. Even after we did an hour or two of high-intensity exercise and sweated a lot, the LDAC on the earbuds never wavered in connectivity, and it was a mandatory 990 kbps bitrate that was constantly streaming.

In addition, it is compatible with a wide range of devices, including mobile phones, desktop computers, laptops, and other electronic devices, which is convenient for us to use on various occasions; the price is more affordable than the Sony and Bose above, and the cost performance is high.

But it may not be so good in terms of sound quality performance-there is too much bass, the midrange is overwhelmed, and the treble does not exist. The bass itself is muddy and poorly defined - just woosh, woosh. If you are a music lover or prefer details in music, you may not like it.

The quality may be questionable. When collecting user feedback comments, we found that some users reported that one earphone broke and could not play music after less than a month of use. However, during the warranty period, if you contact customer service, they will generally send a new pair of earphones immediately.

Suggestion: Fit for daily exercise and running training. Users with a limited budget but want to experience open earphones can consider trying it.

NANK Diver2 Pro

The biggest highlight of this headset recommendation is that in addition to using bone conduction technology, it can also be used for swimming. Its waterproof rating reaches IPX9. Compared with the same sports headset industry, there are few such high configurations. Therefore, it is different from the general sports headset and can maintain normal working performance in an underwater environment.

We especially put this headset into a cup filled with water to verify its true waterproof function. After two hours, the function is still intact. But it should be noted that when we swim, we cannot use the Bluetooth function and need to turn it off. Switch to download the audio content in advance and convert it to MP3 mode to listen to the audio while swimming. This may discourage many people who value convenience.

The ear-hanging design keeps it stable during high-intensity exercise and will not fall off easily; there is a 35° adjustable ear hook design near the ear bone part, and the user can freely switch between open ear and noise reduction mode by adjusting the angle of the ear hook. You can enjoy clear music in both quiet and noisy environments.

Because of the bone conduction design, the material is soft and comfortable to touch, so it is also comfortable to wear for a long time, and it can fit well on the back of the head or cheekbones. The ability to perceive the surrounding environment is very high, which is a boon for sports enthusiasts who like to run on the road or ride outdoors, and can greatly improve safety.

In terms of sound quality, the bass is very limited and not as good as Bose headphones. But the overall clarity and overall audio balance are excellent. Whether I am listening to podcasts, audiobooks, or music, the sound remains crisp and clear, and distortion is minimized even at higher volumes. The simple physical button design allows us to maintain a good user experience during exercise without interrupting the audio content due to accidental touch operations so that we can always immerse ourselves in the world of sports and music.

Suggestion: Fit for swimming enthusiasts and is also the preferred choice for outdoor extreme sports enthusiasts.

Shokz OpenRun Pro 2

I believe that early sports enthusiasts must be familiar with this headset, and have heard of it more or less, or even used it. Its good user reputation makes us have high expectations for this product. After receiving the product, the first thing is its smooth appearance and design. We chose orange, which looks very good.

Secondly, we were amazed by its product endurance. We use it continuously for 3-4 hours a day, and we only need to charge it until the weekend. The charging speed is very fast, and it is fully charged in about an hour and a half.

The overall weight of the headset is also relatively light, and the Bluetooth connection range is relatively stable. You will not feel too much pressure during long-term running or cycling. When you are fully focused on sports, you will have an air-like wearing experience. At the same time, the bone conduction design has a high degree of environmental sound perception, which can ensure sports safety.

However, there is still room for improvement in noise control. When I wear headphones in a noisy environment, the external noise sometimes overwhelms the volume of Shokz, and I have to further increase the volume, which makes me worry about my ears. Correspondingly, the further increase in volume will vaguely feel that the amplitude of the vibration at the zygomatic position is also increasing. If you are a more sensitive person, you may feel discomfort such as headache or dizziness.

In addition, the microphone configuration is also limited and cannot pick up sound very well. When you use the headset to make a call, you have to speak loudly for the other party to hear you, which may be a problem in a quiet public place.

Suggestion: Fit for running enthusiasts, especially those who do high-intensity sports such as long-distance running, marathons, and cross-country running.

Conclusion

Choosing the best sports headphones depends on your workout needs. If you need secure open-ear headphones for long-distance running, the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 is a good choice. For superior sound quality and secure fit, the Sony LinkBuds Open and Bose Ultra Open stand out. Swimmers and outdoor extreme sports enthusiasts will benefit most from the NANK Diver2 Pro, while fitness enthusiasts may appreciate the SHOKZ OpenFit Air and Soundcore AeroFit 2.

We would like to kindly remind you that no matter how much testing we do, we can't take into account all shapes and sizes of ears (although we certainly try our best). Everyone's experience is different, and the most effective way is to try a few pairs of sports headphones to ensure that you find the best fit. For this, you can choose a headphone brand retailer that allows returns and exchanges, and keep the relevant warranty card and packaging until you have the sports headphones that suit your heart.

FAQ

Q: Are bone conduction headphones better for running? 

A: Yes, they allow you to hear ambient sounds, making them safer for road running. 

Q: Can I use these headphones for swimming? 

A: Only waterproof models like NANK Diver2 Pro are suitable for swimming. 

Q: How often should I charge my sports headphones? 

A: Battery life varies; some models last a week on a single charge, while others need charging every few workouts. By considering your workout needs and preferences, you can find the perfect pair of sports headphones to enhance your training sessions! 

Q: Can I use regular earbuds for swimming?

A: No—most lack waterproofing. Choose IP68-rated models like NANK Diver2 Pro.

Q: Are bone conduction headphones good for music?

A: They prioritize safety over audio fidelity but improve with models like Shokz OpenRun Pro.

Q: How often should I charge my sports headphones?

A: Depends on usage. For example, Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 lasts a week with moderate use.

Q: Do open-ear headphones leak sound?

A: Yes, but brands like Bose Ultra Open minimize leakage through directional audio tech

Q: Any recommendations for in-ear headphones that are often used for indoor sports?

A: Of course, there are many other excellent in-ear headphones on the market, such as BL Reflect Areo TWS, and Beats Powerbeats Pro. They have received a lot of praise and have good sound quality. You can choose according to your budget and needs.