The best wireless workout headphones for 2024

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Fashion: 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 because of their snug, 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 other than different Beats earbuds and makes them notably good for working and different exercises. The buds are pretty small and lightweight, and the wingtip on every is versatile sufficient to hug your ear properly with out placing an excessive amount of strain on it. This helps them really feel safer if you’re shifting round quite a bit 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 have been, the Beats Match Professional stayed put throughout each single exercise. Nevertheless, adjusting their place on the fly can result in one in all my few gripes with the buds: unintended presses of the onboard controls. There have been quite a few 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 because of its punchy bass and general balanced profile. Spatial audio assist is nice to have, and whereas Adaptive EQ means you possibly can’t modify the EQ your self like you possibly can 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 admire; 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 probably the most natural-sounding transparency mode of any earbuds I attempted, and it’s simple 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 because of 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 supplies an additional 21 hours of charging on prime of the buds’ promised six hours of life, the construct high quality looks like an actual step down in comparison with the buds themselves. Other than that and the contact controls, although, the Beats Match Professional provide an entire bundle for athletes, one which can be utilized all day along with coaching classes. Plus, their customary $200 worth isn’t too cost-prohibitive, and so they can usually be discovered on sale for much less.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Fashion: In-ear | Assistant assist: Siri, Google Assistant

The Jabra Elite 8 Active virtually bested the Beats Match Professional, however finally the latter gained because of their wingtip design and extra natural-sounding transparency mode. However except for these two issues, the Elite 8 Energetic are simply pretty much 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 every kind of mud and particles and it’ll survive being submerged in water at excessive strain. 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 can possible give some folks peace of thoughts to know that these buds can take a beating.

That additional safety doesn’t make the Elite 8 Energetic cumbersome or unattractive as one would possibly assume. These buds are a few of the most snug I attempted, with a light-weight design and a safe match. The soft-touch end on the buds and their charging case provides a stage of luxurious that almost all othersI examined didn’t have, too. There are onboard controls as nicely, and so they’re not as simple to by chance press as these on the Beats Match Professional.

The Elite 8 Energetic has an amazing sound profile out of the field however you possibly can modify the EQ throughout 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 prime of that, these buds assist spatial sound with Dolby Audio.

The Elite 8 Energetic assist adaptive noise cancelation, and so they do job of analyzing your setting 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 a number of site 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 possibly can rise up to 56 hours of complete use in the event you’re not utilizing ANC, which is outstanding. The case additionally helps wi-fi charging, a characteristic that the Beats Match Professional’s lacks, and it additionally feels extra substantial.

Finally, you possibly can’t go fallacious 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, in the event you’re an athlete who likes to mess around with sound profiles or need a few of the most sturdy wi-fi earbuds out there in the present day, the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic are those to get.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Fashion: In-ear | Assistant assist: Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant

The Jabra Elite 4 Active provide the very best worth for the cash of any choose on our record. 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 have been a few of the best buds for me to “choose 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 carried out.

Just like the Elite 8 Energetic, the Elite 4 Energetic is tremendous snug and Jabra has actually gotten the onboard controls proper on this collection of buds. The buttons are usually not really easy to press that you just by chance set off them everytime you modify the match, and so they present satisfying suggestions if you really 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 primary variations between the Elite 4 Energetic and the dearer Elite 8 Energetic are that the latter have the next IP ranking, voice steerage, spatial sound assist with Dolby Audio, an extended general battery life (56 hours with the charging case) and that satisfying soft-touch end. The IP ranking and prolonged battery life are the 2 most 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 always pumping out tunes, whatever the exercise. In any other case, although, you’re getting a ton of wonderful options with these $120 earbuds.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Fashion: In-ear with hook | Assistant assist: None

When you have lower than $50 to spend, the $30 JLab Go Air Sport are an amazing 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 prime of your ear, and it does assist the Go Air Sport keep securely hooked up to your head. The hooks listed here are fairly versatile and have a soft-touch end, which provides to their consolation (I attempted just a few equally designed buds with a lot stiffer hooks that have been a ache in additional methods than one.) Admittedly, this design will take some getting used to in the event you’re new to it, nevertheless it’s a surefire solution to get slightly 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 admire which you can cycle by 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 sort of app connectivity.

You possibly can 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 helpful, I really feel prefer it must be a USB-C connector as a substitute (it’s the yr 2024, in any case). The case can also be on the cumbersome aspect; you possibly can nonetheless throw it right into a backpack or purse simply, nevertheless it’s not as svelte as instances you’ll see on dearer buds.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Fashion: 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 purpose being to let noise in quite than block it out. The OpenFit buds do an amazing 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 prime of your ear with out placing an excessive amount of strain 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 kinds of actions together with working, energy coaching and indoor biking. Granted, none of these workouts contain shaking your head up or down or aspect to aspect an excessive amount of; possibly don’t put on the OpenFit to hearken to head-banging loss of life metallic (in the event you 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 know-how, 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 direction of your ear and reduces audio leakage. In my testing, I discovered that to be true to a sure extent. The OpenFit had the very best sound high quality and general quantity out of the entire open-ear gadgets I attempted, however in the event you crank the amount as much as the max (or shut), the individual subsequent to you’ll positively hear what you’re listening to. Total, these are an amazing choice for anybody who doesn’t discover in-ear buds notably snug, or those that simply choose to have extra consciousness of their environment whereas figuring out.