Yahoo Finance 10 best running headphones: Wireless earbuds that won’t fall out during a workout
Let’s face it, a run is a lot more fun when you’ve got a playlist to propel you on. Finding the perfect pair of wireless earphones can be pretty straightforward, as long as you keep the three S’s in mind: sound, sweat-proofing and staying power.
How we tested
Every product we tested was judged on these criteria, from the in-ear experience of our most motivating tunes, through to how secure they felt during the entire run and how well the headphones coped with being drenched in sweat.
All the sets that made the final edit proved themselves to be highly sweat and water-resistant.
We also took a look at the battery life, which is always a concern for more hardcore runners who can be out for hours on end, as well as the efficiency of the Bluetooth connection and whether it suffered any dropouts in areas swamped with wireless signals.
All the headphones we’ve included paired easily and stayed connected during the testing period, which took place in a local park on a Saturday morning, full of socially distanced runners.
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The best running headphones for 2021 are:
Best overall – Earfun air pro: £59.49, Amazon.co.uk
Best under £100 – Adidas FWD-01 sport in-ear headphones: £71.99, Amazon.co.uk
Best for workouts – Bose soundsport wireless headphones: £89.50, Amazon.co.uk
Best fit – JBL reflect mini NC: £99.99, Argos.co.uk
Best battery life – Bowers and Wilkins Pl4: £168.20, Amazon.co.uk
Best for iPhone – Apple AirPods pro: £249, Apple.com
Best for small ears – Beat powerbeats: £129.95, Beatsbydre.com
Best for Android – Jaybird vista: £139.99, Jaybirdsport.com
Best noise-cancelling – Jabra elite active 75t: £179, Currys.co.uk
Best for city running – Aftershokz aeropex: £149.95, Amazon.co.uk
Earfun air pro
Best: Overall
Weight: 53g
Time to charge: 1.5 hours
Battery life: Eight hours
Rating: 10/10
The first thing you’ll notice when you press play on these buds is the crisp, sharp treble, big bass and the kind of noise-cancelling technology that you usually get with earphones double the price. They also offer an ambient mode, which lets voices and sounds into your ear through the microphone and speaker, which is useful if you’re running in a built-up area and want to stay a little more aware of your surroundings.
The Earfuns come with three sizes of silicone ear tips that make it easy to get a nice, tight inner ear seal and the buds are sweat and water-resistant, although the manufacturer does ask that you dry the buds before replacing them in the case. The touch controls worked well and we never had any difficulty in playing or pausing a track.
Buy now £59.49, Amazon.co.uk
Adidas FWD-01 sport in-ear headphones
Best: Under £100
Weight: 25g
Time to charge: 45 mins
Battery life: 15 hours
Rating: 9/10
We found the striking knit cable surround on these to be surprisingly sweat-resistant. Supplied with four varieties of ear tips and wings, it’s worth taking 10 minutes to figure out which combination offers the snuggest fit. Once we’d chosen, we never had any issues with slippage while training.
The audio is excellent, particularly at the lower bass end, which makes them well suited to audiobooks and podcasts too. The raised media controls on the knit cable are easily located and they worked on the first try, every time. We also liked the way the earbuds magnetically found one another when they were draped around the neck while not in use, so you never need to worry about losing them.
Buy now £71.99, Adidas.co.uk
Bose soundsport wireless headphones
Best: For workouts
Weight: 23g
Time to charge: Two hours
Battery life: Six hours
Rating: 8/10
The soundsports were kept in place with an ear hook that worked well at securing our music and creating a seal that emphasised the excellent audio quality that you would expect from the manufacturer. The water-resistant material performed through sweaty speed sessions and a rainy 5K, and the well thought out media controls made it a doddle to manage a continuous soundtrack to our run. Underlying all of this is the superb sound, which was totally immersive and better than some headphones at double the price.
Buy now £29.95, Bose.co.uk
JBL reflect mini NC
Best: Fit
Weight: 13.6g
Time to charge: Two hours
Battery life: Six hours
Rating: 9/10
When you’re a runner, one of the biggest frustrations is having to stop to adjust the fit of your phones. That is why we were pleased that the three “earfins” and tips supplied with these totally wireless reflect buds made a secure fit easy to come by. That fit wasn’t affected by rain or sweat and we never had that “they’re trying to escape” feeling.
We got a great mix of bass, with good sound separation between the mids and highs, although this can be adjusted according to preference using the equaliser in the app, which also lets you personalise the tap functions on each of the buds, which were always responsive.
Buy now £99.99, Jbl.com
Bowers and Wilkins Pl4
Best: Battery life
Weight: 42g
Time to charge: Three hours
Battery life: 12 hours
Rating: 9/10
Although not marketed as running phones, these were recommended to us by a friend who is both an audiophile and a committed runner. A combination of silicone and rubber in the buds and cord ensure a good fit and the cord sits comfortably around the neck. The media controls were intuitive and quick, and there is a magnetic clip on the buds which automatically pauses the music when they are not in your ears. And if you’re trying to fit in an impromptu run, but the phones haven’t been charged recently, then just a 15-minute boost will get you three hours of playback – plenty for you to get out and back.
Buy now £168.20, Bowerswilkins.com
Apple AirPods pro
Best: For iPhone
Weight: 45.6g
Time to charge: 2 hours 13 mins
Battery life: 4.5 hours
Rating: 8/10
The latest incarnation of Apple’s AirPod pro have been around for a while now, and for many pavement pounders, they have become as essential for training as their running shoes. The buds themselves are very ergonomic within the ear and once they’re in you can just forget about them and enjoy the audio performance, which is excellent, with rumbling, powerful, bass together with mids and vocals that are clear and warm. Music is easily controlled via the stem sensor, so you can skip to a more motivating track with ease and without dislodging the pods themselves.
Buy now £249.00, Apple.com
Beat powerbeats
Best: For small ears
Weight: 26.3g
Time to charge: Two hours
Battery life: 15 hours
Rating: 8/10
If, for whatever reason, you’re a runner who struggles to keep their buds in their ears, then the adjustable hooks on the powerbeats will ensure that they don’t go anywhere even when you’re going hard. There are plenty of ear tips to ensure the best inner ear fit and the unit is perfectly capable of shrugging off any sweat or water.
The audio quality is solid, with plenty of bass and lots of separation between the different layers of the music, which makes for an enjoyable sonic experience. On-the-go DJ-ing is very straightforward too, with a power button on the left bud and volume and track control on the right.
Buy now £129.95, Beatsbydre.com
Jaybird vista
Best: For Android
Weight: 32g
Time to charge: Two hours
Battery life: Six hours
Rating: 9/10
These sport-specific buds ship with three ear gels that produce one of the tightest fits out of all the buds we tested. They stuck like glue throughout a quick 10k without any slippage and still managed to feel really comfortable. The tap-enabled controls were sensitive enough to allow us to get to the tracks we wanted or switch playlists without any hassle, but not so sensitive that we ended up chasing our music around. Using the app, you can set the buds up so that the left bud skips back a track and ups the volume, while the right skips forward and quietens things down, which is really handy for in-playlist listening. The app also allows you to fine-tune the music quality, which was clear and very well balanced.
Read the full Jaybird vista review
Buy now £139.99, Jaybirdsport.com
Jabra elite active 75t
Best: Noise-cancelling
Weight: 35g
Time to charge: 2 hours 20 mins
Battery life: 5.5 hours
Rating: 8/10
Jabra has gone to a lot of effort to make sure its elite active earbuds are fit for purpose, starting with guaranteed inner-ear comfort and security, whatever the training intensity. From different sizes of ear gels to a grip coating on the buds themselves that keeps them in place, the Jabras really mould to the contours and profile of the ear to give worry-free running. Excellent noise cancellation, adjusted via a slider on the accompanying app, gave a really immersive audio experience and enabled us to lose ourselves in our playlist and take our mind off the miles ahead.
Buy now £179.00, Currys.co.uk
Aftershokz aeropex
Best: For city running
Weight: 26g
Time to charge: 1.5 hours
Battery life: Eight hours
Rating: 8/10
If you want to guarantee your buds will never leave your ear while running, then the best thing to do is not have them in your ear to begin with. The Aeropex uses bone conduction for open ear listening with an over-ear and wraparound fit that was never in danger of shaking loose on our run.
If you’re a city runner who likes to be ultra aware of their surroundings while still having music to motivate you, then these are a good option as the balance you get between real-world sounds and your playlist is excellent. Good, deep bass and discernable volume differences deliver a really unique sensory experience that many runners will really love.
Buy now £149.95, Aftershokz.co.uk
Running headphones FAQs
Running headphones checklist: Things to consider:
Sound quality – Sound quality depends on how an earbud fits. Models with a deeper fit will have more noise-cancelling ability while those with a looser fit will let more sounds in, so it’s up to personal preference. You can expect better sound quality in a tighter fit that cancels out noise. If you want the best of both worlds, some models offer an ambient sound feature which uses the device’s microphone to play out outside noise.
Wire connected or true wireless? – Truly wireless models are buds with neither connecting wires nor hooks over your ear; simply put them in and you’re ready to go.The benefits of these models are how lightweight and compact they are, however, playtime is shorter as they can only fit small batteries. Comparably, wire-connected earbuds are still untethered to your phone, but boast a wire or band that connect the buds, store batteries, microphones or even an antenna. With these models, you can enjoy longer battery life and they’re generally cheaper. The buds can also be smaller, as the connecting wires hold most of their electronics.
Battery life – The battery life of wireless headphones can range from four hours up to 15, with connected wires earbuds boasting a longer battery life and wireless earbuds usually shorter.
Charge time – Wireless buds can take anywhere between 45 minutes to three hours to charge. Truly wireless models typically having a longer charge time – up to three hours – and come with a charging case. Wire connected buds are charged with a USB charger and usually takes under two hours.
Sweat proofing and durability – Moisture can destroy earbuds that aren’t capable of protecting against it, so make sure your pair is sweat proof.
The verdict: Wireless headphones for running
The buds that scored well in terms of sound quality, sweat proofing and in-ear security were the Earfun air pros.In addition to this, they are feature-packed and truly excellent value for money.
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