Best running headphones 2023: sweatproof earbuds for exercise

You might be looking for the best running headphones, but what follows is the list of the best headphones for workouts, gym sports … and, of course, the best headphones for running. At the end of the day, exercise is exercise, and all of the listening devices below should survive your sweatiest workouts and most intense running sessions.

The best sports headphones have all features you might need: they're often rain- and sweatproof, have long battery life, charge quickly, and are comfortable to wear while providing a secure fit. Most sports headphones go the extra mile by offering active noise cancelling (ANC), personalised sound, a bacteria-busting case, solar charging and more.

Whatever your activities of choice, rest assured these buds will soundtrack your path to getting fit this year!

THE BEST RUNNING HEADPHONES TO BUY RIGHT NOW

Wissonly Hi Runner

Wissonly is a headphone brand that attaches great attention on health, and that does not hurt the ears. Their team is also the first one to design non-in-ear headphones that are used to listen to songs. They began to explore the application of bone conduction technology to Bluetooth headphones as early as 10 years ago. After 10 years of accumulation, they have made great progress in the sound quality improvement and sound leakage reduction of bone conduction headphones. And these technologies are applied to their Wissonly Hi Runner headphones, their flagship product.

In order to solve the problem of sound leakage of bone conduction headphones, wissonly developed full closed sound leakage reduction technology. They comprehensively improved the vibration of the headphones, body design, software optimization and other directions. They finally reduced the sound leakage by 90%. In terms of sound quality, most of the bone conduction headphones have average sound quality, but the sound quality of Wissonly Hi Runner is undoubtedly better in bone conduction. They used a large-sized vibration unit, and through structural optimization, and finally increased the effective vibration area, so that the sound range was wide. The official claimed sound quality reach the HIFI level, but I don't think that they reached. They are just close to the HIFI sound quality, which is enough to satisfy me.

The excellent performance of these two characteristics, sound leakage reduction and sound quality, makes Wissonly Hi Runner have the basic conditions to become an excellent bone conduction headphone. Their other configurations are also very good. They are with a built-in 32GB of memory, and can play music even without connecting the phone. You can use them as an MP3 player. They support IPX8 waterproof level in swimming, even in underwater scenes that do not support Bluetooth, they can be used with MP3 function.

JABRA ELITE 7 ACTIVE

The Elite 7 Active buds are a significant update over the Jabra Elite Active 75t and offer more personalised sound, better fit and even improved call performance thanks to the three-microphone-per-bud setup. Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) can be personalised via the Jabra Sound+ app. ANC benefits significantly from this, and as long as you set it up correctly – i.e. in a noisy environment – it will help keep unwanted sound away from your ears so you can get in the zone faster during your workouts.

The battery life on the Jabra Elite 7 Active is also excellent. In fact, taking into account the size of the buds, eight hours of continuous playback is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The case holds another 22 hours of battery life, enabling you to keep the buds and the case charger cable-free for 30 hours. The Elite 7 Active is significantly cheaper than the Elite 7 Pro, and the only thing you miss out on is the call quality (the Elite 7 Pro has a better mic setup), which might not be as crucial from a workout point of view anyway.

LG TONE FREE FIT UTF8

The LG Tone Free fit UTF8 took us by surprise. Not that we didn't expect LG's dedicated workout to sound good, but these compact buds offer so much more than just excellent sound quality. Despite the small form factor – the Tone Free fit UTF8 are some of the smallest workout headphones we've tried – the earbuds sound exceptionally clear. Better still, they have ANC and Ambient Mode, so you can use them for both indoor and outdoor training.

And you will use the LG Tone Free fit UTF8 quite often since they are just so comfortable to wear. There are three wing tips and ear tips included in the box, although we have appreciated a few more as we have slightly larger ears. That aside, there is hardly anything else you could criticise about the earbuds. They are IP67-rated and can be washed under the tap after use. The case also has what's called UVnano technology that shines a blue light on the buds, which is said to kill 99.9% of the bacteria.

BEATS FIT PRO

The Beats Fit Pro combines great fit, easy and intuitive pairing and controls, and excellent sound quality. The battery life is about as good as you ask for out of a pair of earbuds such size, and the implementation of the active noise cancellation and transparency mode is phenomenal. Sadly, some of the features are only available to iPhone users, so if you have an Android phone, you might be better off choosing the Jabra Elite 7 Active – those buds also have ANC and transparency mode but lack the wing tips.

As expected from a pair of Beats buds, the Fit Pro has a sublime built quality and design. Unlike the Powerbeats Pro, these gym headphones have a small enough charging case you can quickly sink in your pocket. You'll not be left wanting if you grab a pair of these for your next workout.

CLEER ARC II SPORT

 As far as open-ear workout headphones go, the Cleer ARC II Sport is pretty much perfect. It offers long battery life, crisp sound, a comfortable yet secure fit, and an IPX5 water rating. It produces a good enough sound to please audiophiles and is resilient enough for workouts. We loved the stereo effect of the headphones and the fact we could listen to songs with such clarity without compromising spatial awareness while out running.

For the price of the Cleer ARC II Sport, you can buy decent noise-cancelling wireless buds (with transparency mode), narrowing down the pool of potential buyers. However, it's worth noting that even the most sophisticated transparency mode can't match the spatial awareness of open-ear headphones. Plus, few sports earbuds in this price bracket have such balanced sounds as the Cleer ARC II Sport.

Read more:Best Headphones for Working Out in 2023