Best workout headphones (2025): Beats, Bose, Shokz, JLab
“You’re always mooing,” a parent friend said once in my direction as he quickly disappeared over the horizon. As a working parent of two, I… disagree. Luxury in-ear headphones are great if you mostly use headphones for work or meetings, but for the rest of your life—while you’re working out, traveling, or walking around your house pretending to put things down—you probably want something a lot more comfortable and durable. In other words, you’ll want the best workout headphones money can buy.
Ever since I started testing workout headphones many years agosound, comfort, variety and features have all improved dramatically. I almost always have a pair on or around me during the day, whether I’m biking to errands, running, rock climbing, or watching mildly disturbing yoga videos on my laptop in my bedroom. If you also need the distraction of music or podcasts while you climb rocky slopes or mow your lawn, here are a few of WIRED’s favorite pairs. We wore and sweated on all of them. Don’t see anything you like? Check out ours The best wireless headphones, The best cheap headphones, The best Bluetooth speakersor any other of ours buying guides for more.
Updated January 2025: We’ve added the Anker Soundcore AeroFit 2, Nothing Ear Open, JLab Epic Sport ANC 3, Soundpeats Breezy, H2O Audio Tri 2 Pro, and the Raycon Bone Conduction Headphones. We’ve also updated links and prices throughout.
Include with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reports that are too important to ignore $2.50 $1 per month for 1 year. Includes unlimited digital access and exclusive subscriber-only content. Subscribe today.
To some extent, how headphones sound is less important than whether they fit properly. They could be the best sounding headphones in the world, but I’ll find them irritating if they don’t stay in the middle. So how do do you keep your headphones from falling out? Here are some of the tips and tricks I’ve tried over the years to make sure they don’t fall out.
- Dial it. To insert your buds, gently pull on your ear and twist it slightly to lock it in place. If they don’t fit, don’t be afraid to switch or mismatch eartip sizes – one ear may need a medium tip and the other a small, for example, or one may need a foam tip while the other needs from a plastic tip.
- Accessories. Still can’t get it to fit well? There is a healthy market for aftermarket clips and wings to place your headphones or AirPods more securely.
- Check the IP rating. Intrusion Protection Ratings gives you a quick indication of the dust and water resistance of the headset. If you’re running outside in the pouring rain, you need a higher IP than if you’re doing gentle gymnastics at the gym.
English