We've tried the best workout earbuds to help boost your motivation

When you're looking for a set of the best workout earbuds, you want a pair that'll stay in during exercise, drown out background noises so you can focus on your training, sound good, and, ideally, with long battery life.

But you can't tell how they'll fare in the real world from checking out the specifications, so how do you choose between them? To help you out, we've tested earbuds across various budgets and styles.

There's no one-size-fits-all answer, so we've rounded up the best workout earbuds that'll suit running, weight lifting, high-intensity training, or walking and come with essential features like noise cancellation and transparency modes.

BEST WORKOUT EARBUDS YOU CAN BUY RIGHT NOW

Wissonly Hi Runner

The design team of Wissonly bone conduction headphones started to research bone conduction acoustics as early as 2012. Their technical accumulation in the field of bone conduction is very good, and they are a team that is good at technology.

Wissonly Hi Runner adopted Wissonly 3.0 technology to reduce sound leakage in bone conduction headphones. They reduced the sound transmission from the bone vibration unit directly to the air through the completely closed design of the headphones’ body. They also used high-quality cushioning materials to minimize the vibration of the body, thus reducing the sound leakage by more than 90%. I did a test, turned on Hi Runner, adjusted the volume to 70%, and within a distance of 1m, I couldn't hear any sound at all. This kind of sound leakage reduction performance has been well received by users since wissonly released the sound leakage reduction technology. This technical scheme is the best leak-proof among bone conduction headphones at present.

The headphones’ body of Wissonly Hi Runner is made of memory titanium, which can self-adjust the contact area, ensuring a good wearing experience of headphones at any time, taking into account more users with different head circumference. Hi Runner can be said to be very sincere in configuration. It is equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 chip, which makes the connection more stable, and can realize fast connection and switching of multiple devices. Built-in 32G memory can store 5000 songs. When you go out for a run, you can enjoy music without your mobile phone. The battery life is also very good, and it can be played continuously for more than 10 hours at normal volume, which is good for me, because I go out for outdoor sports on weekends, and I often go out for a whole day.

JABRA ELITE 7 ACTIVE

If you're looking for an all-around, great value set of workout earbuds that'll stay in your ears, then the Jabra Elite 7 Active are the top choice. They're durable, long-lasting, and come with impressive noise cancellation abilities.

During testing, we felt that the transparency feature (HearThrough), which boosts external sounds so that you can stay aware of your surroundings while out on a run, was helpful, but it was the durable design that really stood out.

The earbuds are IP57-rated for water, sweat, and dust resistance, making them a great companion for a sweaty gym session or rain-soaked run. The charging case keeps them topped up for up to 30 hours, even with the noise cancellation turned on, which is particularly impressive since noise cancellation often uses more power and drains the battery faster.

We found that the ShakeGrip design really did keep the Jabra Elite 7 Active in place, even when we wore them during vigorous HIIT workouts, weight sessions, and runs. There's a lot to like here; we just wished it was easier to keep them clean, as the material can get pretty grubby.

JLAB GO AIR SPORT

If you're worried about investing in a premium set of headphones that you might accidentally damage at the gym or lose, the JLab Go Air Sport are an ideal alternative. These budget-friendly earbuds cost less than $50 but have long battery life, good sound quality, and ear hooks to keep them in place.

Initially skeptical of the low-cost workout earbuds, we quickly found that the Go Air Sport beat our expectations. The ear hooks meant that the earbuds never fell out, whether we were in the middle of a high-intensity resistance training session, weight lifting workout, or out on a walk.

The sound quality was a welcome surprise, too, faring better than you'd expect at this price and offering robust performance across a range of tracks. They're not audiophile-quality, but you won't be distracted by poor sound. There's no noise cancellation, but the JLab Go Air Sport focus on the essentials and do a great job of it.

BEATS FIT PRO

The Beats Fit Pro easily live up to the company's reputation for stellar sound quality. The audio is well-balanced between bass and treble, and you can customize this to suit your ears too.

But the most important part of any workout earbud is the fit. We were impressed with the winged design, as it kept the headphones in place during high-intensity workouts, weight-lifting sessions, and runs.

The active noise cancellation was supremely effective and managed to block out background noises even in a busy gym. And when we used the Beats Fit Pro on a run, the transparency mode meant we could still hear traffic, cyclists, and other runners.

Beats claim that the onboard microphone has wind-reduction tech, but we were disappointed with this as people on the other end of our calls could barely hear us over the noise when we used the Fit Pro outdoors.

That frustration aside, the on-bud buttons were easy to use while exercising, so we didn't have to stop our workout to pause playback, adjust the volume, or toggle noise cancellation modes.

SONY WF-1000XM4

 Sony is well-known for its commitment to high-quality audio, and we thought that the WF-1000XM4 true wireless earbuds live up to these standards. If you want a long-lasting pair of headphones for your training that sound great, we'd put these at the top of your list.

Despite all the audio-focused features, they aren't overly complicated. Instead, they offer a hassle-free listening experience even during intense exercise. During testing, the earbuds stayed firmly in place while working out, and we could find a good fit from the range of tips. The companion app's fit test helped here, too.

Even with noise cancellation running, we saw that each earbud lasts for up to eight hours, topped up to 24 hours with the charging case. And we enjoyed the Ambient Sound mode, which helped us stay aware of other noises around us, like traffics, cyclists, and other runners. Plus, the Speak-to-Chat mode automatically pauses your music so you can chat without distraction.

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