When it comes to choosing the best workout headphones for you, the range of options, styles, and features can be overwhelming. Should you choose over-ear or in-ear headphones? Is fit more important than comfort? What about active noise cancellation? Battery life? The segment is fortunate to boast an embarrassment of riches but that can make picking the right pair a difficult task.
Of course, any of the best headphones on the market could be used to workout, but if you want a better experience it's worth choosing something more specialized. That's especially true if you want a great pair of headphones to use while swimming or running, where waterproofing and fit are going to be vital to ensure your headphones can withstand the test of your workout.
We tend to recommend earbuds over headphones because they weigh much less and are less obtrusive for working out. Options like the Jabra Elite 8 Active are perfect for weightlifting or any other gym-based activity. We also have more specialized pairs with hooks for optimum comfort and fit, as well as some of the best bone conduction headphones for running and cycling.
So here are our latest and greatest workout headphones for 2024, introducing the Jabra Elite 8 Active as our top pick. We're also currently testing Shokz OpenRun Pro 2, the forebears of which feature as the top running pick in the guide right now.
The Quick List
The best workout headphones for most people
With great fit, comfort, and excellent battery life, the Jabra Elite 8 Active are widely considered to be the best workout headphones on the market, boasting strong noise-cancellation and solid audio performance.
The best budget workout headphones
Don't let the budget moniker fool you, these Powerbuds Pro pack in 30 hours of battery life, bass-heavy sound, good active noise cancellation, and a secret weapon. The Powerbuds Pro come with a built-in heart rate monitor that can track you while you exercise, and their silicone tips provide good security and comfort.
The most secure workout headphones
If you need headphones that are guaranteed to stay on your head and in your ears during intense exercise, then look no further than the Powerbeats Pro. They boast an excellent wireless design with an immaculate fit thanks to their ear hooks. There's a trade-off in weight and battery life, but they'll never come loose.
The best workout headphones for swimming
If you want a great pair of headphones for swimming, Zygo's Solo headphones offer three hours of battery life, waterproofing, and underwater audio streaming. You'll need some earplugs and a phone close by, but you'll get a built-in accelerometer, too.
The best workout headphones for noise-cancelling
With great fit, comfort, and excellent battery life, the Jabra Elite 8 Active are widely considered to be the best workout headphones on the market, boasting strong noise-cancellation and solid audio performance.
The best workout headphones for running
The best headphones for running are the Shokz OpenRun Pro thanks to their lightweight, ergonomic design, and bone conduction that keeps you plugged into your surroundings. They're perfect for running outdoors and offer a stellar 10-hour battery life.
The best workout headphones
The clue is in the name, and these Jabra's are indeed an elite pair of headphones for those who want to get active. Widely considered some of the best workout headphones out there, they boast a comfortable and secure fit to ensure they won't come loose while you're training. The silicone exterior adds a grippy quality to them, and three sizes of ear tips ensure there's a good size for everyone. They're IP68 water-resistant, so extremely proofed against sweat and inclement weather.
ANC is powerful and the app features EQ so you can tailor the sound to your liking. Battery life overall should get you around 32 hours of total use, six hours of listening with ANC, plus up to 24 hours more thanks to the charging case.
The 6mm drivers provide powerful, bassy sound, although the Dolby Spatial Audio performance leaves a lot to be desired. When it comes to workout headphones, however, you're likely focussing on fit, comfort, and battery life over audio quality.
Read our full Jabra Elite 8 Active
The best budget workout headphones
The Amazfit Powerbuds Pro are a versatile pair of buds that'll serve you well whether you're running or working out. We've added them to our best workout headphones list as they're an excellent choice if you'd like to track your fitness but don't want to bother with a wristband or sports watch – these buds use in-ear tracking instead.
Sound is bass-heavy, which we prefer while working out, and the active noise cancellation effectively masks sounds when you need to focus on your fitness. There's in-ear fitness tracking thanks to a heart monitor in the buds that keeps tabs on you while you exercise. The buds send this data to the Zepp Health app on your phone. Data from any other Amazfit fitness trackers and smart scales will be collected in the same place, so you can easily track trends.
If you do want to use them for other purposes, the Powerbuds Pro can also check the position of your head in relation to your spine while you're working to determine whether you're slouching and putting yourself at risk of back and neck problems.
They're not perfect. We found the heart rate measurements to be consistently higher than those measured by our chest strap monitor, and there are no ear hooks to hold them securely as there were with the original Powerbuds. However, they're an excellent choice if you want workout buds with built-in tracking.
Read our full Amazfit Powerbuds Pro review
The best workout headphones for security
If you want to boost your running performance without the annoyance of cables, the Powerbeats Pro could be the best workout headphones for you. When we reviewed these true wireless earbuds from Beats we felt they were special – they’re supremely comfortable, sound decent, and seem to never, ever fall out.
The Powerbeats Pro are ideal for running thanks to their close-fitting ear hooks and IPX4 sweat-proof rating. Nifty additions like the pressure-reducing micro-laser barometric venting hole on top of their long battery life and superior sound quality make them compelling for other workouts as well. Not just for runners, they'd also make a great pair of earbuds to wear at the gym. With the ability to summon Siri hands-free, they’re also great for setting timers in between sets.
Depending on your tastes, you may be disappointed to learn that the Powerbeats Pro don't come with active noise cancellation. We found during testing that they hardly do anything to block out environmental noise. But, on the plus side, it's great to be aware of your surroundings when you're running and exercising outdoors.
Read our full Beats PowerBeats Pro review
The best workout headphones for swimming
The Zygo Solo are the only set of waterproof headphones we've tested that can actually stream music and podcasts from a phone that's sitting by the side of the pool. Bluetooth signals can only penetrate water for a very short distance. The Zygo Solo gets around this problem by using an FM radio transmitter – an unusual, but effective approach.
The transmitter is quite large, but the ability to enjoy music, podcasts and coaching tips (provided by the Zygo app) without messing around with MP3 files is a real bonus. The headset itself isn't as compact as the others in this guide either. However, in our tests it proved comfortable, and remained secure even when making turns underwater.
The sound quality is impressive, too. Like the Aftershokz Xtrainerz and Sony NW-WS413 below, the Zygo Solo uses bone conduction to transmit sound to your auditory nerve, and while it sounds a little tinny on land, once you're in the pool the sound has an impressive amount of bass.
We're also big fans of the Zygo mobile app, which offers instructor-led workouts an drills to give you training some variety. In the future, the company plans to add Peloton-style interactive sessions, which will make use of the headset's built-in accelerometer to track your progress in the pool. The best waterproof headphones you can buy today.
Read our full Zygo Solo review
The best workout headphones for noise-cancelling
If you need to block out the world for an effective yoga session, a pair of noise-canceling headphones are essential; however, a pair of bulky over-ear headphones could slip off your head when you transition into downward dog.
That's why we recommend these true wireless earbuds from Sony. The Sony WF-1000XM4 manage to offer a level of noise cancellation that's exceedingly good for a pair of earbuds. They won't offer the same isolation as a pair of over-ear headphones, but it's a worthy trade-off for that sleeker form.
Not only are these a great-looking pair of true wireless earbuds, but they also combine serious noise-canceling tech with fist-pumping musicality. So, if you like your yoga session to come with music, you're in for a real treat with these buds.
Battery life is above average, and the charging case they come with is pretty slick too. The audio quality is among the best you'll get from a pair of wireless in-ear headphones, and DSEE Extreme upscaling means you'll get an approximation of high-resolution sound from standard-definition digital audio files.
Although we highly rate the Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds, it's worth mentioning they've recently been replaced by the newer Sony WF-1000XM5 buds. During our testing, we noted that these latest buds bring some noticeable improvements over the XM4s that are relevant for working out, including improved sound quality and a fit that's considerably smaller and lighter.
Read our full Sony WF-1000XM4 review
The best workout headphones for running
Bone conduction headphones allow you to listen to music and hear sounds around you. Shokz (formerly known as AfterShokz) is the biggest name in bone conduction headphones, and the OpenRun Pro headphones are one of its best set s to date. Released in early 2021, they feature new bass transducers, which deliver rich, rounded sound.
They have a light, springy titanium band that holds the headphones' earpieces securely yet gently in place. They remain firmly in position in all conditions and never pinch or rub. The bass sometimes results in a slightly tickling sensation if you're enjoying some particularly heavy tunes, but in our tests, it was never enough to become annoying.
These are a great pair of headphones if you're working out and need to hear sounds around you, like if you're running outside. During our testing, we commented that is particularly the case if you're concerned about safety or you regularly run races. Many races require that you can hear the commands of marshals and traffic on open-road courses, which makes bone-conduction headphones a great choice.
Read our full Shokz OpenRun Pro review
How to choose the best workout headphones
To find the best workout headphones for you, you'll need to consider what you'll be using them for. For example, if you're running or doing any kind of high-energy workout, ensuring your headphones stay put is your number one priority. Whereas if you're looking for a pair to take swimming then top waterproofing is a must.
Most headphones that cater to sports do come with some water resistance, but you'll want to check the specs. Plenty say they can withstand water and sweat, which might be fine if you're using them for light workouts. However, if you want the best protection, choose those that come with an iPX4 rating and higher. IPX7 means full waterproofing, so that's what you'll want for swimming.
Although you'll need to consider the way you work out, for value for money you'll also want to think about whether they'll work in other environments, too. To be honest, most of the top headphones for working out will be perfect for the office and the commute, too – never be put off by the sporty design or "sport" labeling. But it is worth considering how you like to listen to music in other environments.
If you're eyeing up a pair of running earbuds but prefer the immersive sound of over-ear headphones, you might need to make a compromise. If you're choosing wireless headphones or earbuds, consider the controls. It's probably best if they have an inline remote or easy-to-use touch controls. That way you don't have to reach for your phone anytime you want to skip a track.
But more than anything, we'd recommend considering comfort. The best audio quality or fancy features don't matter if they don't feel right or keep sliding out of your ears. Look for designs recommended for your favorite sport, as well as things like customizable ear tips and ear hooks to keep them secure.
The best workout headphones: FAQs
Is it better to work out with headphones or earbuds?
Whether you workout with over-ear or on-ear headphones or earbuds totally depends on you and your preferences. Some people always prefer the snug fit of earbuds regardless of what they're doing, whereas others like the immersive sound provided by the best over-ear headphones.
Having said that, some activities certainly lend themselves to different styles. For example, there are some over-ear and on-ear headphones that will stay put while you run, like the Adidas RPT-01 over-ear headphones, which you can find in our best running headphones guide.
However, you'll probably find earbuds or bone-conducting headphones are a much more secure and comfortable option – especially those with an ear hook design, like the Beats PowerBeats Pro in our list above.
How we test the best workout headphones
We selected the headphones for this guide based on which we think are best suited to certain sports, whether that's running, yoga, cycling or swimming. Yes, sound quality is key, but if they won't work at the gym, they can't be included here.
To make these choices, we did the right thing: we put them to the test while working out! That's the only way to be sure the best running headphones offer a snug fit while you're pounding the pavement, whether the best swimming headphones are fully waterproofed and deliver good sound as you're gliding through the water or if the best headphones for yoga can stay put during your downward dog 'resting' moments.
For this reason, the best headphones for sports in this list aren't necessarily the top headphones you can buy today for excellent sound quality, but they are included for the unique features that they can offer sports lovers.
Having said that, many of the headphones here would fare well in all kinds of environments, and if they didn't sound more than passable for the money they wouldn't be here – so they're still good value for money whether you're wearing them for running or focusing at work.
