BEST TRUE WIRELESS FITNESS EARBUDS
When it comes to picking the right fitness headsets, the fit and durability come first. Nothing is more frustrating than wireless earbuds constantly coming loose or falling out during a workout. Even worse is when an expensive pair of “fitness” wireless earbuds fall victim to sweat. Companies like Jabra, MPOW, and Jaybird have just the right solution for you. Whether you want sound quality AND durability or you just want to find some good “burner” earbuds, we have the 3 best options.
2018 CES Innovation Award
Jabra’s one-size-fits-all design has succeeded where Apple’s AirPod design has continued to fail. When it comes to picking the best wireless fitness earbuds, fit and durability come first. Nothing is more frustrating than earbuds constantly coming loose during a workout. Even worse is when an expensive pair of “fitness” headphones fall victim to sweat.
With the Jabra Elite 65t and Elite Active 65t you get the same secure fit and durability that made the Elite Sport so popular. They come with 4 sizes of replacement ear-tips, and if those don’t work, you can swap them out for some premium memory-foam tips. Even with all these optional sizes, there’s nothing you need to remove when you place them in the charging case.
The Apple AirPods can’t say the same. Most of the ear-hooks, covers, straps, and other accessories have to be removed when charging, giving you more things rolling around in your pocket.
After winning the 2018 CES Innovation Award, primarily for audio and voice quality advancements in the 65t models, Jabra proved that the success of the Elite Sport wasn’t a fluke. Just like the AirPods, you can use either earpiece individually for music or calling, because of the dual-mic setup. This dual-mic setup is also used to give you ultimate control over background noise by letting you adjust the levels in the Jabra Sound+ App. Let in more background noise to hear approaching traffic or turn the background down to tune out distractions.
Jabra Elite 65t Series
Best Features
Here are all of the specs that made us fall in love with the Jabra Elite 65t Earbuds:
- 5 Hours Battery; 15 hrs with charging case
- Dual-Microphone
- Amazon Alexa, Siri, and Google assistant ready
- IP-55; protected against water, sweat, and dust
- 2-YEAR WARRANTY
- Jabra Sound+ Partner app that allows you to personalize your multimedia and calling experience
For more advanced athletes, the Jabra Elite Active 65t bumps the water-resistance rating up to IP-56 and also has an integrated motion sensor for automatic (AND more accurate) rep counting. Other then that, you’re just choosing which color you like…
BEST FITNESS EARBUDS UNDER $25
Now available in more colors, the MPOW Flame gets some extra style to go with their impressive specs:
- 7-9 Hours of playback
- Waterproof – IPX7 (submersion up to 1M deep for 30 sec)
- 4.1 Bluetooth connectivity
- 18-Month Warranty
- HD sound and extended bass
- Built-in microphone
- Exclusive accessory pack (included): 1X Memory Foam Eartips; 3 Extra Sizes of Eartips; Clamshell Carrying Case; Wire Clamp For Excess Wire
BEST OVERALL
BLUETOOTH FITNESS EARBUDS
- 8 Hours of playback
- Premium sound
- Water resistant
- Jaybird MySound app for iOS and Android
- 6 Sets of earbud tips for sizing and comfort
- 3 Sets of optional ear-wings for stronger fit
One of the main reasons the Jaybird Fitness Earbuds are one of our top choices is because of their versatility. You can wear them either under the ear like traditional earbuds or wrapped over the ear for a more secure fit. They’re also designed to fit under helmets. For active users, the 3 sets of optional ear-wings keep them safely in your ear through the toughest of workouts.
For comfort, you get 6 sets of ear-tips to choose from. Three of the sets are traditional silicone and the other three sets are made of premium Comply-foam. With these options most users get a good enough fit without the additional ear-wings. The other nice thing about the Comply-foam earbud tips is that they provide excellent noise isolation, so be careful when your doing open-road runs.
Custom Sound
To make your listening experience even better, Jaybird’s MySound app allows you to customize the audio of the X3’s. The app’s best feature is the parametric equalizer that allows you to choose from a variety of presets. You can also create your own presets and they’ll be saved on the headphones themselves. This allows you to switch between different devices without adjusting the sound every time you sync to a new one.
The only real negative we could find with them is that they come with their own special charging adapter, so if you don’t have it with you when they die, you’re out of luck. With 8 hours of battery life they should AT LEAST make it through your workout. Even if they’re dead, you can get an hour of battery-life with only 15 min of charging, so plug them in on the way to the gym and they should be good to go.
As far as fitness headphones go, the X3’s check every box. None of the other headphones we looked at had a better combination of sound, fit, durability, AND price.