You can use any earbuds for working out, but some models are better suited to the gym than others. Sound quality is always an important consideration when purchasing headphones, but for gym-friendly and sports-oriented headphones, a secure and comfortable fit, as well as durability, are essential.
With earbuds, a design feature such as wing tips or ear hooks that prevent the buds from falling out of your ears can be useful. For example, the Beats Fit Pro earbuds have integrated wing tips, which is one of the reasons they are a popular choice for workout earbuds.
The Best Workout Earbuds
- JBL Reflect Aero TWS
- Beats Fit Pro
- JLab Go Air Sport
- Tribit MoveBuds H1
JBL Reflect Aero TWS
These earbuds have great sounds quality, and you can fine-tune the sound using JBL’s mobile app. The sealed design and active noise cancellation can help you avoid distracting noises in the gym. However, if you need to hear your surroundings, a hear-through mode is only a tap away. Alternatively, you can use one earbud at a time. Alexa and Google Assistant users will appreciate this set’s integration with their voice-activated assistants.
The stabilizing wings that help keep the earbuds in place can be tiring for people with sensitive ears. And, while the touch-based controls are simple to learn and use, you can’t control volume, playback, noise cancellation, and the hear-through feature all at once—you have to choose which one to turn off.
Beats Fit Pro
For Apple fans, the Beats Fit Pro are a good alternative to the JBL Reflect Aero TWS. These earbuds allow simple pairing and connection swapping with Apple devices, as well as touch-free “Hey Siri” control and physical buttons that control track skip, phone calls, and volume change (plus some button customization for Android devices with Beats app).
These earbuds also have stabilizing wings to help them stay in place, and the sealed design and active noise cancellation can block out gym noise; the hear-through mode allows for brief situational awareness or conversations between workout sets. Additionally, each earbud can function independently.
These earbuds’ IPX4 water resistance rating should be enough for most activities, but our top pick’s IP68 rating is better for people who sweat heavily or are simply tougher on their gear.
The Fit Pro pair sounds fantastic, with slightly boosted bass. The battery lasts six hours on average, and the charging case adds another 18 hours—but it’s not as small as the JBL case.
JLab Go Air Sport
The JLab Go Air Sport earbuds provide essential workout features at an affordable price. These earbuds features flexible hooks that slip securely over the top of each ear to keep the earbuds in place; some people may prefer these hooks over stabilizing wings.
This set is dust and water resistant, and has an IP55 rating to withstand sweaty workouts. The earbuds have an eight-hour battery life, and the charging case provides an additional 24 hours of power (though it is larger than we prefer).
The Go Air Sport has a sealed design that reduces noise, but it lacks active noise cancellation and a hear-through mode. However, either earbud can function independently, allowing you to keep one ear open. The touch-based controls handle all of the important functions, but their response can be unpredictable, especially if you have long hair that gets in the way of the sensors.
The sound quality is surprisingly good for the price, but audiophiles should be aware that all three preset EQ settings have flaws. We like how the charging cable is permanently attached, so you never have to carry a cord. However, the cable terminates in a USB Type-A plug, which is becoming increasingly unpopular.
Tribit MoveBuds H1
If you don’t want to worry about your earbuds’ battery life, the Tribit MoveBuds H1 set is a solid pair of true wireless earbuds that typically costs less than $100. These earbuds have 15-hour battery life, allowing you to wear them all day without charging. Additionally, the charging case adds 35 hours of power.
This waterproof earbud has a high IPX8 rating, and it stays in place with hooks that slip over your ears. The H1’s sealed design helps to block out gym noise, but it lacks the active noise cancellation and voice-activation features of our higher-end picks. This set includes a hear-through mode, and you can use one earbud at a time for situational awareness.
The sound quality is good out of the box, and we were able to dial in our preferred tuning using the app-based equalizer adjustments. The H1 set also includes a full suite of touch-based controls.