- Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
Budget
Determine how much you’re willing to spend on workout headphones and how that lines up with quality and functionality.
Fit
Your headphones should offer a comfortable, secure fit. Ensuring the headphones you choose fit your head help minimize any discomfort from extended wear during your workouts.
Return Policy
In case the headphones aren’t a great fit for your ears, it’s important that the retailer offers a good return policy.
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Best bone-conduction headphones
Shokz OpenRun Pro 2
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What are the best headphones for working out?
While their design won’t be perfect fit for everyone, I currently have the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 as the top earbuds/headphones for working out. They’re improved in every way from their predecessor and people who liked the originals should be impressed with this next-gen version. That said, plenty of other more affordable workout earbuds options are available, with several models on the list costing less than $100.
What We Updated: August 2025
We added Acefast Acefit Pro and Skullcandy Crusher 540 Active. We also moved the Shokz Open Fit Air earbuds to the other products we tested section and removed the Bose Comfort Ultra Earbuds because they’ve been replaced by the Bose Comfort Ultra Earbuds 2.
Best earbuds and headphones for working out for 2025
We test the best headphones and earbuds for working out based on six key criteria and evaluate the models we test in both a gym environment and for outdoor workouts that include a three-mile run. These criteria include design, sound quality, noise-canceling performance, voice-calling performance, features and value.
- Design: Evaluating design, we assess not only how comfortable the headphones and earbuds fit (their ergonomics) but their build quality and how well the controls are implemented. When it comes to earbuds, we also look at water- and dust-resistance ratings.
- Sound quality: We evaluate sound quality by listening to a set playlist of music tracks and comparing the earbuds to top competing products in their price range. Sonic traits such as bass definition, clarity, dynamic range and how natural the headphones sound are key factors in our assessment.
- Noise-canceling performance: We evaluate noise-canceling performance by wearing the headphones in the same spot indoors near a noisy HVAC unit to see how well they do at muffling lower frequencies. Then we head out to the streets of New York to test the headphones in a real-world environment where we see how they do muffling not only street noise but people’s voices.
- Extra features: Some great-sounding workout headphones and earbuds aren’t loaded with features, but we do take into account what extra features are on board. These include everything from quick-access awareness to transparency modes (your music pauses and the headphones open up to the outside world so you can have a conversation) to special sound modes to ear-detection sensors that automatically pause your music when you take the headphones off your ears. We also take a look at the companion app for the headphones if there is one and how user friendly it is.
- Voice-calling: When we test voice-calling performance, we make calls in the noisy streets of New York and evaluate how well the headphones or earbuds reduce background noise and how clearly callers can hear our voice.
- Value: We determine value after evaluating the strength of the headphones and earbuds against all these criteria and what they’re able to deliver compared to other models in their price class. The best headphones balance price, quality, and functionality.
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