Sometimes there’s nothing that helps the miles pass more quickly and comfortably than listening to your favorite music or podcasts. Audio intervention has carried us through countless training miles and helped us rally from the darkest of depths during difficult races. Ongoing technological advances in headphone functionality, music accessibility and Bluetooth capability have made it easier than ever to have music with you wherever you go (under the right circumstances—see our safety guidelines at the end).
We’ve spent several months testing a handful of headphone options best suited for ultrarunners. In addition to thousands of miles of trail testing, we’ve also used them extensively for gym workouts, urban walking, air travel and writing gear reviews in coffee shops. All of the products below use wireless conduction, eliminating the hassle of plugs and cords, and allowing complete freedom of movement. We tested them in a variety of circumstances, considering the following factors.
Fit and Comfort
If you wear headphones for several hours, you want them to fit comfortably and stay securely in place in a variety of situations. Running headphones come in three distinct design styles: classic earbuds, earbuds with anchors and bone conduction systems.
Classic earbuds are typically the smallest and most lightweight options available. Earbuds come with a few different ear tip size options to ensure an optimal fit, and the fit is crucial for sound quality and keeping the buds securely in place. These are the easiest to wear with sunglasses and stow in a small pocket when they aren’t in use. The major downside of earbuds is that they are completely dependent on fit to stay secure, and without any kind of anchoring system you are always at risk of an earbud falling out and potentially getting lost or broken. For this reason, we did not include any classic earbuds in our testing.
Earbuds with anchors add a small amount of bulk and weight in exchange for complete security of fit; we have never had an anchored earbud fall out during any kind of workout. Anchor systems consist of either a pliable loop that hooks over the top of the ear or a “wing” design that nestles into the contours of your ear. Over-the-ear hooks can sometimes get in the way of sunglasses or a hat, but they’re not unmanageable in this regard. And if the anchors are too large or bulky, they can cause some soreness with multiple hours of use.
Bone conduction headphones are a completely different design, with two speakers connected by a semi-flexible band wrapping around the back of the head. These are the best option for ambient sound (see sound quality), and also provide an extremely secure fit. We’ve worn one water-safe model for swim workouts and they stay securely in place at all times, including flip turns. We’ve had varying degrees of comfort with different styles: some cause a bit of soreness with multi-hour use, while others we’ve worn comfortably for over 20 hours during ultra races. We have used these styles for gym workouts and they generally stay completely out of the way unless you are doing a lot of floor work where they can sometimes get compressed when laying on your back. They’re also not ideal for use on an airplane if you are resting your head on a pillow behind you.
Functionality and Ease of Operation
Good headphones are a moderate investment, comparable to a pair of high-end running shoes, so it’s nice to find a pair that works well in environments outside of running. Additionally, headphones can quickly change from a source of pleasure or relaxation to a complete hassle if they are complicated or tricky to use. In addition to easily controlling your audio input (such as pausing or skipping songs or adjusting volume control), good running headphones should also be easy to use for travel, studying (particularly with noise cancellation), working in the yard or falling asleep to a podcast. They should connect quickly to your device and be a dependable extension of your phone, allowing you to easily place or take calls with the press of a button or a voice command.
Ease of function is somewhat correlated with size in that small earbuds have a limited number of places or manners to press them for a specific function. Larger earbuds, those with anchors and bone conduction headphones have more surface area to place buttons or sensors for different functions. Most headphones have voice command functions that require setup in advance and are somewhat dependent on whether you use an Android or Apple. Some headphones allow you to customize on-ear button functions through the app, and some features are only accessible through the associated app. The good news about the investment statement above is that if you find a pair of headphones that work well for you, they will last way longer than any pair of shoes you’ve ever had.
Durability and Water Resistance
All of the headphones we tested have been designed to be sweat, water and dust resistant, as they are made specifically with outdoor activities in mind. Headphones use the same IP rating system as headlamps to assess the level of weather resistance they can withstand. All of the products in this test are safe for use in rainstorms, and a few are completely waterproof for use in watersports. Over a long period of time, salt and moisture intrusion can ruin a pair of headphones. This is the primary reason for their eventual failure after a number of years, so increased weather resistance is usually a good indicator of a longer potential lifespan.
Battery Life
Battery life should be considered in two ways: the first is how long the headphones can keep working on a single charge, and the second is how easily and quickly they can be recharged. Much of this is influenced by the size and style of the headphones.
Compact earbuds inherently have the smallest batteries, meaning they have shorter single-charge run times, but they are often stored in cases that can provide a recharge in a short amount of time. Anchored earbuds are slightly larger than classic earbuds but tend to have longer battery life. They also have cases that can provide a recharge, but these cases are noticeably bigger and heavier than the carrying cases for compact earbuds. Bone conduction headphones have a battery life comparable to anchored earbuds but are dependent on a charging cable to refresh when they get fully drained.
Sound Quality and Ambient Sound
It may seem odd that sound quality is fairly low on our list of priorities in choosing the right headphones, but we’d rather have a pair that is dependable, durable, comfortable and easy to use, rather than a pair with premium sound that is a complete pain to manage. Having said that, there are definitely differences in sound quality between these products, so we’ll indicate which models are the best. As a general rule, headphones that are well-positioned in your ear canal provide the best sound, although bone conduction models are making great advances in overall sound quality with minimal external vibration.
More important than audio quality is how much sound from the outside world is let in, and how much control you have over this. On the trail and especially in urban environments, it is critical that you can still hear environmental noises such as cars, wildlife and people, to optimize safety. In other settings, such as airplanes or coffee shops, you might love having active noise cancellation (ANC) to block out external distractions. In most outdoor scenarios, noise cancellation isn’t as important as noise transparency, which dials back the overall audio depth to allow you to hear human voices and other critical audio feedback.
JBL Endurance Peak 3 ($100)
Battery life (single charge): 10 hours
Recharge capacity: Up to 40 hours w/ case
Water resistance: IP68
Noise-canceling? No
Transparency mode? Yes
Case weight and dimensions: 76g, 9.1cm x 3.5cm x 3.5cm
This anchored earbud model is a budget-friendly option that provides strong overall audio quality, especially with bass frequencies, and best-in-category weather resistance. A fully waterproof and dustproof casing makes these the best option for watersports, even in saltwater while surfing, and they have a very secure fit that will stay in place when you inevitably wipe out.
To keep the housing fully secure, there are no buttons or levers to operate on the outside; everything is done through touch controls on the external casing, with extensive setup options available in the JBL app. There is an audio equalizer with three different settings (bass, vocals or jazz), and you can also set up voice assistant operations for hands-free operation through Google Assistant or Siri. One downside to the weatherproof casing is that you have to pick which options are available through finger control and you’ll be forced to leave out one key category that can only be controlled on the app. There are three main gesture categories: volume control, playback and voice assistant control, and ambient sound control which activates talk-through audio transparency. Each earbud can control only one of these categories and since there are only two headphones for three categories, you have to leave one of them adjustable only through the app.
Battery life is excellent from a single charge, and the case provides up to four full recharges before it needs its own charging. The case is about the size of a full bar of soap and uses a USB-C port for recharging. It also provides a rapid charge of 1 hour of use in just 10 minutes if you should need a quick top-off before the end of your workout. These headphones don’t have a true noise-canceling setting, but you can toggle between “Ambient Aware” which provides a bit of sound transparency, and “Talk Through” to have clear conversations when needed. In both of these modes, the Peak Endurance 3 has significantly more noticeable wind noise than the other earbuds we tested, so figuring out the best size silicone earbud tip to use is critical. Available at www.jbl.com.
Powerbeats Pro ($250)
Battery life (single charge): 9 hours
Recharge capacity: Up to 24 hours w/ case
Water resistance: IPX4
Noise-canceling? No
Transparency mode? No
Case weight and dimensions: 80g, 4.3cm x 7.7cm x 7.7cm
Beats is famous for their sound quality and in our testing, this proved to be true, as both Beats products we tested delivered noticeably enhanced audio quality compared to every other product in the review group. In fact, the Powerbeats Pros are comparable to many full-size (over-the-ear) headphone models we’ve used. This model has a very secure anchor on top of the ear and four different silicone earbud sizes to ensure that you get the optimal fit for sound quality. They are much more streamlined than the JBL headphones, with a sleeker profile that is less intrusive with a hat and glasses, and a spec weight of 11g which is less than half of the Endurance Peak 3. Some over-the-ear anchor systems can start to cause some soreness after multiple hours of continuous use, but this model stayed comfortable at all times with extended wear.
Finger operation of the Powerbeats Pro model is quite easily done, with identical controls on each side. An easily accessible button can pause or advance music or accept calls as needed, and volume buttons on top of the casing are easy to locate and prominent enough for use with gloves. The headphones are also fully voice compatible with Siri or Android systems. This is a nice concession to Android users, as Beats is owned by Apple. Although the sound quality is excellent, there are no options to customize it and more importantly, there is no transparency mode available. The combination of amazing sound and no transparency increases your chances of complete immersion, which is awesome for sound but can also be a safety concern (see below).
Another slight drawback with the Powerbeats Pro is the carrying case, which seems way bigger and bulkier than it should be. It is heavier and takes up more room in a pocket than the JBL case, even though the headphones themselves are lighter and sleeker, but delivers less charging power. One advantage is a quick-charge capacity that provides 90 minutes of playback with just a 5-minute charge. The case itself is charged with an Apple lightning connection, which is an outlier among other products (including the other Beats model below) we tested. This is either a plus or a drawback depending on how your other devices are powered. Available at www.beatsbydre.com.
Beats Fit Pro ($200)
Battery life (single charge): 6 hours
Recharge capacity: Up to 24 hours w/ case
Water resistance: IPX4
Noise-canceling: Yes
Transparency mode: Yes
Case weight and dimensions: 55g, 6.2cm x 6.2 cm x 2.8cm
To be honest, our first thought when we saw these was, “No way will those stay in our ears.” The small wings that function as anchors didn’t seem substantial enough to actually hold them in place. Then we started testing them and they continued to impress and surprise us with each demanding activity we threw at them. We couldn’t come up with any dry-land scenario that caused them to dislodge, even when we were completely sweaty. Their light weight (5g each) and low profile make them easily the most comfortable exercise earbuds we have tested. Even more impressively, the Beats Fit Pros come with active noise cancellation and transparency modes that aren’t found on the larger Powerbeats Pro while delivering the same outstanding spatial audio and adaptive equalizer that makes Beats sound quality so amazing. We were quite astonished at the audio quality these small earbuds produced.
From an operation standpoint, Beats Fit Pros are fully capable of voice commands with Android and Apple devices, but their small size shrinks the number of finger controls available. There is a single multi-function button on each side, which can be used to pause or advance music and control calls. A prolonged press of these buttons can either be used to control the volume or toggle between noise cancellation and transparency modes—this is customizable in the Beats app. These single buttons are intuitive to find in comparison to larger earbuds, and the buttons are large enough to operate with thin gloves.
With their smaller size, battery life is diminished on the Beats Fit Pro model compared to the Powerbeats Pro, with 6 hours of playback on a single charge compared to 9, but the overall playback time on a single charge of the case is identical at 24 hours. The charging case has a rapid recharge of 60 minutes of playing time in 5 minutes, and the case is so small and light that it barely takes up any room in your pockets. It’s ideal for use during an ultramarathon when you want a few long stretches of music, then tuck them away for a recharge during the times when you’re chatting with fellow runners. The Beats Fit Pros come in eight colors to creatively accent your training ensemble. Available at www.beatsbydre.com.
Shokz OpenRun Pro ($180)
Battery life (single charge): 10 hours
Recharge capacity: Requires proprietary cable.
5-minute quick charge for 1.5 hours of run time.
Water resistance: IP55
Weight: 29g
As much as the technology of transparency modes has advanced with earbuds in recent years, there’s absolutely no argument that the most effective way to stay aware of your surroundings is to keep your ear canals open. This is the premise behind bone conduction headphones, which historically came with the tradeoff of diminished sound quality compared to in-ear headphones, and the irritable quality of excessive vibration when used at high volumes.
Shokz (a company formerly known as AfterShokz until a couple of years ago) has been progressively closing the performance gap between bone-conduction headphones and in-ear audio systems for years, and the OpenRun Pro represents their most advanced accomplishment to date. Ninth-generation bone conduction has a new TurboPitch technology for balanced sound and CoreCushion bass enhancements for rich depths while offsetting the vibration against your ears. They provide sound quality that legitimately approaches in-ear headphones while maintaining your ability to hear your surroundings.
The OpenRun Pros operate very smoothly, with each side of the headphones designated for different functions. A single button on the left side provides full control of audio playback and phone calls, while the right side controls volume and power. (Because they are a bone conduction system, noise canceling isn’t possible and transparency mode isn’t needed.) All buttons are large and prominent enough to easily operate with gloves on, and the system is capable of voice commands with Apple and Android devices. The entire system weighs only 29 grams and rests very lightly against your ears. This is the pair that we wore for more than 20 consecutive hours without discomfort, and sometimes after a run when we turned the power off and kept them on, we actually forgot they were there. The current model of the OpenRun Pro has an overall 20% smaller size than the previous version, making it easy to combine with glasses and a hat, and less intrusive than others we’ve used for floor exercises.
For an ultrarunner’s use, bone conduction headphones have one important caveat, which is that they do not have a carrying case to recharge them. If you need to juice up on the go, you have to carry the product-specific cable (it’s not a standard port), as well as a portable power source for charging. On the plus side, the spec battery life for these headphones on a single charge is 10 hours, and we have easily exceeded that, getting about 12 hours of playback time on a single charge during a recent 100k—this is likely because we were listening to music at a relatively low volume. Beyond the quick-charge capacity, it takes one hour to fully charge the headphones to give you another 10 or more hours of operation. Available at www.shokz.com.
Shokz OpenRun ($130)
Battery life (single charge): 8 hours
Recharge capacity: Requires proprietary cable.
10-minute quick charge for 1.5 hours run time.
Water resistance: IP67
Weight: 26g
This model by Shokz is very similar to the OpenRun Pro, with a price point that is $50 lower. For performance measures, in some ways, you get a little bit less compared to the Pro, but in others, you get a little more. On the plus side, in addition to being more affordable, they are even lighter and more comfortable than the Pro version and have greater weather resistance, with an IP67 rating that makes them fully waterproof for immersion in water. (However, this isn’t a swim-specific model. Shokz has one called OpenSwim.) Otherwise, the OpenRun is best described by what it lacks in comparison to the Pro version, which isn’t meant as a terrible knock against the OpenRun, but an indication of how exceptional the OpenRun Pro model is.
One limitation of this model in comparison to the Pro is that the OpenRun uses eighth-generation bone conduction technology instead of the ninth-generation found on the Pro. As mentioned previously, each iteration of this technology marks a significant improvement in sound quality and vibration dampening, and while the difference here isn’t dramatic, it is definitely noticeable. Additionally, the battery life is lower, at 8 hours for a single charge compared to 10. One final distinction is that the operation buttons on the OpenRun are slightly smaller than the Pro version, making them a bit trickier to use if you have large fingers.
If you’re on a tight budget and the price difference between the regular OpenRun and the Pro version is a significant factor, rest assured that the OpenRun is a very good pair of bone-conduction headphones. You aren’t giving up audio or voice control features on the regular version compared to the Pro. The points we mentioned as drawbacks are subtle and can certainly be accommodated with a little bit of use. But with the presumption that you’ll have these for several years of use, our recommendation is to scrape together the extra 50 bucks for the Pro version if possible. Available at www.shokz.com.
H2O Audio TRI PRO Multi-Sport ($160)
Battery life (single charge): 5 hours
Recharge capacity: Requires proprietary cable.
No quick-charge feature.
Water resistance: IPX8
Weight: 35g
As their name implies, H2O Audio specializes in making products that are specifically designed for watersports. The California-based company’s models are popular among the triathlon crowd, and the two devices we’ve tested are noteworthy not just for being completely waterproof, but for having playback modes using both Bluetooth and an internal MP3 memory. This is critical if you’re looking for one pair of headphones for your swim workouts as well as your long runs, as Bluetooth is ineffective in the water, but internal memory headphone systems limit the amount of audio variability you have conveniently at your fingers and are unable to function with your phone to take calls on dry land. The TRI PRO Multisport has 8GB of built-in MP3 memory that is enough to store thousands of songs in most formats, including iTunes files and songs can be uploaded to the headphones via desktop connection and the H2O Audio app. During a swim workout, you can randomly shuffle songs from the internal memory and when you run later in the day, toggle to Bluetooth mode to access your favorite podcast or music app.
A groundbreaking technology on the TRI PRO Multisport headphones is Playlist+ which downloads and stores content from streaming apps like Pandora or Spotify into the memory of the headphones for offline play so you can play them back later during a swim workout without needing Bluetooth. This is a huge advance in swim headphone technology, as it removes the need for hardwiring your headphones to a desktop computer every time you want to add new songs to your mix. In theory, it is wonderful technology, but the operation of it is a little clunky in that downloading songs can only happen in real-time. This means you start a song in your Spotify playlist, press record on your headphones and then wait for the entire song to end before stopping and storing the recording (it’s comparable to recording music from one cassette tape to another, for those of us old enough to remember when that was a thing). So, it definitely takes some advance planning and a bit of a time investment to use the Playlist+ feature for now, but since the technology is brand new as of spring 2023, we anticipate the efficiency of this will improve in the future.
For swim workouts, these bone conduction headphones are ideally worn under a swim cap for a secure fit, but we found that they stayed in place relatively well without a cap, even when doing flip turns. The sound is surprisingly rich in the water, with strong bass ranges, and is further enhanced when wearing earplugs which are included. Now for the bad news. Out of the water, that sound quality diminishes significantly, with a dull overall tone. It’s sort of like listening to your neighbor’s really nice stereo system through a thin apartment wall. At higher volumes, the TRI PRO has noticeably more vibration against your ears than the Shokz models described above, and sound delivery is inconsistent with movements of the head or jaw. There’s minimal noise cancellation during phone calls, creating a lot of background noise for the person on the other end of your line. Finally, operating them is a bit awkward, with buttons located on the side of the casing, making it hard to brace with your fingers when pressing and it sometimes takes repeated presses to get the desired action. We wanted to love these headphones as a one-pair-does-everything model, and they have tremendous potential to become that, but until then we will probably use these strictly for water workouts and swap them out for a run-specific model on dry land. Available at www.h20audio.com.
H2O Audio TRI Multi-Sport ($100)
Battery life (single charge): 5 hours
Recharge capacity: Requires proprietary cable.
No quick-charge feature.
Water resistance: IPX8
Weight: 35g
Prior to the release of the TRI PRO, the TRI Multi-Sport was the premium H2O audio model designed for cross-training and water sports. It has the same ability to switch between Bluetooth mode and internal MP3 storage and has an identical 8GB of internal memory for loading audio content. The key difference is that this model does not accommodate the Playlist+ feature so you can’t download songs from your music app, but as we explained above, this is kind of a cumbersome deal anyway. If you have a number of audio files stored on your computer, it’s a relatively quick process to organize and update them for downloading onto the headphones.
Aside from lacking the Playlist+ features, there is very little performance or operational difference between the TRI Multi-Sport and TRI Pro. The ear casing on the original TRI Multi-Sport is slightly bulkier but has the same audio quality (in good ways and bad) as the PRO, and the same (occasionally wonky) button operation. Both models come with a small rubber leash to secure them to swim goggles or a wetsuit zipper if needed, but in our testing, we didn’t use this and didn’t find it necessary to keep the headphones in place. Our primary fit issue with both models is that the wraparound band protrudes more posteriorly than the Shokz models, so if you are a swimmer with a muscular upper body, you might graze your deltoid or trapezius muscles on it every now and then, but not enough to dislodge it. And while the H2O Audio items aren’t our top choices for dry land operation, the fact that you can wear personal headphones during a swim workout that deliver solid sound quality underwater is really very cool. Available at www.h2oaudio.com.
Safety Considerations
When running headphones first became prominent several years ago, it took us a long time to warm up to endorsing their use because there are so many potential safety issues at play. Generally speaking, your awareness and reaction time can be significantly reduced when your music is too loud to hear your surroundings, or when you are so distracted by a great story that you become inattentive to your immediate environment.
In urban settings, running with headphones decreases your awareness of approaching cars or other traffic dangers. On trails, you will have difficulty hearing approaching dogs or horses, or nearby threats such as rattlesnake warnings. In both settings, you are compromised in your ability to hear human voices, which will startle you if another runner passes from behind. And in more dire scenarios, you are more vulnerable to the silent approach of people who may have malicious intent.
We have grown to love running with audio, but we also follow these common sense guidelines to minimize the additional risks involved with using them:
- As a general rule, use your headphones at a low volume. You don’t need a rock concert experience with every run, and simply using open-ear headphones or transparency-mode earbuds doesn’t ensure that you will be able to hear everything around you. Save the max volume times for cranking out weight reps at the gym.
- On the street, run against traffic whenever possible so you can see oncoming cars and bicycles; this is standard advice even without headphones.
- In urban areas, press pause when approaching busy intersections or crowded sidewalks so you can fully assess the scene before proceeding. At trail races, turn them off when approaching aid stations so you can interact with the volunteers properly and efficiently (and be sure to thank them on your way out).
- Be more visually alert to your surroundings and if it’s dark outside, be very judicious about wearing headphones. If you do so, use them at the lowest possible volume.
- If using earbuds, consider alternating the use of one earbud at a time while the other is charging in the case. This keeps one ear always open so you can hear your surroundings.
Finally, always be compliant with a race’s guidelines for headphone use during races. Restrictions are generally found on the race website so you know ahead of time what the situation is. Some races don’t allow them, period. Others allow only open-ear models or require that only one earbud is used at a time. Some might allow them on certain portions of the course but not others. Whatever the case, don’t be the person who decides the rules don’t apply to them. Race directors have enough to worry about besides the increased risk of accidents due to headphone usage.