One of the best wi-fi exercise headphones for 2024

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear with wingtip | Assistant assist: Google Assistant, Siri

Learn our full evaluation of the Beats Match Professional

The Beats Match Professional got here out on the head of the pack due to their snug, safe design, good sound high quality and transparency mode, amongst different issues. As my colleague Billy Steele detailed in his evaluation of the Match Professional, the buds’ wingtip design units them other than different Beats earbuds and makes them notably good for operating and different exercises. The buds are pretty small and lightweight, and the wingtip on every is versatile sufficient to hug your ear properly with out placing an excessive amount of stress on it. This helps them really feel safer while you’re transferring round so much be it throughout a morning jog or whereas taking a HIIT class. The buds are additionally IPX4 rated — not the best quantity of safety I encountered, however sufficient to maintain the buds working properly even throughout my sweatiest classes.

Because it had been, the Beats Match Professional stayed put throughout each single exercise. Nonetheless, adjusting their place on the fly can result in certainly one of my few gripes with the buds: unintentional presses of the onboard controls. There have been numerous occasions once I went to regulate a bud and I ended up pausing my music within the course of as a result of the buttons are really easy to set off.

Sound high quality is stable and notably nice for exercising due to its punchy bass and total balanced profile. Spatial audio assist is nice to have, and whereas Adaptive EQ means you possibly can’t modify the EQ your self like you possibly can with different buds, it does make for persistently good audio high quality. It’s additionally one much less factor to play with out of the field, which I count on many individuals will respect; these earbuds are a real unbox-and-go possibility. ANC can be sturdy and transparency mode will turn out to be useful for individuals who typically run, cycle or in any other case train exterior. It was probably the most natural-sounding transparency mode of any earbuds I attempted, and it’s simple to activate or off both with onboard controls or from the management panel in your iOS or Android smartphone.

Talking of, the Beats Match Professional work notably properly with iPhones due to their built-in H1 chip, however Android customers can obtain their companion app to entry issues like fast pairing, management customizations and a battery standing indicator. I didn’t get into element concerning the setup course of as a result of, properly, there isn’t a lot of 1. However I’ll say that, upon unboxing, I used to be shocked how low-cost the charging case feels. Whereas it offers an additional 21 hours of charging on high of the buds’ promised six hours of life, the construct high quality seems like an actual step down in comparison with the buds themselves. Other than that and the contact controls, although, the Beats Match Professional provide an entire package deal for athletes, one which can be utilized all day along with coaching classes. Plus, their customary $200 worth isn’t too cost-prohibitive, and so they can typically be discovered on sale for much less.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear | Assistant assist: Siri, Google Assistant

The Jabra Elite 8 Energetic virtually bested the Beats Match Professional, however in the end the latter gained due to their wingtip design and extra natural-sounding transparency mode. However apart from these two issues, the Elite 8 Energetic are simply pretty much as good, if not higher, than the Match Professional.

Initially, the Elite 8 Energetic has one of many highest sturdiness scores of any earbuds we examined. Rated IP68, it’s protected in opposition to every kind of mud and particles and it’ll survive being submerged in water at excessive stress. Jabra additionally subjected the Elite 8 Energetic to military-grade testing, defending them from extreme humidity, excessive temperature, rain and altitude. That is extra safety than most want, however it’s going to seemingly give some folks peace of thoughts to know that these buds can take a beating (and, most essential, they’ve basically sweatproof).

That additional safety doesn’t make the Elite 8 Energetic cumbersome or unattractive as one may assume. These buds are a number of the most snug I attempted, with a light-weight design and a safe match. The soft-touch end on the buds and their charging case provides a stage of luxurious that the majority othersI examined didn’t have, too. There are onboard controls as properly, and so they’re not as simple to by chance press as these on the Beats Match Professional.

The Elite 8 Energetic has an excellent sound profile out of the field however you possibly can modify the EQ inside the companion cellular app. The app has six preconfigured settings to select from too, and I discovered myself utilizing Bass Increase and Energize most of all whereas exercising (they’re fairly related with sturdy bass, however Energize emphasizes highs a bit extra). The Elite 8 Energetic undoubtedly has a bonus over the Beats Match Professional for anybody who prefers to customise EQ, or needs to have totally different sound profiles relying on what they’re doing. On high of that, these buds assist spatial sound with Dolby Audio.

The Elite 8 Energetic assist adaptive noise cancelation, and so they do job of analyzing your surroundings and blocking out interferences. “HearThrough” is Jabra’s model of transparency mode, and it’s the setting to make use of when operating exterior in a metropolis or an space with a number of site visitors. Sound isn’t drowned out by wind on this mode both since HearThrough is designed to neutralize wind noise whereas additionally letting you keep conscious of your environment. I ran in some notably windy climate whereas testing these out, and I had persistently good listening experiences each with HearThrough and ANC activated.

As for battery life, the Elite 8 Energetic will get eight hours on a cost with ANC turned on, and an extra 24 hours when using their charging case. You’ll be able to stand up to 56 hours of complete use in the event you’re not utilizing ANC, which is exceptional. The case additionally helps wi-fi charging, a characteristic that the Beats Match Professional’s lacks, and it additionally feels extra substantial.

In the end, you possibly can’t go mistaken with both the Beats Match Professional or the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic. However Jabra’s buds provide a bit extra customization and sturdiness than the Beats Match Professional, and never everybody will want the latter’s bonus options. Nonetheless, in the event you’re an athlete who likes to mess around with sound profiles or need a number of the most sturdy wi-fi earbuds accessible right now, the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic are those to get.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear | Assistant assist: Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant

The Jabra Elite 4 Energetic provide one of the best worth for the cash of any decide on our checklist. For $120, you get an IP57-rated design, stable sound high quality with adjustable EQ, good ANC, the identical HearThrough transparency mode that the Elite 8 Energetic have, app connectivity and a complete of 28 hours of battery life. These had been a number of the best buds for me to “pick up and go” with, whether or not it was for an impromptu stroll across the block, a sweaty HIIT session in my basement or an hour of labor wherein I actually wanted to dam out distractions and get issues executed.

Just like the Elite 8 Energetic, the Elite 4 Energetic is tremendous snug and Jabra has actually gotten the onboard controls proper on this sequence of buds. The buttons should not really easy to press that you just by chance set off them everytime you modify the match, and so they present satisfying suggestions while you truly do deliberately press them. Sound high quality and ANC are spectacular, and I mainly by no means needed to fear about operating out of battery.

The primary variations between the Elite 4 Energetic and the costlier Elite 8 Energetic are that the latter have the next IP score, voice steering, spatial sound assist with Dolby Audio, an extended total battery life (56 hours with the charging case) and that satisfying soft-touch end. The IP score and prolonged battery life are the 2 major options that might compel some to spend the additional cash on the Elite 8 Energetic as an alternative. Additionally, spatial audio is sweet to have if in case you have the buds semi-permanently positioned in your ears continually pumping out tunes, whatever the exercise. In any other case, although, you’re getting a ton of fantastic options with these $120 earbuds.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: In-ear with hook | Assistant assist: None

In case you have lower than $50 to spend, the $30 JLab Go Air Sport are an excellent possibility. I didn’t have excessive expectations going into testing these buds, however I used to be shortly impressed by their consolation and sound high quality. Numerous headphones designed for exercises have this hook that wraps across the high of your ear, and it does assist the Go Air Sport keep securely connected to your head. The hooks listed below are fairly versatile and have a soft-touch end, which provides to their consolation (I attempted a number of equally designed buds with a lot stiffer hooks that had been a ache in additional methods than one.) Admittedly, this design will take some getting used to in the event you’re new to it, however it’s a surefire option to get a little bit additional stability throughout excessive depth exercises.

Sound high quality is fairly good on these buds as properly, though not almost as balanced as that of the Jabra Elite 8 Energetic or the Beats Match Professional. I additionally respect which you could cycle via three totally different EQ modes — Signature, Balanced and Bass Increase — utilizing the buds’ onboard controls. There’s no app to fuss with, and that was a pleasant change of tempo after principally testing buds with some form of app connectivity.

You’ll be able to count on eight hours of playtime on the Go Air Sport, plus one other 24 hours of battery life with its charging case. Whereas the USB-A cable constructed into the underside of the case is useful, I really feel prefer it ought to be a USB-C connector as an alternative (it’s the yr 2024, in spite of everything). The case can be on the cumbersome facet; you possibly can nonetheless throw it right into a backpack or purse simply, however it’s not as svelte as circumstances you’ll see on costlier buds.

Connectivity: Wi-fi | Type: Open-ear | Assistant assist: None

I used to be apprehensive about open-ear headphones, particularly throughout exercises. However the Shokz OpenFit pleasantly shocked me from the primary time I put them on. Earbuds with open designs like this permit for extra situational consciousness, with the aim being to let noise in reasonably than block it out. The OpenFit buds do an excellent job of this with out skimping on sound high quality or consolation.

The buds themselves virtually float over your ear cavern and Shokz’s soft-finish “dolphin arc” hook is versatile sufficient to securely wrap across the high of your ear with out placing an excessive amount of stress on it. There’s a bud-like portion on the different finish of the hook that acts as counterbalance, leading to a dependable match that by no means faltered throughout all types of actions together with operating, energy coaching and indoor biking. Granted, none of these workouts contain shaking your head up or down or facet to facet an excessive amount of; possibly don’t put on the OpenFit to take heed to head-banging loss of life steel (in the event you can’t management your self).

Sound high quality is stable contemplating the design, and the OpenFit will get fairly loud as properly. These buds have Shokz’s Direct Pitch expertise, which makes use of reverse sound waves to optimize the gap and angle from the buds to your ear canal. The corporate claims this helps hold the sound directed in the direction of your ear and reduces audio leakage. In my testing, I discovered that to be true to a sure extent. The OpenFit had one of the best sound high quality and total quantity out of all the open-ear units I attempted, however in the event you crank the amount as much as the max (or shut), the individual subsequent to you’ll undoubtedly hear what you’re listening to. General, these are an excellent possibility for anybody who doesn’t discover in-ear buds notably snug, or those that simply want to have extra consciousness of their environment whereas understanding.