Best running earphones and headphones to soundtrack your workouts in 2026

Listening to music in the best running earphones can help with your pacing, make exercise feel easier and reduce mental fatigue. Their sound quality and tech has come on a lot, with some being controllable via your triathlon watch.

When running, you need headphones that’ll stay put, feel comfortable and deliver a good enough sound that you can hear and appreciate your music over other noises.

That said, it’s also vital for safety that you can still hear other sounds over the music, such as approaching cars, cyclists or other hazards.

Incidentally, you’ll want to steer clear of run earphones that only offer music in a noise-cancellation mode.

The best running rarphones also need to be resistant to weather and sweat, connect to your phone easily, fit well and offer sufficient charge to get you through your sessions.

With all this in mind, we’ve put six pairs of run earphones through their paces to see which hit the right notes.

Meet our testers

Rob Slade was content editor at 220 Triathlon before becoming deputy editor at Live for the Outdoors. Rob uses his love of on-foot adventures to test running headphones.

Former 220 staff writer Kate Milsom is now a freelance sports journalist. Her training for marathons and triathlon provides the ideal opportunity to test running earphones.

220 editor Helen Webster is a marathoner and multisporter with decades of experience testing running gear from jackets, to watches and headphones.

Best running headphones in 2026

1. Shokz OpenRun

Price	$129.85/£130
Style	Bone conducttion
Battery life	Up to 8 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	IP67 (not suitable for swimming)

The Shokz OpenRun set the gold standard for running earphones. Nothing matches their comfort, low weight, battery life and value, not to mention their balance of sound quality and situational awareness.

To boot, these bone conduction earphones now have a quick-charge function, which delivers 90 minutes of battery life in 10 minutes of charging.

Although they withstand rain and sweat, the OpenRun are not waterproof enough for swimming.

Read my full Shokz OpenRun review.

Review by Rob Slade

2.Shokz OpenFit Air

Price	$119.95/£119.99
Style	In-ear bud
Battery life	Up to 6 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	IP54 dust and sweat resistant

Unlike many of the headphones in the Shokz range, the OpenFit Air are individual devices that sit on each ear, rather than units connected by a band around the back of the head.

They also use the brand’s DirectPitch tech rather than bone conduction, which fires the music into your ear canal.

This model follows the launch of the standard OpenFits, which I reviewed in 2023. The latter retails at £179.99, while the Air has an RRP of $119/£119. 

That’s a big saving, yet the duo are rather similar. They both come with a case, which charges the earphones when they’re stored inside. That gives you up to 28 hours of playback for both headphones.

Reduced run time

The standard OpenFits give you up to seven hours on a single charge, while the Airs are just six. Still, that’s not a huge difference. Charging time is the same (60mins to charge the earbuds to full and 120mins to charge the case to full).

Comfort is pretty high and is on par with the pricier OpenFits, though I do find the OpenRun range more comfortable, as after several hours you can start to feel a bit of fatigue on top of the ear with these.

They fit securely and I’ve never had any issues with movement when running or moving about. Situational awareness is also decent, though not as good as you get with bone conduction headphones.

Sound quality is pretty good, though it’ll never compete with in-ear alternatives. What’s not so good is the fiddly touch-sensitive controls, though I’ve never been bothered by having this as a feature.

Ultimately, I’d pick these over the original OpenFits due to the price difference, but I still prefer using my OpenRun Pros – you just don’t get a charging case with them!

Review by Rob Slade

3.OpenRock X Earbuds

Price	$169.99/£169.99
Style	Bone-conduction
Battery life	Up to 12 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	Not stated

The OpenRock X Earbuds have a couple of things going for them. First, they boast a battery life of up to 12 hours on a single charge or up to 48 hours when intermittently stored in the case.

While I haven’t had a stopwatch going for the last couple of months of use, I think I’ve only had to charge them once, and I listen to music a lot. So that’s a tick for battery life. The earbuds also pivot at two points to help you get a comfortable and secure fit.

The latter was achieved, but I did experience some discomfort when listening for extended periods, and if I tweaked the pivots the earbuds felt less secure.

Situational awareness is okay, but not as good as some competitors, while sound quality is also mostly decent, but I did find it tinny at times.

The carry case is also a little bulkier than you get with Shokz, for example.

Review by Rob Slade

4.JLab Epic Air Sport

Price	$99/£69.99
Style	In-ear bud
Battery life	Up to 12 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	IP66 (water and sweat resistant)

These great-value earphones are lightweight (21g per pair), sweatproof and stay put throughout sessions. They also come with six different earbud tips, allowing you to choose a shape that’ll suit your ears best. There are three noise cancellation modes, including on, off and ‘be aware’, which allows external noises in, and all three modes work as intended.

The earphones also come with three pre-set sound settings and one customisable setting, which allows you to adjust levels in the app. These work well and we were impressed with the sound quality on the pre-set modes, with strong bass and good clarity.

You can also control the music and settings by tapping the earphones themselves, with different combinations achieving different functions. They can be frustrating at times, but vitally you can customise these (or turn them off) using the app. Battery life’s a claimed 12hrs, while the charging case is said to provide an additional 56hrs.

Review by Kate Milsom

5.Onesonic MXS-HD1

Price	$151/£120
Style	In-ear bud
Battery life	Up to 5 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	Splash resistant

Compact is the word for these earbuds. From the slim case to the slender buds, the Onesonics are super portable and light. They connect to your phone without fuss and claim a playing time of up to 5hrs, with a further 20hrs of portable charging available from the case.

Audio quality is decent, but not with quite the same depth and range as the best running earphones. They’re also only splash resistant, so we wouldn’t reach for these in a heavy downpour. In terms of safety, they’re noise cancelling with ‘environmental noise suppression’, which can be hazardous as you can’t hear approaching cars when outside.

Though there’s an ‘ambient sound mode’, we find this doesn’t make much difference. These buds come with three silicon tip sizes to choose from, which we find fit securely in our ears. With just a double or single tap, play/pause and volume can be controlled on the go.

Review by Kate Milsom

6.Creative Outlier Free Pro

Price	$129.99/£120
Style	Bone-conduction
Battery life	Up to 10 hours (claimed)
Storage	8GB
Waterproof rating	IPX8

The Creative Outlier Free Pro are wireless, bone-conduction headphones which you can wear in the pool for 40 minutes at a time.

Their long list of features includes a microphone for hands-free phone calls and 8GB of music storage.

Sound quality could be better though and their waterproof rating isn’t the highest. You’ll also have to remember to cover the mic when swimming.

Read my full Creative Outlier Free Pro review.

Review by Helen Webster

Also consider

7. Shokz OpenRun Pro 2

Price	$180/£169
Style	Bone-conduction
Battery life	Up to 12 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	IP55 sweat and water resistant

The OpenRun Pro 2 takes things up a notch compared to the rest of Shokz running headphones.

Listening time extends to 12 hours, dual drivers enhance the sound and noise-cancelling mics make phone calls clearer, according to the brand.

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8. JLab Go Air Sport+

Price	$40/£29.99
Style	Ear buds
Battery life	Up to 9 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	IP55 sweat and water resistant

The JLab Go Air Sport+ look to deliver a lot of bang for your buck.

The brands promises a secure fit in sweaty workouts, nine hours of play time per earbud extended by the charging case, and customisable audio settingsm including a Be Aware mode.

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9. Philips TAA7306/00

Price	$62/£50
Style	In ear
Battery life	Up to 6 hours (claimed)
Waterproof rating	IP57 sweat and water resistant

Besides having Bluetooth to connect to most music-playing wireless devices, these Philips in-ear buds have a couple of smart features.

The charging case uses UV light to clean them as they charge and they have a built-in heart-rate monitor.

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How we tested

Our expert testers have contributed to these running earphones reviews using similar methods. 

On short and long runs alike, they’ve evaluated fit, comfort and battery life. They weighed up how good the music or audio sounds versus how well the earphones keep you aware of your surroundings.

As ever, our testers assessed value for money by comparing price to performance and the availability of features and extras, like charging cases. 

What to look for in running earphones?

In comparison to everyday earphones, running earphones have a trickier job. Here’s what you should consider when shopping for your next pair. 

Design

Running earphones can be in-ear, where the ear bud sits in your ear, or bone conduction.

The latter design, where the ear plug hooks around your ear without going inside, is considered to be the safest.

You can still hear the music but it doesn’t block out ambient noise, letting you hear potential hazards on the streets and trails. The downside is that sound quality is inferior to in-ear versions. 

Comfort

Look out for lightweight, soft silicone running earphones because these are likely to be comfortable over longer runs. 

Fit

Especially when you’re running off-road and faster on tarmac, running earphones need to fit really securely.

Waterproof

Even if you just run in your earphones, you’ll want a decent waterproof rating to prevent them getting damaged by rain and sweat.

Connectivity

Wireless earphones, equipped with Bluetooth to connect to your phone, are universal now. These do away the hassle of cables, which most modern phones don’t support anyway.

Storage

More expensive running earphones will be able to store music uploaded from your track library. This can be handy if you want to save mobile battery or don’t have internet reception. 

Battery life

The best running earphones will last you several runs and potentially a whole week’s training: six to eight hours is a typical run time. 

A charging case, which you can charge your earphones in between mains charges, are a nice extra. 

While some running earphones are waterproof, you’ll probably want a pair of the best swimming headphones for pool and open-water swims.

Recent updates

• 19 December 2025: we improved the formatting of the article, removed out-of-stock products, and added three more recommended products.