1. The list in brief ↴
2. Best overall
3. Best for fit
4. Best for run tracking
5. Best for comfort
6. Best for bass
7. Best for rain
8. Comparison table
9. How to choose
10. How we test
The best running headphones allow you to listen to your favourite tunes, audiobooks or podcasts when you get out onto the sidewalks, park paths and trails. We've tested heaps of running headphones to bring you our pick of the very best. Say goodbye to annoying wires, music that cuts out when you're sweating and to earpieces that don't stay in place.
Of course, when you lace up your best trail running shoes and set out on a run, it's good to be able to hear what's going on around you, especially where traffic is involved. The earbuds we've chosen here have a 'through' mode that allows you to still hear your immediate surroundings via built-in microphones. Bear in mind that this doesn't give you the best sense of the direction a sound is coming from, so you'll still need to be on alert when crossing roads and cycle paths.
For us the best running headphones are the Shokz OpenRun Pro, which have an open-ear design that lets you hear the world around you, while still delivering great sound quality with plenty of bass. These are bone conduction headphones, which means your ear canals are left open so you can still hear potential hazards. They won't be to everyone's liking though, so read on for our six top recommendations.
The quick list
Best overall
Plenty of bass, with an open-ear design for safety and lightweight, springy construction.
Best for fit
Great for running and HIIT, with a hook design that won't budge when you bounce.
Best for run tracking
No watch? No problem! These buds will track your pace, distance and heart rate automatically when you start running.
Best for comfort
Super light earbuds with a handy quick recharge, customizable sound levels, and HearThrough function to let ambient noise in.
Best for bass
True wireless headphones with an open-ear design so you can hear the world around you, and super rich bass.
Best for rain
Impressive water resistance for bone conduction headphones, and more affordable than the Shokz OpenRun Pro.
The best running headphones overall
Shokz (formerly known as Aftershokz) is the biggest name in bone conduction running headphones, and when you try the OpenRun Pro, you'll see why. Although they're a great choice from a safety point of view, allowing you to remain aware of your surroundings, bone conduction headphones are usually seriously lacking when it comes to sound quality. Not the OpenRun Pro. This headset (a successor to the original OpenRun) has new bass transducers and when we tested them, the difference was remarkable. The sound was easily on par with regular earbuds, but without obscuring the outside world.
Shokz has also repositioned the charging port so the headphones are easier to power up, and the control buttons are slightly larger and easier to tap while you're on the move. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is the overall shape and comfort. There's no pinching at all, and the OpenRun pro don't budge or bounce even when you're powering up steps or tackling a technical descent.
The only real downside was that we could sometimes feel a faint tickling sensation when we turned up the volume, but this only happened when we were enjoying some seriously heavy music on our runs. Only metalheads are likely to notice it, and even then it's not too distracting.
Read our full Shokz OpenRun Pro review
The best running headphones for fit
The best thing about the Beats Powerbeats Pro ear buds for adventurous runners is that the hoop over the top of your ear pretty much guarantees they will stay in place however gnarly the terrain. This, combined with four different eartip sizes, ensures a great fit for all. Battery life is excellent at nine hours, plus double that from the somewhat large charging case, and you can adjust volume and change track from either ear.
Being an Apple product they pair faster with other Apple tech, and you can use Siri with them. Many trail runners will like the fact that they don’t totally cancel all ambient noise, so you can hear some surround sounds from the landscape you’re running across. The splash-proof IPX4 rating is good enough for most adventure situations, but don’t drop them in a deep puddle, as they are not completely waterproof. The sound quality is good – not overly bass-heavy – but there is no option to alter the EQ to your personal tastes.
The best running headphones for run tracking
Amazfit is well known for making affordable fitness trackers and smartwatches, and it's also branching out into running headphones. The Powerbuds Pro don't just feel and sound good, they also track vita stats as you run.
These smart headphones will detect when you break into a run, and track your heart rate, pace, and distance automatically. The results aren't as accurate as you'd get from your best GPS watch (distance is calculated using an accelerometer rather than satellite positioning), but if you prefer to run without anything on your wrist it's an excellent option.
When you're not sweating it out on the trails, the Powerbuds Pro will be looking out for your health. It's all too easy to end up slumping over your desk at work, but these little earbuds can detect when your head is out of alignment and warn you that you're putting your neck at risk. This doesn't happen automatically (you have to choose when to check your posture), but it's a handy tool and it can be very alarming to hear that you're putting so much strain on your cervical spine, you might as well be carrying a toddler on your head.
The best running headphones for comfort
These super light, dust-resistant and waterproof running headphones are brilliant for exploring. There are three sizes of grippy eartip to ensure a good fit for most ear-shapes and they fit very close to the head. The quick recharge function is longer and the battery life is on the shorter side compared to others in this test, but 7.5 hours from the headphones is still good, and with the streamlined case only weighing 35g it’s very easy to take that extra 20+ hours of charge with you.
The Jabra Elite Active 75t have fully customizable sound levels through the Jabra Sound+ app, and you can use Siri and Alexa too. Trail runners will enjoy the HearThrough mode which allows ambient sound through, however ultra runners can’t use one bud at a time to extend battery life on long races as removing and re-inserting one earbud automatically pauses and resumes playback.
The best running headphones for bass
The OpenFit are different from other Shokz running headphones. They still leave most of your ear canal open, allowing you to hear noises like traffic and cyclists around you, but rather than bone conduction, they basically use tiny speakers that funnel sound straight into your ears. That might sound like a recipe for sound leakage, but surprisingly that's not the case, and other runners will be totally unaware of your workout soundtrack.
Sound quality is exceptional, too – particularly if you enjoy plenty of bass, as I do. The Shokz OpenFit are some of the few running headphones that really do justice to your music, and even beat a lot of non-sports headsets I've tested over the years.
The only downside is that they don't allow quite so much ambient sound through as bone conduction headphones, so I'd be less inclined to use them for races or shared bike/footpaths.
Read our full Shokz OpenFit review