The best wireless earbuds for running

We found the JBL Live Beam 3 to be a set of very well-designed earbuds with short, ovoid nozzles that make for a very comfortable listening experience, despite concerns about them staying in well for some ear shapes. These earbuds pack a long list of software-dependent features enabled by the JBL app, including EQ adjustment, a fit tester, ANC adjustment, personalized EQ, TalkThru, and Find My earbuds, all connecting via Bluetooth 5.3 with SBC, AAC, LDAC, or LC3 and supporting Multipoint. The vast majority of listeners will like the sound of the JBL Live Beam 3, which is characterized by strong bass, emphasized highs, and a pleasing timbre, making it a consumer-friendly sound. JBL did a solid job equipping the JBL Live Beam 3 with excellent noise rejection, ensuring your voice will sound good enough over chat clients for calls whenever and wherever. The JBL Live Beam 3 are pretty adept at hushing surroundings with an effective ANC unit, isolating you from 10-30dB of outside noise, which is ideal for commutes and long travels. In our testing, the JBL Live Beam 3 lasted 8 hours and 14 minutes with music playback, which is a great result for true wireless earbuds and supports convenient Qi-compatible wireless charging for the case.

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 are fashionable earbuds with metallic accents, a secure fit ensured by three sizes of concha fins, and an IP54 rating that is adequate for workouts or rain. We found the Sennheiser Smart Control app to be very useful, offering self-tuning, a 5-band equalizer, geofencing, firmware updates, and a fit test, all connecting via Bluetooth 5.4 with SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, LC3, LE Audio, Auracast, and Multipoint. These earbuds sound great, with a virtual panel of listeners finding the tuning and immersiveness of the earbuds to be stellar out of the box, with the high immersiveness score especially good for gaming and movie content. The microphone performance of the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 is well below what we are used to for higher-tiered true wireless earbuds, with highly variable speech quality and environmental noise not consistently suppressed, particularly struggling with wind noise. In our lab tests, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 performed well, posting 83% average noise attenuation and physically blocking almost 50dB in some ranges with a good seal, making them an excellent companion for frequent flyers. We measured the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 battery life at 7 hours and 45 minutes of music playback, which is beyond what most current true wireless earbuds manage, and the case supports Qi-compatible wireless charging.

The Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 are covered in a ShakeGrip coating to prevent slippage, providing a comfortable fit for several hours, and feature an IP68 water and dust resistance for the earbuds and IP54 for the case. The headline feature is the LE Audio smart case, which can transmit audio from virtually any 3.5mm or USB-C source to the earbuds, and the Jabra Sound+ app enables Dolby Spatial Sound, a five-band equalizer, and customizable controls, connecting via Bluetooth 5.3 with SBC and AAC, and supporting Multipoint. Most people will enjoy the sound quality of the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, which received a high overall score from a simulated panel of listeners, though we observed an under-emphasis in low-mid frequencies and high frequencies above 8kHz, with a relative over-emphasis in the sub-bass. The six onboard microphones on the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 are very capable, focusing on your voice to ensure clarity, as the noise rejection effectively blocks out most simulated office, street, and wind noise. These earbuds offer great noise canceling, reducing most environmental noise by 80% and low-frequency noise below 100Hz by about 30 dB, which easily blocks out most rumble from an airplane engine. We found the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 lasted an impressive 9 hours and 3 minutes in our battery testing, significantly above average, with the charging case providing an additional three charges and supporting wireless charging.

We found the EarFun Air Pro 4 to have a very lightweight design that we could wear comfortably for hours at a time, along with IPX5 water resistance. These earbuds feature the latest Bluetooth 5.4 technology, including aptX Lossless, LDAC, AAC, and SBC codecs, Google Fast Pair, and Bluetooth Multipoint, while the EarFun Audio app offers two Ambient Sound modes, five ANC modes, a low-latency streaming mode, a Find headphones feature, and a 10-band custom equalizer with 30 EQ presets. We were impressed by the sound quality of the EarFun Air Pro 4, which sounds good out of the box and achieved great scores across the board from a simulated panel of listeners, closely following our headphone preference curve aside from a dip in the highs around 8-11kHz. The six onboard microphones accurately pick up the voice in quiet environments, and while they are not ideal for taking calls in noisy conditions, they offer a modest improvement in windy and street conditions, allowing voices to still be made out. The improved ANC on the EarFun Air Pro 4 blocks out 10-20dB of additional noise, reducing the loudness of external noise by an average of 75% at its highest setting, making it noticeably helpful in noisy environments like a bus. The EarFun Air Pro 4 lasted 8 hours and 44 minutes in our battery test, which is above average for wireless earbuds, with the case claiming up to 41 hours of total playback time and supporting wireless charging.

The JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds have a typical bud with a short lollipop stem design, with short, ovoid nozzles that easily fit into the ear canal, and the earbuds hold an IP55 rating, allowing them to withstand jets of water and dust. A standout feature is the Smart Charging Case with its standalone user interface screen, allowing control of settings directly from the case, and it also functions as an audio transmitter for USB, 3.5mm, and wireless connections, alongside Bluetooth 5.4 with SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3, Auracast, and Multipoint, all customizable via the JBL Headphones app. The JBL Tour Pro 3 sounds really decent, with the sound definitively geared toward a more consumer-friendly audience, receiving high marks across the board with Timbre, Distortion, and Immersiveness scores all netting a mean opinion score of 4.3 or higher. The microphone quality is exceptionally good, demonstrating insane capability at getting rid of or avoiding noise in office, street, and wind conditions, though it struggles a little with echoes. The JBL Tour Pro 3 cancels noise very well, with the ANC enabled to full-blast hushes away about 83-84% of outside noise, and the easy fit with ear tips ensures extremely good isolation even without foam tips. In our standardized test, the JBL Tour Pro 3 lasted 8 hours and 17 minutes with ANC on, which is a very respectable result, and the Smart Charging Case supports wireless charging.

The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro features a unique charging case with a reflective cover and a small display, while the earbuds themselves have a stem design for a comfortable fit and IPX5 water resistance. The Soundcore app provides a staggering amount of features including the HearID Sound Test, a Preference Test, 22 EQ presets, an eight-band custom equalizer, spatial audio modes, Easy Chat, Adaptive Sound Leakage Compensation, a decibel meter, and Find Device, connecting via Bluetooth 5.3 with LDAC and supporting Multipoint. The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro offers great sound quality, with most people enjoying the sound out of the box, achieving high Timbre and Immersiveness scores, and its default sound closely follows our headphone preference curve with an emphasis on bass frequencies below 200Hz. The microphones work well for taking calls on the go, clearly picking up voices, and doing a great job of focusing on the voice in simulated office and street environments, while also handling simulated wind noise and reverb well. The Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro does a good job of blocking external noise, with ANC reducing low-frequency noise like airplane engine rumble by about 30dB, and we found it effectively blocked out noisy city sounds. In our battery testing, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro lasted 5 hours and 42 minutes with ANC enabled, and combined with the charging case, Anker states you can get up to 30 hours of battery life with ANC, with fast charging providing 4 hours of playback from 5 minutes.

The Skullcandy Method 360 ANC with Sound by Bose earbuds are practically identical in shape and size to Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, offering a secure, snug fit that feels stable without causing ear fatigue, though the case has a quirky design with an integrated carabiner clip and a slider mechanism that can loosen over time. A key feature is the Sound by Bose branding, leveraging Bose-tuned drivers and an app that is essentially a reskinned Bose QuietComfort app, offering a customizable 5-band EQ, adjustable ANC and Stay-Aware modes, low-latency Studio Mode, and button remapping, all connecting via Bluetooth 5.3 with AAC and SBC, and supporting Multipoint. The default sound of the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC is very bass-heavy but spacious and enjoyable, achieving a strong overall score from a simulated panel of listeners, with high Timbre and Immersiveness scores, though the lower Distortion score hints that clarity can suffer, especially at higher volumes. The microphone delivers a clear but noticeably processed voice quality, with speech coming through intelligibly but sounding thin and slightly recessed, and while it does a good job with noise rejection, it struggles in windy conditions. The Skullcandy Method 360 ANC delivers respectable noise cancellation for its price, reducing low-frequency sounds by up to 28dB and higher-pitched sounds by up to 35dB, which dulls everyday distractions during commutes or flights. In our testing, the Method 360 ANC managed 7 hours and 43 minutes with ANC on, with the case providing a total of 32 hours of charge, and its Rapid Charge feature gives about 2 hours of playback from just 10 minutes plugged in, though it lacks wireless charging.

When considering which wireless earbuds are best for you, we find that the choice often comes down to your priorities, balancing features, sound, and budget. For those seeking ultimate versatility, the JBL Tour Pro 3 and Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 truly stand out with their smart charging cases that double as audio transmitters, allowing wired connection to airplane entertainment systems or gaming consoles – a massive plus for travelers. The JBL Tour Pro 3 even includes a screen on its case for direct control. If sound quality and future-proofing are paramount and microphone performance is less critical, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 offers stellar tuning and high immersiveness out of the box with advanced codec support like LE Audio and Auracast. For those on a tighter budget who still want a feature-rich experience, the EarFun Air Pro 4 delivers impressive sound quality, good noise canceling, and a comprehensive app with extensive customization options at an affordable price. Meanwhile, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro provides a staggering amount of customization through its app and a unique, though somewhat gimmicky, case display, alongside great sound and effective noise canceling, though its battery life is shorter. The JBL Live Beam 3 is a solid all-rounder, sharing many smart features with its more premium sibling, the Tour Pro 3, and delivering a pleasing, consumer-friendly sound with strong bass and emphasized highs. Lastly, if you are a bass-lover on a budget and appreciate bold design, the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC with Sound by Bose offers a very bass-heavy sound and respectable noise cancellation for its price point, though its case design might not be for everyone and it lacks wireless charging. Ultimately, your ideal pick will depend on whether you prioritize unique connectivity, top-tier audio, budget-friendly features, or a specific sound signature, as all these earbuds offer strong performance in their respective areas.