Head-Fi Buying Guide (Exercise Headphones)

Author joe
Publish date Jul 2, 2014
Article read time 24 min read

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Introduction by Jude Mansilla

One of the questions I'm most frequently asked by non-Head-Fi'ers is, "What headphones do you recommend for exercising?" As often as I'm asked this, you'd think I looked like a world-class athlete. (I don't.)

All of the following recommendations sound surprisingly good, given that they're purpose-built for getting sweat on, rained on, or snowed on. One of them is even machine washable.

Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless

Type	Closed, in-ear, wireless Bluetooth headphones
Price	$199.95 USD
URL	beatsbydre.com
Purchase	Shop now

By Jude Mansilla

If you insist on going wireless, but you want to go dongle-free (ruling out the Noble Audio BTS or Astell&Kern AK XB10) or collar-free (ruling out the Phiaton BT 100 NC or Bose QuietControl 30), then you're probably looking for something like the Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless. The Powerbeats3 Wireless is dongle-free and collar-free, with just the two earpieces joined together by a short wire, and otherwise completely wireless. I dig this form factor.

The Powerbeats3 Wireless replaces the Powerbeats2 Wireless, and, at first blush, looks virtually identical to its predecessor, but there have been some significant changes. For one, its design has been tweaked to improve ease of fit, and the changes worked, as I was able to get a quicker, more comfortable, more secure fit. The over-ear hooks have also been improved, go on quickly, and help guide the earphones to the right position over my ears every time.

Also, the Powerbeats3 significantly steps up sound quality versus the Powerbeats2. Whether due to acoustic tuning adjustments, or maybe just better fit--I suspect both--the sound has cleared up substantially. The Powerbeats2 was murky, congested. The Powerbeats 3 is much cleaner, much clearer, and I'm able to get good bass response without the need for an isolating seal. That last point is important, as, for any outdoor activity, I stay away from isolating headphones, for safety's sake. Is it hi-fi? No. Is it good enough for me for an exercise headphone? Yes, definitely. Its tendency toward bass heft is the kind of signature I prefer when I'm exercising, and I like that I can get it without a super-tight seal. To be clear, ear tip fit is still very important with the Powerbeats3 Wireless--for me, the largest of the included ear tips works best, the medium is thinner sounding, and the smaller ones make for thin, downright reedy sound, so take the time to pick the right tips.

I’ve found Powerbeats3 competitors from Jaybird and Sennheiser can provide better fidelity, but their tradeoffs are what put this newest Powerbeats3 at the top of the category. The Jaybird Freedom is not nearly as easy to get a good fit with (see more details below). The Sennheisers are not wireless, which is a product type (wireless exercise headphones) they’re sorely in need of.

If you're an Apple ecosystem user (I very much am), the Powerbeats3's use of the new Apple W1 wireless chip is a huge value-add. W1 allows for quick connection to one's iPhone--just hold the Powerbeats3 near your iPhone, and a connection dialog pops up, confirm it with a click, and you're paired. Very cool. If you're an iCloud / Mac user, it gets even better. The Powerbeats3, once paired to your iPhone, sends that connection information to iCloud, making the Powerbeats3 available as an audio device to all of your other Apple devices connected to that iCloud account. Today, I was listening to music on my iPhone, but then wanted to watch a YouTube video on my MacBook. Going to my list of audio devices on my MacBook, I saw the Powerbeats3 an available device, selected it, and I was good to go on the Mac--all without ever having gone through a pairing dialog with the Mac. This makes device switching (between my Apple devices) very quick, very easy.

While I’m not sure if it’s attributable to the W1 chip, the Powerbeats3 also has phenomenal wireless range not just with my iPhone, but also with the LG V20 (Android). While my house is on the small side, I can’t remember any similar small form factor wireless earphones that would allow me to maintain a connection from my subterranean home office to the complete opposite side of the house on the ground level.

Also, the Powerbeats3’s battery life is easily at the top of class, with up to 12 hours from a full charge. Should you happen to run the battery down, the Powerbeats3 has a “Fast Fuel” feature, which gives you one hour of playback with only a five-minute charge. Another area the Powerbeats3 is top of the class in is outgoing voice quality when used as a Bluetooth handset for phone calls. Like its predecessor, the Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless has outstandingly clear, direct-to-handset-type outgoing voice quality. I'd actually use the Beats for an important teleconference, which I wouldn't say for any other wireless exercise headphones I've used.

One of the basic requirements to make it into this Buying Guide in the Exercise Headphones category means having to be water- and sweat-resistant, which the Powerbeats3 is. I haven’t had this long enough to make a call on its durability, so we may have to update this entry with that later.

Of the current crop of exercise headphones we’ve used, the Beats Powerbeats3 Wireless is our top choice in this category.

Bragi Dash

Type	Closed, fully wireless (each earpiece is wireless), in-ear monitor/hearable
Price	$299 USD
URL	http://www.bragi.com
Purchase	Shop now

By Jude Mansilla

32-bit ARM processor; digital signal processor; multi-color LED light system; 4GB of internal storage; digital MEMS microphones with custom mechanical tuning; external auditory microphones; EarBone microphone; high-resolution optical touch sensor; two 3-axis accelerometers; two 3-axis gyroscopes; a 3-axis magnetometer; dual pulse oximeter sensors; and more... In short, it’s a powerful microcomputer with more than 150 micro components and 27 sensors. If you think of what might contain all of that, you might envision some toaster-oven-sized device in a hospital or lab. What I’m talking about, however, are two pods, each smaller than a walnut, that fit securely in your ears. I’m talking about the Bragi Dash.

Here’s the long story short: The Bragi Dash is a pair of fully untethered, wireless earphones. They passively isolate, and quite well, but you can also activate its external microphones to better hear the world around you. With its plethora of sensors, the Bragi Dash can tell you quite a lot about you and how you’re doing while you’re exercising. And the Dash actually sounds quite good with music, too, especially considering its earpieces are so small and tech-packed, fully wireless, and so waterproof that you can literally swim with them on, whereupon it’ll also tell you with voice prompts how many laps you’ve done, your breaths, and heart rate. (For terrestrial activities, it’ll tell you similarly pertinent contextual information.) In terms of musicality and resolution, you won't mistake it for your kilobuck custom-fit IEMs, but in consideration of its form factor and functionality, I find the Dash's sound very satisfactory, and do often keep it in my backpack and use it.

You can copy up to 4GB of music to it (AAC and MP3) and play music with the Dash without the need for a phone or player. That said, it does have Bluetooth, so you can also pair it with your Bluetooth-equipped phone or player. You control it with swipe and tap gestures on both earpieces, to control its features, control your calls, control your music--and, after a little getting use to, it all works very intuitively.

The earpieces are not wired together--they're completely untethered--so the Dash is as wireless as wireless can be. You can even use just the right earpiece alone as a Bluetooth headset--by the way, its outgoing voice quality is good (not Sennheiser Presence outstanding, but good). It has a companion smartphone app, that is very well-designed, and through which you can do many things, including OTA firmware updates. There’s literally too much stuff in and about the Bragi Dash to cover in a Buying Guide entry, but, suffice it to say, the Bragi dash is an amazing piece of kit.

Why isn’t it our top pick for a fitness headphone? Well, it does come with some tradeoffs. First of all, its wireless range is very limited--you can’t stray too far from your phone before the signal starts breaking up. Within range, though, I’ve found the connection to be very stable. Battery life is also quite short, at only three to four hours--however, the Dash does come with a compact metal storage case that can recharge the earpieces a few times over.

Still, despite these tradeoffs, the Bragi Dash is extremely impressive, and I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how well the team at Bragi was able to pull together so much technology, and so many features, into something so useable. As far as exercise headphones go, I’d give the Bragi Dash a strong recommendation, and choose it as the runner-up best pick in this category.

NOTE: If you search for online reviews of the Dash, you may notice something: the reviews from early in the Dash’s release painted a very different (and a lot less rosy) picture than the more recent reviews do. The reason for this is because at the outset the Dash was indeed rougher around the edges. However, Bragi has been quite diligent about developing and releasing OTA firmware updates that have continually improved the Dash. It’s a lot more solid a product today than it was many months ago.

Sennheiser PMX 686 SPORTS, MX 686G SPORTS, OCX 686 SPORTS and CX 686G SPORTS

Type

Sennheiser PMX 686 SPORTS and MX 686G SPORTS
Non-isolating, in-ear exercise headphones
$109.95 and $69.95, respectively

Sennheiser OCX 686 SPORTS and CX 686G SPORTS
Isolating, in-ear exercise headphones
$109.95 and $69.95, respectively

URL

http://sennheiser.com

Purchase

Shop now | Shop now | Shop now | Shop now

By Jude Mansilla

Dear Sennheiser,

Why don't you make a wireless exercise headphone? I'm not sure if you've noticed, but everyone else is doing it, and while that's often not a good reason to do something, it actually is in this case.

The only reason I'm asking you, Sennheiser, to make a wireless exercise headphone is because your line of wired sports headphones has been among the very best sounding--and the very best fitting--in the entire industry.

As you've proven with products like the Sennheiser RS220, RS185, PXC 550, MOMENTUM Wireless, and the Presence--not to mention the ubiquity of your wireless technologies in pro audio--you definitely know wireless.

This year, for the first time ever, wireless headphones have eclipsed wired headphones in terms of dollar sales. The sport/exercise headphone market is one of the most popular categories and wireless ones especially. I've been waiting for years for a move from you here. Don't get me wrong, though, your wired exercise headphones are, again, superb:

Your behind-the-neck sports headphones like the Sennheiser PMX 686 SPORTS have been my absolute favorite type of wired exercise headphones, providing minimal isolation (which is a must for me, when I want to do outdoor activities, and still be able to hear approaching people, animals, and vehicles). I've always found your behind-the-neck bands to be secure, light, and comfortable.

Over the years, your other non-isolating earbud models--like the current Sennheiser MX 686G SPORTS model--have been paragons of secure, comfortable-fitting non-headband earbuds that can withstand sweat and gym bag abuse. I love its Slide-to-Fit mechanism, which I find far more convenient than swapping out easy-to-lose fins and flaps. Don't you think a model like this that's wireless would be a strong competitor to the likes of Jaybird, Bose, and Beats? I do.

Your sealed, isolating models are fantastic for indoor gym rats. The Sennheiser OXC 686 SPORTS with their over-ear hook design are among your most secure fitting exercise pieces in my experience. And your Sennheiser CX 686G SPORTS--the sound-isolating counterpart to the aforementioned (and outstanding) MX 686G SPORTS--is another indoor health club headphone winner.

Fantastic exercise headphones, all of these. However, it's time now to free them with your vast experience with wireless technologies. Pretty please?

Sincerely,

Jude

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