TraviaTechPie Review

The Story

Let me save you the disappointment most people find out the hard way. The best wireless earbuds for working out are almost never the ones with the best specs on paper. They’re the ones that stay put when you’re dripping, survive a year of salt and sweat, and let you hear a car before it hears you. Everything else — the codec, the ANC number, the fancy spatial audio — is a distant second once you’re moving.

Here’s the trap. Earbud marketing is built around two headline numbers: sound quality and noise cancelling. Both of those are measured sitting still, in a quiet room, by someone who isn’t sweating. Then you take the same buds to the gym or out on a run and the physics changes completely. The seal loosens as your ear canal flexes. Sweat creeps into the mesh. Your own footfalls and breathing become the loudest thing in the mix. Suddenly the spec that mattered in the review has nothing to do with the spec that matters to you.

So this guide flips the priority order. For a workout, the three things that actually decide whether you’ll love a pair are, in order: do they stay in, do they survive sweat, and can you hear the world when you need to. ANC — the feature every box shouts about — comes fourth, and for a lot of people it’s a nice-to-have, not a deal-breaker. If you want the deeper theory on this, I wrote a whole piece on why fit and use-case beat the spec sheet, and a separate one on the sealed-vs-open trade-off. This one is the applied version: which pair for which kind of workout.

Let me put the field on the table first, then argue about it.

### The contenders, side by side

A couple of things jump out of that table before we say a word about sound. Look at the water/dust ratings, because that column quietly separates “workout earbuds” from “earbuds you happen to work out in.” And the two IP digits aren’t interchangeable — the first is dust, the second is water, and the gap between a 5 and a 6 in that first slot matters. IP68 (Jabra, Soundcore) means fully dust-tight (nothing gets in) plus survivable under 1.5m of water for 30 minutes. IP57 (Samsung) is a notch lower on dust — the 5 means limited dust protection, not a full seal — plus survivable in 1m of water for 30 minutes. IPX4 (Powerbeats, Bose) means splashes only, with no dust rating at all — and dried salt and grit is what actually kills earbuds over months. So IP57 isn’t “the same as IP68,” and IPX4 isn’t “basically fine.” That first digit is the difference between a pair that lasts and a pair you replace next summer.

### Fit is the whole game, and there are three answers to it

Every earbud on this list has picked one of three strategies for staying in your ears while you move, and this — not the brand — is the real decision.

Ear hooks (Powerbeats Pro 2, Soundcore Sport X20). A loop that goes over the top of your ear. It’s the most secure option that exists, full stop. If you do burpees, sprints, box jumps — anything with real impact — a hook is the answer that never wanders. The cost is bulk in your ears and a slightly annoying dance getting them on under a hat or glasses. Worth it if security is your #1 problem.

Sealed in-ear, no hook (Jabra Elite 8 Active, Galaxy Buds3 Pro). These rely on a good tip seal and clever shaping to stay put. The Jabra in particular is built around this — it’s designed to hold through a sweaty session without a hook, which is why it keeps showing up on “best workout earbud” lists. The upside is they’re compact and disappear in your ears. The risk is fit-dependent: if your ear canal doesn’t love the tips, they’ll creep loose exactly when you’re moving hardest. Try before you commit if you can.

Open, canal-free (Bose Ultra Open, Shokz OpenRun Pro 2). Nothing plugs your ear. The Bose clips onto your ear like a cuff; the Shokz sends sound through your cheekbones via bone conduction. Neither seals, so neither can fall into your ear the way a loose tip does, and both leave you fully aware of traffic, other runners, and someone calling your name. That awareness is a genuine safety feature outdoors. Notice that neither has ANC — and that’s not a missing feature, it’s physics. ANC works by playing an anti-phase signal that cancels noise inside a sealed cavity; if your ear canal is left open, outside sound keeps arriving through the free air field and there’s nothing to cancel it against. No seal, no cancellation. The trade for that openness is bass and isolation — more on that in a second.

So which form factor is “best”? Wrong question. The honest answer is: it depends on where you sweat.

The Takeaway

Here’s how I’d actually spend the money, by the workout you actually do — not by the brand you already own.

Best all-around, and the one I’d hand most people: Jabra Elite 8 Active (Gen 2). It threads the needle better than anything else here. IP68 means it shrugs off sweat and dust for the long haul, the bud battery is genuinely long — around 14 hours with ANC off, and still about 8 with ANC running — and it holds a workout without needing a hook. It has ANC for when you’re on the treadmill or the plane, and a solid HearThrough mode for when you’re outside. It’s the “I don’t want to think about this too hard” pick, and that’s a compliment. Jabra Elite 8 Active (Gen 2) — Check price on Amazon

Best for high-impact and lifting, where nothing can move: Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. The ear hook is the reason. If you do CrossFit-style workouts, sprints, or heavy lifting where a bud shifting mid-rep would drive you insane, the hook simply doesn’t budge. Bonus: it has an actual in-ear heart-rate sensor, which is a nice complement to a chest strap rather than a full replacement — during high-intensity work, jostling introduces motion artifacts and the optical reading drifts, so for interval accuracy a strap still wins. The catch is IPX4 — it handles sweat in the moment but has no dust rating, so wipe them down and don’t treat them as bulletproof. Great buds; just respect the water limit. Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 — Check price on Amazon

Best for outdoor running, where awareness is safety: Shokz OpenRun Pro 2. This is the one I’d argue hardest for, because it’s the pick that goes against the spec sheet. Bone conduction means your ear canals stay completely open — you hear every car, every cyclist, every “on your left.” Nothing to fall out because nothing’s in your ear. IP55 handles sweat and light rain — that’s the ceiling, so don’t take these swimming, into the shower, or expect them to survive a dunk. Yes, the bass is lighter than a sealed bud and there’s no ANC (open ears, nothing to cancel against), but on a road run you want to hear the world, and you’re not chasing audiophile lows at mile three anyway. For runners and cyclists, this beats “better-sounding” buds that make you deaf to a truck. Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 — Check price on Amazon

Best open-ear if you want real music, not just awareness: Bose Ultra Open Earbuds. Bose’s cuff design gives you far better sound than bone conduction while still leaving your ears open. It’s the premium answer for someone who wants situational awareness and music that doesn’t sound thin. But it’s $299, it’s IPX4 (splash only), and it has no ANC by design — you’re paying flagship money for a very specific “open-ear that sounds good” niche. Right for the person who already knows they hate plugged ears. Bose Ultra Open Earbuds — Check price on Amazon

Best for iPhone-in-the-gym with strong ANC: Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro — with an asterisk. The ANC and sound here are genuinely excellent, and the IP57 rating is respectable for a stem-style bud — though note the IP57 covers the buds only; the charging case has no water rating at all, so don’t leave it sweaty in a gym bag. The bigger asterisk is the codec: the Buds3 Pro’s high-res audio rides Samsung’s own SSC codec, which only kicks in on a Galaxy phone. On anything else you fall back to plain AAC. So the Galaxy Buds’ best tricks — seamless pairing, that richer SSC codec, the AI features — only fully unlock on a Samsung phone. On an iPhone you get a good pair of earbuds with average battery (~6 hours with ANC on) and none of the ecosystem magic. If you’re a Samsung user who lifts indoors and wants ANC to kill the gym music, great. If you’re on iPhone, the Jabra makes more sense. Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro — Check price on Amazon

Best budget, and it punches absurdly above its price: Soundcore Sport X20. Around $80 gets you an ear hook and an IP68 rating — the two things that matter most for a workout — plus ANC and a huge battery. The sound isn’t Jabra-tier and the app polish is a step down, but for the money this is the value play, especially if you’re not sure you’ll stick with a routine and don’t want to gamble $250. Start here; upgrade later if you fall in love with training. Soundcore Sport X20 — Check price on Amazon

One last reframe, because it’s the thing I wish someone had told me. Stop shopping for “the best earbuds” and start shopping for “the best earbuds for the kind of sweat I actually produce.” A road runner and a heavy lifter and a treadmill regular are three different buyers, and the pair that’s perfect for one is mediocre for another. Nail the form factor and the IP rating first. Sound and ANC are the tie-breakers, not the decision.

TL;DR: – Do-it-all pick: Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 — IP68, ~14h battery (ANC off), no hook needed. – Lifting / high-impact: Powerbeats Pro 2 — the ear hook never moves; watch the IPX4 limit. – Outdoor running (safety): Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 — open ears, hear traffic, IP55. – Open-ear but want real sound: Bose Ultra Open — pricey, no ANC, best-in-class open sound. – Samsung + gym ANC: Galaxy Buds3 Pro — great, but shines on a Galaxy phone only. – Budget: Soundcore Sport X20 — ~$80, ear hook + IP68, the value king.

_As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability are accurate as of publication and can change._

Photo: Isaac Smith / Unsplash