The Best Waterproof Wireless Earbuds for Sweat, Rain and More

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Wireless, waterproof earbuds can be an essential companion when the weather threatens to demotivate you back to the couch. You can head out the door and get back to the grind with a set of earbuds that won’t short out in the rain, die from being dropped in the pool, or wear out after a few months of sweaty gym sessions. They’re also an ideal gift for the runner, gym-goer, athlete, or outdoor adventurer in your life. We’ve spent some time with the top waterproof wireless earbuds on the market and employed our test team to help you arrive at the best pair for you.

Best Waterproof Wireless Earbuds:

• Best Overall: Jabra Elite 8 Active

• Best Budget: JBL Reflect Aero TWS

• Best Open Earbuds: 1MORE Fit Open Earbuds S50

• Best Bone Conduction: SHOKZ OpenRun

• Best for Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Users: Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro

What to Consider

Before you buy your next set of waterproof buds (or find the ideal gift for a friend or family member), consider the primary details that separate the best buds from the competition.

Waterproofing and Durability

The first thing waterproof earbuds should do is not break when you get them wet, which is why all of the earbuds we selected come with an ingress protection rating of at least seven. Bluetooth earbuds don’t really work underwater, but look for an IPX8 rating if your use case (say stand-up paddleboarding) involves occasional immersion.

The ingress protection or IP rating comes from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), a standards organization that publishes a ratings guide for manufacturers regarding dust and liquid ingress protection. Setting aside the dust rating—the first of two figures following “IP”—waterproofing ratings exist on an eight-factor scale. An IPX1-rated earbud can only withstand water droplets from above, while an IPX4 rating indicates a device can sustain splashes of water from any direction. While an IPX6 rating may work for many users—these earbuds can withstand jets of water—an IPX7 is the first truly waterproof rating, indicating that a device can be submerged in shallow water for up to 30 minutes. Lastly, IPX8-rated earbuds can be submerged for long periods of time.

Sound Quality

As a general rule, you pay for what you get when it comes to sound quality in wireless earbuds. Sound quality is also somewhat subjective, but in our opinion, a great set of wireless earbuds should deliver clear, crisp audio that’s balanced across treble, midrange, and bass. Midrange is the hardest for earbud manufacturers to get right, as it’s easily overpowered by bass and treble in cheap earbuds. Midrange sound comes from things like the guitar, the flute, and the human voice.

Added Features

By now, most wireless earbuds that fit into your ear canal feature noise-canceling and transparency modes, so we remarked on how those modes performed where relevant. If you don’t want to fish your phone out of a dry bag to change the tunes, consider the on-earbud controls and whether they make sense for your use case. And if you’re forgetful about charging your earbuds, look for a pair with a quick-charge mode—many net an hour of battery life from a 5- or 10-minute charge.

How We Selected

We researched the market to identify wireless waterproof earbuds with an IPX7 rating or higher, meaning all of these buds are truly waterproof. Then, we relied on our own testing team made up of everyone from tech experts to runners, to people who just get caught out in the rain too often. We also sought variety, ensuring that we included at least one pair of buds under $100 and earbuds with and without over-ear fins.

Elite 8 Active Wireless Earbuds

If you’re looking for a high-quality set of waterproof wireless earbuds for yourself or an athlete or adventurer in your life, look no further than Jabra’s Elite 8 Active. They are pricey at $200, but they come with an IP68 waterproof rating that means you can submerge them for up to 30 minutes without harming the electronics. Heck, even the case is IP54 rated, meaning you won’t ruin it if you spill your coffee on it.

The buds sound fantastic, with a vibrant midrange and thumping bass, plus the ability to tune your sound using the equalizer in the Jabra mobile app.

The “active” component is about more than waterproofing, too. The earbuds are also dustproof and feature a rubber coating that helps them stay in your ear, even after a couple sets of burpees.

Outside the gym, we found them plenty comfortable for all-day wear. The buds’ hear-through mode is sensitive enough to let you order a coffee or chat with a coworker without removing the buds, although it can be overly sensitive to white noise like air conditioners.

The noise canceling function was a godsend on a recent cross-country flight, too. Our only complaint is the buttons that control playback and toggle between hear-through and noise canceling modes—they require you to push the buds further into your ear canal to work, which was uncomfortable at times.

Reflect Aero TWS

Wireless, waterproof workout earbuds don’t get much more well-rounded than JBL’s Reflect Aero. The IP68 rating denotes the highest level of immersion protection—you still wouldn’t want to swim with them because bluetooth doesn’t travel well through water, but you could hit the shower or dunk yourself in the tub with no qualms about hurting the earbuds.

As for the fit, JBL gives you two points of adjustment. The earbuds come with three sizes of silicone ear tips and three size options for the ear fins help the buds stay in your ear. The fins work well—no amount of headbanging could dislodge the earbuds once we dialed in the fit, and we also didn’t struggle with plastic pressure points during testing.

The Reflect Aero’s sound quality is good but not great; it’s balanced and clear, but also a touch hollow compared to competitors like the Jabra Elite 8 Active. That said, the mobile app comes with five equalizer presets and the ability to customize the equalizer to your liking, so there’s some room to tailor the sound to your favorite genres of music.

The ambient sound mode is a little more effective than the noise canceling mode, which still reduces ambient noise noticeably but won’t deliver total serenity on a cross-country flight.

Fit Open Earbuds S50

1More’s Fit Open Earbuds S50 offer a comparably priced alternative to the Shokz OpenRun for people who want to keep their ears open while they work out or go about their day. Rather than using bone conduction, these buds employ wide silicone ear tips that sit atop the ear canal.

Holes in the ear tips allow sound to pass through, and wings wrap around your ear to keep the buds in place. Other key features include an 11-hour battery life for each earbud and an additional 27 hours of battery life stored in the case, as well as a five-minute quick charge feature that adds two hours of battery life to the buds. Touch controls on each earbud allow you to control playback, use a voice assistant or answer calls.

A member of our test team found that the Fit Open Earbuds S50 stayed put during a half-marathon, and the open ear style helped her channel the energy from the crowd lining the course. However, compared to the tester’s day to day earbuds (Apple AirPods), the Fit Open Earbuds S50 sounded slightly tinny and weren’t quite loud enough to keep the music center stage amid a noisy environment.

OpenRun Waterproof Wireless Headphones

Shokz’s OpenRun isn’t a pair of earbuds, but these bone conduction headphones’ lightweight design and comfortable fit make them worthy contenders. That’s especially true in the fitness realm for runners, cyclists, or anyone else who wants to bump their favorite tracks without losing situational awareness by blocking their ear canals.

One of our senior editors, Summer Cartwright loves the safety that this feature provides, saying, “As a female runner, safety is always on the mind when I go out alone. These headphones help me feel aware of my surroundings, without forfeiting on sound quality. Sure, you won't get the same audio that you would from AirPods, but that's the point. I'm able to hear podcasts or music with ease, while also picking up any cars or people around me.”

Bone conduction works by transferring sound through your cheekbones rather than through the air, and a titanium band keeps the headphones in place so the sound stays consistent as you run or work out.

However, the flipside of bone conduction is that the sound isn’t as rich as you get with in-ear buds. The Shokz OpenRun also leaks more sound than typical earbuds, so they could give you away if you’re listening to podcasts at the office.

If you’re comfortable sacrificing some sound quality for the benefits of bone conduction—such as not getting sore ears from in-ear buds,—you’ll also enjoy the OpenRun’s quick charge feature that adds 90 minutes of battery life on a 15 minute charge.

The headphones also feature buttons to control playback wireless range of 33 feet. There’s even a mini version that features a 0.83 inch shorter band for people with smaller heads; Shokz provides a sizing guide on its website.

Galaxy Buds2 Pro

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds2 Pro earbuds are some of the best-sounding, most feature-packed buds you’ll find that are also fully waterproof.

The buds deliver “phenomenal sound, stellar noise cancellation, and excellent call quality,” according to our senior tech editor, Stefan Vazharov, thanks in part to a pair of drivers in each earbud (rather than a single driver, the industry standard). You can even toggle ambient sound mode simply by talking, a helpful feature for brief interactions at the gym or while out shopping when you don’t want to reach for your phone to pause the tunes.

In addition to using a mobile app, you can change the volume or track via touch controls on the buds and Samsung’s hands-free voice assistant, Bixby. Battery life is decent at eight hours per charge and an additional 24 hours in the case, plus a quick-charge feature that nets an hour of battery life off a five-minute charge.

There are also a couple of features reserved for Samsung Galaxy smartphone owners, including Hi-Fi sound streaming (which also requires a Hi-Fi music streaming subscription) and the ability to charge the Galaxy Buds2 Pro case off the back of a Galaxy smartphone.

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