The best cycling headphones combine audiophile-grade sound quality with a secure fit, making them comfortable to wear during intense rides like road cycling, commuting, gravel riding, and even mountain biking.
Best Headphones For Cycling
1. Suunto Wing Bone Conduction Headphones
The Suunto Wing Bone Conduction Headphones are the Finnish company’s first foray into the bone conduction market.
Bone conduction headphones have been gaining popularity in the cycling and sports markets over the past few years.
If you’ve never tried bone conduction headphones, they are earbuds that sit in front of your ears and transmit sound to your inner ear through vibrations.
The Wing has established itself as the standard design for bone conduction headphones. It features two earbuds positioned directly in front of your ears, connected by a band that goes around your ears and behind your head.
The Wing is made primarily of titanium alloy, with layers of soft silicone that are gentle on your skin.
The Wing’s promised battery life of ‘8+ hours’ is accurate according to our tester Suvi, and in fact, it can last up to 20 hours with the carrying case.
If you’re looking for a high-quality, stylish headset that lets you hear your surroundings while cycling, the Suunto Wing is a great choice.
It’s a bit pricey, but it offers a range of features, including head-motion control, built-in LED lighting, and a charging dock, that really set these headphones apart and go a long way toward justifying their high price tag.
2. Haylou PurFree BC01
Like other bone-conduction or air-conduction headphones, the Haylou BC01 weighs less than 30 grams, or 28 grams to be exact.
Much of the weight is due to the titanium frame, which is standard for all the open-ear headphones featured in this guide.
However, when they return to their original shape, they seem to have a good balance of flexibility and compression.
In my experience, they provided a decent level of comfort that was stable and secure, whether I was pedaling a stationary bike, tackling a rough trail, or even running.
Another rugged feature is their high dust and water resistance rating of IP67. While I didn’t intentionally push this rating to its limits, the headphones worked perfectly during my rainy and sweaty workouts at home.
Haylou’s battery life is a bit shorter than other bone conduction earphones, but I rarely ran out of battery, and when I did, I could get a few more hours of use with just a 10-minute charge.
In terms of sound quality, the Haylou headphones have decent bass and treble, especially for bone conduction headphones.
They don’t have flashing LEDs, custom power supplies, or infinite battery life, but they’re cheaper than most of the competition, making them a great choice for those who want a great pair of bone conduction headphones without breaking the bank.
3. OneOdio OpenRock S
If you enjoy listening to music while cycling, an open-ear design is a great way to hear your surroundings.
There are plenty of options out there, and bone-conduction headphones are a big part of the market, but the OneOdio OpenRock S headphones, which use more standard audio drivers, are superior in many ways and easy to recommend.
OneOdio claims 60 hours of use on a single charge with the case, or 19 hours on the earbuds’ built-in battery.
If the battery runs out, you can put them in the case for just five minutes and get an hour of playback.
Tester Dave was impressed with the battery life, saying, I charged them when I started this review, and they’re still on their first charge a few weeks later.
The earbuds are quite large, but they’re also very comfortable to wear. The adjustable ear loops around your ears make them comfortable to wear. They’re also IPX5 waterproof, so they’re safe to use in light rain.
4. Oladance OWS Sports Headphones
The Oladance OWS Sports headphones offer a distinctly different sound quality from other open-ear bone conduction headphones due to their superior air conduction.
I really like the fact that you can customize your listening experience with a variety of custom listening options, including a deeper bass, pure tone settings, and a variety of custom equalizer (EQ) settings.
This is something that bone conduction headphones can’t do.
The combination of air conduction and custom sound creates a truly rich listening experience, something that all bone conduction headphones struggle with.
It also eliminates jawbone vibration, which can sometimes be a bit jarring.
Like most electronic widgets these days, the buttons are pretty bare bones, but the app lets you choose the order in which you want to tap the buttons to control the Oladance headphones’ interactive features, making it a lot easier to remember functions like answering/ending calls, playing music, skipping tracks, etc.
While the Oladance OWS Sports headphones are technically waterproof, with an IPX8 rating, the lack of built-in memory storage was disappointing.
Bluetooth can’t transmit data underwater, so swimming was out of the question.
Oladance packed some nice details into the headphones’ packaging, including four colors, a protective carrying case, and a sturdy, braided charging cable.
5. EarFun Free Pro 3 earbuds
The affordable EarFun Pro earbuds deliver a fun, well-balanced sound that supports the Chinese brand’s claim that “you can enjoy premium sound even on a budget.
The audio performance and versatility of these headphones outperform those of more expensive cycling headphones.
There’s also noise-cancelling and ambient sound mode, as well as a handy ‘Find My Headphones’ feature that came in handy when Gary’s headphones fell out of his ears during testing.
The earbuds are IPX-5 waterproof, weigh just 5 grams each, and have a generous 7.5 hours of battery life.
EarFun’s headphones aren’t the best in any category, and they’re not designed specifically for cycling. But if you’re looking for a great all-rounder at a reasonable price, look no further.
6. Oladance Open Ear Headphones
The Oladance Open Ear Headphones are a great way to listen to music while riding. They provide such clear sound that you’ll barely notice you’re wearing them.
Oladance has taken a different approach to open-ear headphones, developing a design similar to open-back headphones.
These headphones are essentially tiny speakers that sit right in front of your ears. But the point is that they allow you to listen to music without blocking your ears from outside noise.
The headphones are extremely comfortable and, weighing just 12.5 grams each, you’ll almost forget you’re wearing them.
I was impressed with how well they fit my helmet and glasses, and how well they matched every helmet and glasses combination.
Battery life is also very good. Oladance claims up to 16 hours of battery life, but in reality, it’s more like 12-15 hours.
7. Jabra Elite 7 Active
Jabra’s wireless in-ear headphones for cyclists and runners use Jabra’s ShakeGrip technology instead of earhooks or fins to secure them to your ears.
This won’t be an issue for many, but it was disappointing for our testers, as it didn’t provide a consistent, stable fit.
The well-developed app offers plenty of customization options, the build quality is top-notch, the battery life is generous, and the sound is as good as most in-ear competitors in this price range.
However, they sadly missed out on our best-of list, as you can find better sound quality and more wearing options elsewhere.
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