Best headphones for jogging 2024

Here at the home of London’s elite online readership, ES Best, we know how important it is to stay in shape. But finding the motivation to do exactly that is not always easy.

If your exercise of choice is jogging, the right soundtrack can work wonders in encouraging you to put one foot in front of the other. But, in order to get aurally acquainted with your carefully curated playlist, you’re going to need a set of headphones that cling to your ears, otherwise, you’ll be constantly stooping to pick them up, presuming they didn’t make their way down an inconvenient drain.

What should you look for in a set of running headphones?

Fit

So, when on the hunt for the ideal cans for jogging tightly-fitting in-ears, well-fitting on-ears, or something with a supporting sports band will be the lightweight order of the day.

Aural awareness

Next up, do you want high-quality music and the ability to be audibly aware of the world around you? Yes, Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) can drown out the cacophony of the cars and citizens around you, but having aural awareness of traffic on the roads and, perhaps more of a problem, single-minded cyclists mounting the pavement to avoid red lights, can be the difference between event-free exercise and ending up in a ditch.

Waterproofness

Also, given the dual threat of sweat and, being Britain, sudden rain storms, you’re going to need something suitably shower-proof to avoid unnecessary expense. To that end, look for an IP (Ingress Protection) rating. As a quick guide to the models I’ve featured here:

• IP55: protected from low-pressure water jets.
• IP57: protected against immersion at depths of 15cm – 1m
• IP67: protected against immersion at depths of 15cm – 1m.
• IPX4: protected against light rain.
• IPX5: protected against low-pressure water jets.
• IPX8: protected against immersion at depths of up to 1.5m.

Sound

Obviously, sound quality is also paramount to perfecting your pavement pounding, but the degree of that will depend on what tech style you opt into. Also, whether you’ll want to use your anointed earphones for other activities, such as commuting, will be a factor, as bone conduction and open ears will leak sound and generally annoy others around you, but, frankly, I’ll leave that down to you and your own levels of acceptable social etiquette.

How we tested

How else would you test the ‘Best Headphones for Jogging’? Simply by sorting through the myriad models on offer, selecting a shortlist, calling in review units and, yes, forcing my poor, old body to endure exercise on the main streets of my manor.

With an eye for design, a head