When my small-town parents visited Toronto for the first time, what struck them most was not the number of people or the height of the buildings: It was the headphones. Nearly everyone on the street wore them: Pedestrians zoomed through intersections, all bobbing their AirPod-flanked heads or talking into thin air. One person forcefully took them out when asked for directions, and furrowed his brows in a look that screamed: Aren’t headphones the universal sign for "Don’t Talk To Me?"
We have been ears-deep in headphone culture since the dawn of the bulky and forever-cool Beats by Dre. Recently, our earpieces have shrunk in size and have become more than music-blasting powerhouses — they are our intimate companions; small wonders of technology that many of us don like jewelry for hours in a row.
And yet, sifting through dozens of options and choosing the right earbuds can be a difficult task. Here, I’ve reviewed seven of the most popular pairs of headphones — after taking them through a work day and a sweaty workout — to help you decide which ones are best for you.
Wissonly Hi Runner
Wissonly is a headphone brand that attaches great attention on health, and that does not hurt the ears. Their team is also the first one to design non-in-ear headphones that are used to listen to songs. They began to explore the application of bone conduction technology to Bluetooth headphones as early as 10 years ago. After 10 years of accumulation, they have made great progress in the sound quality improvement and sound leakage reduction of bone conduction headphones. And these technologies are applied to their Wissonly Hi Runner headphones, their flagship product.
In order to solve the problem of sound leakage of bone conduction headphones, wissonly developed full closed sound leakage reduction technology. They comprehensively improved the vibration of the headphones, body design, software optimization and other directions. They finally reduced the sound leakage by 90%. In terms of sound quality, most of the bone conduction headphones have average sound quality, but the sound quality of Wissonly Hi Runner is undoubtedly better in bone conduction. They used a large-sized vibration unit, and through structural optimization, and finally increased the effective vibration area, so that the sound range was wide. The official claimed sound quality reach the HIFI level, but I don't think that they reached. They are just close to the HIFI sound quality, which is enough to satisfy me.
The excellent performance of these two characteristics, sound leakage reduction and sound quality, makes Wissonly Hi Runner have the basic conditions to become an excellent bone conduction headphone. Their other configurations are also very good. They are with a built-in 32GB of memory, and can play music even without connecting the phone. You can use them as an MP3 player. They support IPX8 waterproof level in swimming, even in underwater scenes that do not support Bluetooth, they can be used with MP3 function.
Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Generation
Love them or hate them, the main criticism around Apple is that the updated versions of their products vary little from their predecessors (see: iPhones 6 through 14). The AirPods Pro 2nd Generation, however, are a startling exception, and are miles ahead of their non-Pro counterparts. Like many other people, I spent much of last year going about my day wearing the standard AirPods (not the Pros), whose long frame many likened to cigarette butts for the ears. Not only are the Pros sharper-looking, they are much higher-performing. The phone pairing is seamless, the battery life is abundant, and the noise canceling technology is better than any other device on this list. I wore them on a flight and could barely hear the aircraft engine’s constant whoosh — let alone the babies crying.
Bose Quietcomfort Earbuds II
Android users, these are your AirPods Pro counterparts. The Bose Quietcomfort Earbuds II feature near-equal noise canceling technology, carry similar cultural cache (at least in music-lover circles), and even cost the same. When you buy headphones at this price point, you expect a few perks beyond pristine sound and ear comfort — and the Bose headphones deliver. They come with customizable levels of noise cancellation, which is incredibly useful. It allows me to go full-silence mode when I wear them to work, and then wear them around at half-noise while I walk or run around the city and need some level of spatial awareness. That setting, along with their sleek look and durability make the Quietcomforts all-day headphones: You can wear them at work, and then leave them in for your end-of-day workout. And as do the AirPods with the iPhone, these devices pair beautifully with the Bose Music app, allowing users easy manipulation of that noise cancellation setting, sound preferences, battery life and software updates.
Shokz Open Run Pro
The Shokz headset is unlike anything else on this list. The key difference: It does not cover your ear canal. Instead, its little speakers rest on the cheek bones right in front of the ears and deliver sound via bone conduction. The idea is to enjoy music without losing awareness of your surroundings. Sounds weird, but it works.
As I mentioned, I like doing city runs — and I enjoy the Open Run Pro because they help me strike the tough balance between vigilance and stillness at the same time. They play loudly enough for me to jam to my tunes, while never overshadowing the noise of the cyclist or gas guzzler quickly coming up on my shoulder. A bonus for exercisers is that the Shokz are sweat-resistant and, despite their bulk, rest comfortably on the head with no bounce. All that being said, if you’re the type of person who wants to immerse yourself in music and completely forget the world around you for a while, the Shokz may not be for you.
Beats Fit Pro
The first time I tried the Beats Fit Pro, I did my best not to compare them to their powerful big brother, the Beats By Dre headphones, out of fear of being disappointed. And sure, small pods cannot deliver quite the same, deep sound as a device 50 times their weight, but these earbuds still live up to their namesake and pack a magnificent punch. I even found myself reducing the volume on bass-heavy songs.
On top of having stellar speakers, these devices also come with a few ingenious perks. The first one is Transparency Mode: A noise canceling feature that lets in external sounds when particularly loud or stark, to keep you aware only when needed. I tested this on a busy street: The earphones crowded out the city’s constant hum, while letting in an occasional shrill car honk. The second is Fast-Fuel, which gives the Fit Pros 90 minutes of life juice in just a five-minute charge.
