The Best Swimming Headphones
For those who prefer to sweat it out on land, you’re spoiled for choice with the workout headphones you’ve got to pick from. The same can’t be said if you’d happily take lengths in the pool over time pounding a treadmill. But the headphone options for swimmers are thankfully growing, offering more ways to get an audio boost when you need it most.
The Shokz OpenSwim Pro ($180) is our top pick, but we have others here that perform well out of the water, too. These are the headphones to pack into your swim bag, along with your goggles, towel, and swimsuit. Be sure to check out the rest of our health and fitness guides, including the Best Fitness Trackers, Best Heart Rate Monitors, and the Best Running Shoes.
Best Overall
Shokz dominates the running headphone space for people who don’t like blocking out the world around them. The OpenSwim Pro, like the cheaper, older, and still available OpenSwim, has things pretty much sewn up for swims, too, whether you're in the pool or in open water. The Pros have a high IP68 rating and feature a lightweight neckband design that’s a mix of titanium and silicone to tick the comfort and durability boxes. It’s also slim enough to be worn underneath a swim cap if you want those headphones out of sight.
There’s 32 GB worth of onboard storage, so you can drag and drop all the most popular audio file formats. Shokz also has a dedicated swimming EQ mode that produces an enjoyable, balanced, and overall likable sound. Add in easy-to-reach physical controls, solid battery life, and the Bluetooth streaming missing from the original OpenSwim, and you have here a really top-notch pair of swimming headphones.
Waterproof rating IP68 Headphone type Open-ear, bone conduction Onboard storage 32 GB File formats MP3, M4A, WAV, APE, FLA Bluetooth version 5.4 Battery life 6-9 hours Runner-Up
Nank, previously known as Naenka, has launched a string of solid-performing swimming headphones and even beat Shokz to offer two different listening modes. The Runner Diver2 Pro isn't as svelte as the OpenSwim Pro, but does have an IP69 rating, which is the highest level of protection against water ingress and means it can be used in freshwater and seawater.
Like Shokz, Nank uses bone conduction technology for a sound that definitely prioritizes power over balance and overall clarity. Nank provides an interesting method of converting Spotify audio files to drop them onto the headphones, which didn’t actually work on our attempts. On a more positive front, the battery life is great, whether you’re streaming over Bluetooth or from the 32-GB music player, which helps make them a solid and dependable pair to go swimming with.
Waterproof rating IP69 Headphone type Open-ear, bone conduction Onboard storage 32 GB File formats MP3, M4A, WAV, APE, FLA Bluetooth version 5.4 Battery life Up to 10 hours
Best Value
The Jabees 7Seven undercut most of the competition on price and manage to muster up a performance that makes them worthy of heading in the water with them. These bone conduction headphones don’t offer class-leading sound, yet it’s still bright enough with plenty of volume to make them strong pool companions. The not-so-great part is the more noticeable sound leakage. You experience some bone conduction vibration tickle at louder volumes as well.
Like Shokz and Nank, Jabees offers the same amount of onboard storage. However, sending files over was a bit slower compared to other headphones. When the files are on, it’s a breeze switching between listening modes with the built-in physical buttons. It does fall short of the promised six hours battery life, but it’s hard to fault these affordable swimming headphones that get the key things right.
Waterproof rating IP68 Headphone type Open-ear, bone conduction Onboard storage 32 GB File formats MP3, WAV, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC, M4A Bluetooth version 6.0 Battery life Up to 6 hours Best for Smartwatch Users
H20 Audio is firmly in the business of making waterproof headphones. The Sonar 2 Pro bucks the usual swimming headphone design trend and offers a feature that will appeal to smartwatch owners. These wired earbuds use bone conduction technology, with Bluetooth and 8-GB music player streaming options to pick from. H2O Audio offers various ways to get audio streaming into your ears, including its interesting Playlist+ mode. When you're playing music over a Bluetooth connection, you can simply record audio as if you were using a tape recorder, then send that playlist to your headphones.
You can also get an optional clip for your goggles that lets you stream audio over Bluetooth by closing the distance gap between smartwatch and headphones. You’ll just need to sacrifice your swim stats to make it happen. I did find that the headphones on your goggles setup was a it unwieldy.
Waterproof rating IPX8 Headphone type Open-ear, bone conduction Onboard storage 8 GB File formats MP3, M4A, WMA, APE Bluetooth version 5.3 Battery life 6-9 hours
Best for Swimming and Running
Suunto’s first-ever swimming headphones opt for a familiar neckband design and include some smarts that want you to perform better in the water. Available in black or a more eye-catching Lime Blue colorway, the Aqua is slightly heavier than other neckband headphones, which thankfully isn’t an issue when you’re in full stroke flow.
They’re suitable for both pool and open-water swims and use bone conduction technology to deliver sound that, while likable, isn’t on par with Shokz and Nank, especially if you crave exceptionally clear, versatile audio. Sound aside, they’re equipped with motion sensors that analyze swim technique, dishing out metrics in Suunto’s phone app like stroke posture and head pitch angle. The accompanying charger usefully doubles as a power bank for other devices to make it handy to have outside of your swim time.
Waterproof rating IP68 Headphone type Open-ear, bone conduction Onboard storage 32 GB File formats A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP Bluetooth version 5.3 Battery life Up to 10 hours
Compare Our Picks
| Waterproof rating | Headphone type | Music player storage | File formats | Bluetooth version | Battery life | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shokz OpenSwim Pro | IP68 | Open-ear, bone conduction | 32 GB | MP3, M4A, WAV, APE, FLA | 5.4 | 6-9 hours |
| Nank Runner Diver2 Pro | IP68 | Open-ear, bone conduction | 32 GB | MP3, M4A, WAV, APE, FLA | 5.4 | Up to 10 hours |
| Jabees 7Seven | IP68 | Open-ear, bone conduction | 32 GB | MP3, WAV, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC, M4A | 6.0 | Up to 6 hours |
| H20 Audio Sonar 2 Pro | IPX8 | Open-ear, bone conduction | 8 GB | MP3, M4A, WMA, APE | 5.3 | 6-9 hours |
| Suunto Aqua | IP68 | Open-ear, bone conduction | 32 GB | A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, HSP | 5.3 |
Key Things to Know
Swimming headphones might look like regular headphones, but there are design traits that make them more suited to being dunked in a pool or lake. The key thing is that they offer more waterproofing than other sporty headphones. While other water-resistant designs offer some protection, it's more along the level of defense against sweat or getting caught in a rain shower.
Swimming headphones require a step up. IP68 and IP69 ratings are the highest level of protection and the most common with swimming headphones.
A waterproof design influences other aspects. For example, it will have physical buttons, rather than touch ones, that are easier to operate in water. It also has an impact on the charging setup. Most swimming headphones have a proprietary charger, as it's challenging to make a seal strong enough to protect a USB or USB-C charging port. Be prepared to add yet another charger to your life.
How Do Swimming Headphones Play Music?
Most, if not all, swimming headphones play music through streaming audio files from a built-in music player. Some also offer the option of streaming over Bluetooth, which is mainly present to make the headphones more useful when you’re back on dry land. You have to store files on the headphones themselves, because Bluetooth and water don’t really mix. The frequency on which Bluetooth operates is absorbed by water, which in turn impacts signal strength. If you've ever attempted to stream music with swimming headphones, this is why you probably got regular connection dropouts.
You will typically be able to send music to your headphones by using the same cable that you use to charge it. You will have to plug it into your computer to send files to your headphones, unless the headphones offer the ability to sync files from a companion smartphone app.
You’ll then need to drag and drop audio files into folders; audio file format support can vary by headphone. Make sure you check which formats the headphones support before you hit the Buy button! To use swimming headphones, you should already own audio or be able to download it legally. This could apply to some podcasts and audiobooks.
Can swimming headphones let you play music from streaming services like Spotify? Well, not really, That’s because most audio on streaming services is protected by DRM (digital rights management). Some headphones do offer some workarounds, with some solutions working better than others.
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