00:05These are the five best bone conduction headphones to buy in 2026 for all budgets and all sports.
00:11Let's get into it.
00:15Bone conduction is a specific kind of technology that differs from other open-ear headphones.
00:20Bone conduction headsets beam sound through the bones in your skull via transducers,
00:25rather than vibrating the air inside your ear, all while keeping your ears free.
00:31Keeping your ears free means that you won't be able to block out sound around you,
00:35kind of like the opposite of noise cancelling headphones.
00:38However, they're designed for keeping you safe when running or cycling so you can hear dangers or hazards around you.
00:43Bone conduction works well underwater too, so swimmers can use bone conduction headsets like these with built-in MP3 players
00:49while they're doing laps of the pool.
00:50Some headsets fit better than others, with some requiring a secure fit loop elastic piece to go around the back
00:56of the band, like so.
00:58These are the best headsets for most people in 2026.
01:01Whether you're a budget conscious swimmer or you're looking for a premium set of bone conduction headphones for a marathon,
01:06we've got a model for you.
01:08And of course, if you want to buy any of the headphones mentioned here, you can check out the links
01:12below as usual.
01:17Number one, the H2O Tri2 Pro Multisport.
01:21Our best bone conduction headphones overall, the H2O Audio Tri2 Pro Multisport, what a mouthful,
01:28are suitable for listening on land and on water alike, with a nine hour battery life.
01:33Great for swimming, as well as for land based workouts.
01:35They come with an MP3 player that stores 8GB worth of music and a save your playlist to the headphones
01:41feature called Playlist Plus,
01:43which works with streaming services like Spotify.
01:45This means you don't have to rely on Bluetooth connectivity when you're in the water.
01:49And as a habitual Spotify user, this is so useful for me.
01:52They're quite expensive, but that doesn't take away from the fact that these are the best bone conduction headphones on
01:57the market right now.
01:58Sorry, sharks.
02:00You should buy them if you're a triathlete or a multidisciplinary athlete, but you should skip them if you don't
02:06swim very often.
02:07If you just want to hook a pair of Bluetooth headphones to your phone or your watch, do yourself a
02:12favor, save some money and buy a pair of sharks open runs.
02:19Number two, the Nank Runner Diver 2 Pro.
02:23Our best premium pair of bone conduction headphones, the Nank's Beat H2O Audio pair with a 10 hour battery life
02:30and quadruple the amount of music storage with 32 GB.
02:34Again, suitable for cyclists, runners and swimmers alike, my favorite thing about this pair is that they have adjustable arms
02:40so you can tweak the fit and thus the audio intensity.
02:43Nank offers a noise cancelling mode in one of these configurations, which is a bit of a stretch considering your
02:48ears are open, but it does come with earplugs to use in the pool.
02:51I enjoyed the nice, clearly balanced sound during testing, and the battery life definitely delivers the promised 10 hours.
02:58It also has multipoint connectivity, which means you can hook them up to multiple devices simultaneously, and it's really great
03:04for transitioning between phone and laptop.
03:06These are my top money no object bone conduction pick.
03:09You should buy them if you want adjustable sound quality and own a ton of songs, as 32 GB is
03:15a wild amount of storage, honestly.
03:17You should skip them if you are on a budget.
03:20There are definitely cheaper bone conduction headphones out there.
03:25Number three.
03:27The Javis 7-7 Swimming Headphones.
03:30Despite the descriptor, the Javis 7-7s are perfectly capable of operating both above and below the water, like the
03:37other headphones on this list so far, and they offer great value for their relatively low price.
03:41With 32 GB of storage, Bluetooth 6.0, and multipoint connectivity, there's a huge amount on offer here, and they're
03:48our budget pick.
03:49They're not perfect, with a rigid fit and only 5 hours of battery life, and the bone conduction transistors tend
03:55to vibrate noticeably at higher volumes, especially above ground.
03:59Although this is quite common on many cheaper bone conduction headphones.
04:01However, as a cheap and cheerful set of headphones for swimming and running, the 7-7s more than pull their
04:06weight.
04:07You should buy them if you're a swimmer on a budget.
04:10If you're looking for lots of music storage and good waterproofing, the 7-7s are the best value pair you
04:14can get.
04:15You should skip them if you want to use them as your main headphones or you're an audiophile.
04:20The Javis 7-7s transducers tend to vibrate slightly at higher volumes, hampering sound quality.
04:28Number four, the Shox Open Run Pro 2.
04:32My top pick for running, my specialty, in 2026 is the Shox Open Run Pro 2.
04:38Building on the success of the original Open Run Pro, Shox has upgraded the audio with its new 10th generation
04:43bone conduction tech.
04:44It has also added a speaker to complement the bone conduction vibrations, which means satisfying high-end performance, full mids,
04:51and a slightly pulled back bass profile.
04:53There are six audio modes in total, so they're great for people who want their music to sound its best,
04:59even though their ears are free.
05:01Because they're not swimming headphones, the Shox Open Run Pro 2 can use a USB-C connector for fast charging,
05:07ensuring just five minutes of charge time can net you two and a half hours of listening.
05:11As someone who likes a long training run and frequently forgets to charge things, that's perfect for me.
05:16A full charge is good for 12 hours, and even though they're not immersion proof, there's still eight gigabytes of
05:22onboard MP3 storage here.
05:23These are definitely our top bone conduction headphones for running in 2026.
05:28You should buy them if you run long distances and you want great sound, as all the options available ensure
05:34quality listening even with your ears free.
05:36You should skip them if you're a casual jogger or you want amphibious headphones.
05:41They're rainproof, not pool safe.
05:46Number five.
05:48The Shox Open Swim Pro.
05:50Our second pair of Shox on this list, we've classed this as our best headphones for swimmers.
05:56Even though many of the premium options on this list will be great for swimmers should they also want to
06:00do other sports.
06:01With another huge 32 GB music storage capacity and nine hours of battery life, they're very comparable to other headphones
06:08on this list, but the Shox just fit better.
06:10You might notice that they don't need a secure fit band.
06:12They're just really well designed that way.
06:14They also sound better than most of the other headphones on this list with Shox Premium Pitch 2 Plus technology,
06:20although the Open Run Pro 2 has even newer transistors and more options.
06:24They do miss out on the H2O Entries Playlist Plus feature, so you can't save music from Spotify, YouTube music,
06:31or whatever to these headphones.
06:33Nevertheless, they sound great, they fit well, and they're overall a great buy.
06:37You should buy them if you own your own music and like to swim for hours, but you should skip
06:42them if you use music streaming services or you're on a budget.
06:45Open Swim Pro models aren't cheap.
06:51Which of these headphones catch your eye? Or should that be ear?
06:55If you like this video and you want to check out more of the best tech coming in 2026, you
07:00need to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
07:02And visit our website on techradar.com.
07:04In the meantime, I'll see you on the roads and in the pool.
07:07See you next time.
07:18Number one.
07:20Oh, jeez.
07:22Number…
07:25Number one.
07:27Number one.
07:28Number one.
07:28Number one.
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