The best bone conduction headphones provide clear audio through vibrations, leaving your ear canals free and open to stay in tune with your surroundings. Perfect for working out outdoors, they've become extremely popular amongst cyclists, runners, and even swimmers.
All of the best options on the market provide decent audio, comfort and fit, and excellent battery life. They're also very light and usually feature good water resistance, or even waterproofing if you've got swimming in mind.
They're often preferred over the best workout headphones on the market because of their open-ear design, and many of the best running headphones are bone conduction offerings, too.
Our top pick remains the H20 Audio Tri 2 Pro Multi-Sport, but there are also offerings from Suunto and the ever-present Shokz on display here too. New for 2025, our top running pick is now the excellent Shokz OpenRun Pro 2.
We've tested every model out there, and our experts have rated them to bring you our top picks. Here are the best bone conduction headphones in 2025.
Matt is TechRadar's Fitness, Wellbeing and Wearables Editor, which means he's an expert on workouts, sports headphones, and all things fitness tech. Matt's spent years covering the health and fitness beat, and he commissions a team of swim-happy writers to help curate this guide.
The quick list
If you don’t have time to read our full list of the best bone conduction headphones, you can read the round-up below for a shortcut to the top options for your needs and budget.
Best overall
Best overall
The feature-rich H2O Audio Tri 2 Pro Multi-Sport comes with Bluetooth, a save-your-playlist feature, and built-in storage, giving you plenty of options for streaming your tunes. The sound is rich, but it's pricey.
Best value
The YouthWhisper SuperQ3 does plenty of things reasonably well, and it does it a super-low price of below $50. There's Bluetooth streaming, including during swims, decent sound and nice controls.
Best premium
The Shokz OpenSwim Pro feature onboard storage for MP3 playback of up to 8,000 songs. They're waterproof and can be used for swimming as well as exercise on land. Their elite design and comfortable fit make them our top premium pick.
Best for running
Best for running
The new Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 is our new top pick for running in 2025, building on the excellent formula of its forebears. You'll get great audio, a comfortable fit, and 12 hours of battery life.
Best for battery life
The Suunto Wing may only have a four-hour battery life, but it comes with a charging dock which offers a further three hours with just 10 minutes of contact time.
Best for calls
Aimed at the office rather than the gym, the OpenComm UC is incredibly lightweight - so you can wear it for hours at a time without getting sore ears. Mic quality is also far better than on most headsets.
The best bone conduction headphones in 2025
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Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best bone conduction headphones in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.
The best bone conduction headphones overall
The H2O Audio Tri 2 Pro Multi-Sport bone conduction headphones may be among the pricier options on our list, but they're certainly more feature-rich than the others. We called them "a triathlete's dream", seamlessly transitioning from water to land for rich listening in any environment.
Best for swimming as well as for land-based workouts, they come with an MP3 player that stores 8GB worth of music and a save-your-playlist Playlist+ functionality to work with streaming, which means that you don't have to rely on Bluetooth connectivity when you're in the water. Outside of the water, however, you still have that Bluetooth connectivity so you can stream any music or podcast you like.
During our testing, they've also proven to be great for listening in general. Worn above water, both music and podcasts boast solid sound, regardless of whether you're using Bluetooth or internal storage. Underwater, podcasts’ sound quality was just as good.
They're quite expensive, but that doesn't take away from the fact that these are the best bone conduction headphones on the market right now. Sorry, Shokz.
Read our full H2O Audio Tri 2 Pro Multi-Sport review
The best-value bone conduction headphones
Quite a lot of newer bone conduction headphone brands are hesitant to promote theirs as swim-friendly simply because they do not have built-in MP3 players and Bluetooth doesn't work well underwater. But, we had a go at swimming with the YouthWhisper SuperQ3 headphones anyway, and were very surprised at how well it works as long as you keep your phone above water and your head close to the surface.
That's a compromise you'll have to make if you want to make sure you're not missing out on any phone calls during your swims. Of course, these are better suited for pool swims where you can keep your phone within range. The fit is great as well, ensuring they stay on during such swims.
The sound quality is good here, if a little tinny, and better for podcasts than for music. Wearing the included earplugs does improve things a little bit, but they kind of beat the main purpose of these headphones. As for the controls, they're easy to use even with wet hands.
Read our full YouthWhisper SuperQ3 review
The best premium bone conduction headphones
The Shokz OpenSwim Pro are some of the best bone conduction headphones we've tested in recent years. They're the beefier version of Shokz OpenSwim headphones and come with Bluetooth connectivity for music streaming, alongside their existing support for MP3 playback. 32GB of onboard storage is enough for 8,000 songs, so you can swim without a phone in your vicinity.
They have IP68 waterproofing, which means they're rated for up to two hours at two meters of submersion, perfect for a quick triathlon or a pool session. Battery life is good for up to 9 hours of Bluetooth playback, or 6 hours of streaming music from the onboard storage. The only quirk here is that you'll need to own the music you want to play from your headphones, so if you rely on streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, they might not be for you.
The over-ear design ensures a comfortable fit for a range of ear shapes, and at just 27 grams you'll hardly notice them on your head. Sound is delivered via Shokz' PremiumPitch 2.0+, with clear audio and noise-cancelling to boot. Sadly, they miss out on the more recent Shokz ninth-gen bone conduction tech, but they're still absolutely brilliant in their field.
Read our full Shokz OpenSwim Pro review
The best bone conduction headphones for running
Our new top pick for running in 2025 is the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2. Building on the success of the OpenRun Pro, Shokz has upgraded the audio with its new 10th-generation bone conduction tech. It has also added air conduction to complement the bone conduction vibrations. In our testing, we found satisfying high-end performance, full mids, and a slightly pulled-back bass profile.
For bone conduction headphones they sound excellent, however. Audio aside, a new USB-C connector ensures a faster charge, you'll get two-and-a-half hours of listening from just five minutes, and a full charge takes just one hour. That full charge is good for 12 hours of total listening time, too.
There are six total audio modes and a five-band EQ for personalization. You can also store MP3 tracks onboard thanks to 8GB of storage and a special feature for recording playlists without your phone present.
While these won't work for swimming, they're IP55-rated, so boast solid water resistance. These are absolutely the top bone conduction headphones for running in 2025.
Read our full Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 review
The best bone conduction headphones for battery life
Suunto Wing is the only set of bone conduction headphones on this list with a portable charging dock, which allows you to charge the headset on the move. That means while the Wing headset itself only has four hours of battery life, just ten minutes of contact with the dock extend the battery by a further three hours, offering the user a total of 30 hours before the dock has to be recharged.
It's a nifty system, and if you're using the Wing for runs and rides, you're unlikely to be working out for longer than four hours at a time (and even if you are, you can pack the dock in a slender running or cycling backpack along with your energy gels and CamelBak). It allows for you to use the Wing headphones even across multi-day trail events when charges are few and far between.
Otherwise, the Wing is well-constructed, via a combination of titanium and silicone, with a three-button control array and IP67 waterproof rating. While not fully swimproof, they're theoretically able to handle "short periods of submersion" and more than capable of being worn in heavy rain. The only downside is a relatively high price point compared to some of the older Shokz on the list.
Read our full Suunto Wing review
The best bone conduction headphones for calls
Headsets are tiring when you spend all day making calls. So, when Shokz decided to put bone conduction technology in a productivity-minded headset, we were here for it. To start, at 33 grams, the OpenComm UC is incredibly lightweight. Since it weighs significantly less than traditional headsets, you won’t feel like you’re really wearing anything, even after hours of use. And, of course, your ears will be completely uncovered so they start to feel cramped or get sweaty.
We were also very impressed with the mic quality. While it wasn’t quite on par with holding a phone up to our face – a longer boom mic might have closed the gap – it’s still better than most headsets out there. Of course, you do have to pay a hefty price for OpenComm UC and the vibrations of bone conduction technology at higher volumes can feel unpleasant but we think it’s worth the cost. And, since you’ll most likely get it to make calls, keeping the volume at a reasonable level is easy.
Read our full Shokz OpenComm UC review
How to choose the best bone conduction headphones for you
How to choose the best bone conduction headphones for you
While we recommend bone conduction headphones for fitness folk who want to be more aware of their surroundings, they can also be useful in any scenario where you’d benefit from hearing a mix of your own music and any background noise, such as walking on a busy street or working at home while needing to listen out for family members or the doorbell.
But too much choice can feel like a burden, which is where we come in – because we've done the heavy lifting (swimming, running, and commuting) for you here. We've tested the best bone conduction headphones you can buy right now for training, trying to beat your 10k and more.
Right now there aren't as many bone conduction headphones to choose from as other types of wireless headphones. However, there are a few points to consider.
For example, if you’re thinking about investing in a pair of bone conduction headphones for use while exercising, then be sure to check the IP (ingress protection) rating, which will provide an indication of how well they will be able to fend off sweat and water.
What's more, those who will be using the headphones to take calls, but who don’t want interaction with their smartphone while doing so, should look for units with built-in controls and a microphone.
There's plenty more to consider, including the design, the fit, and your budget.
Do bone conduction headphones sound good?
All of the bone conduction headphones in this guide offer decent audio performance, but you're never going to get the same sound quality as you would from a pair of in-ear headphones or over-ear headphones.
If you do want to stay aware of your surroundings without sacrificing audio quality, there are plenty of true wireless earbuds out there with transparency modes, which feed in sound from the outside world to your ears.
Are there any health benefits to using bone conduction headphones?
Aside from the obvious benefits of being aware of your surroundings while working out, bone conduction headphones could be better for your hearing health than earbuds, over-ear, and on-ear headphones.
That's because they're not driving air directly to your eardrum, which can lead to damage if you listen to music at loud volumes.
Which Shokz headphones have the best sound?
While some other models might feel more comfortable to wear, the best-sounding Shokz headphones are the OpenRun Pro 2. As we mentioned in our guide above, these headphones contain a set of updated bass transducers that deliver far richer sound than any other bone conduction headsets we've tested. You can even adjust the sound profile in the Shokz app using the EQ settings to further tailor the audio to your liking.
How we test bone conduction headphones
We've tested dozens of bone conduction headphones over the years, which puts us in a great position to select our favorites for this guide.
We have reviewed every pair listed above. In each case, we give the product plenty of time to run before evaluating its sound quality across a variety of music genres, games, movies, and podcasts, from several sources, against known class leaders in the category. Sound quality is obviously a priority, but we understand bone conduction headphones aren't going to give the same listening experience as over-ear headphones or earbuds.
We also consider how comfortable it is to wear these headphones over extended periods, and how secure the fit is going to be, especially when exercising.
When it comes to additional features, we look at voice assistant integration, on-device touch controls, how comprehensive the companion app is, and anything else that each set of bone conduction headphones provides.
We also evaluate those battery life claims to ensure we can give an accurate opinion on how long they will last in normal use. Ultimately, we want you to have a product you'll be over the moon with. We hope we help you achieve that.
Today's best bone conduction headphones deals
