How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want a pair you can actually swim and sweat in without your phone anywhere near the pool, choose esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater; if you need everyday sweatproof earbuds for the gym with punchy bass and a charging case, choose MIPOW x Miffy Miffy.
That's the short version. Now the longer one, because these two look like they sit in the same "sports audio" bucket and they really don't. One is built around water. The other is built around sweat. Those are different jobs, and picking the wrong one for your routine is the fastest way to be disappointed.
• esonstyle's biggest strength: a genuinely submersible IP68 build with an 8GB MP3 player inside, so you can swim laps with no phone and no signal to worry about.
• esonstyle's biggest trade-off: Bluetooth doesn't work underwater at all — you must double-click into MP3 mode before you get in, and you have to load your own files first.
• MIPOW x Miffy's biggest strength: straightforward everyday wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation, touch controls, and up to 30 hours total via the charging case.
• MIPOW x Miffy's biggest trade-off: IPX5 only resists sweat and splashes — it is not a swimming product, and the case does the heavy lifting on battery life.
• Pick esonstyle if your workouts happen in water or you want your ears open to traffic and surroundings.
• Pick MIPOW x Miffy if you want normal earbuds for the gym, commute and calls, with a fun design and a case you'll actually enjoy carrying.
This is a bone conduction headset first and a pair of earbuds second. Instead of pushing sound into your ear canal, it sends vibration through your cheekbones, which means your ears stay completely open. In my opinion that's the single most useful thing about it for anyone running or cycling outdoors — you hear your music and the car behind you at the same time. There's no canal pressure and nothing jammed in your ear for an hour of laps.
Who should buy it: lap swimmers, open-water swimmers, surfers, kayakers, and runners or cyclists who want situational awareness. Also anyone who hates carrying a phone on a trail run. Who should skip it: if you mainly want earbuds for calls and streaming music all day, this is the wrong shape of product. Bluetooth 6.0 handles calls and streaming fine on dry land with a 15-meter range, but there's no active noise cancellation here, and you'll need to plan your music library in advance rather than just hitting play on your phone. If that sounds like friction, it is — but it's the trade you make for a headset that survives the pool.
MIPOW x Miffy Miffy: Who It's For
This one is a conventional true-wireless earbud, and it's honest about what it is. Bluetooth 5.3, touch controls, active noise cancellation, HD stereo sound with heavy bass, and a 1.6-ounce package that includes a lid-free charging case with a Miffy doll and colour LED lighting. Each bud weighs about 4g and sits in the ear canal, which is what keeps it stable during movement.
Battery is where it earns its keep. You get 6 hours per single charge, then a total of 30 hours with the case, and the case itself refills in about an hour over USB-C. Sweat protection is IPX5 — reinforced against gym sweat, rain and splashes. That's the honest ceiling here: it handles a hard workout, a rainy run, and daily commuting, but it is not meant to go under water.
Who should buy it: gym-goers, runners, commuters, students, and anyone who wants one pair of earbuds to do everything normal earbuds do — take calls, skip tracks, summon Siri or Google Assistant with a tap. The pink Miffy styling and iron-box packaging make it an easy gift, and the brand lists it for kids as well as adults. Who should skip it: swimmers, obviously, and anyone who needs an open-ear design for road safety. With active noise cancellation and in-ear sealing, you're deliberately blocking the outside world — great on a treadmill, less great on a busy street.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for swimming → esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater. IP68, 3-meter submersion, 60+ minutes, and MP3 mode built for it.
• Best for gym sweat and rainy runs → MIPOW x Miffy Miffy. IPX5 is exactly the rating for sweat and splashes.
• Best for open-ear safety → esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater. Bone conduction leaves your ears open for traffic and surroundings.
• Best for calls and noise cancellation → MIPOW x Miffy Miffy. Active noise cancellation plus touch control for answering and ending calls.
• Best for phone-free workouts → esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater. 8GB of onboard storage and no phone required.
• Best for everyday and travel use → MIPOW x Miffy Miffy. A pocketable case, USB-C fast charging, and universal compatibility with phones, tablets and PCs.
• Best for comfort over long wear → it's a tie, for different reasons. esonstyle avoids ear-canal pressure entirely; MIPOW's 4g buds are designed to sit pain-free for long sessions.
If I had to buy one, it would be the esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater. Not because it's better at everything — it isn't — but because it does something the MIPOW simply can't: it lets you swim with music and no phone. In my opinion that capability is worth the extra setup, and the open-ear bone conduction design makes it the safer pick for outdoor running too. If you never get in the water and you want normal earbuds for the gym, calls and commuting, I'd take the MIPOW x Miffy Miffy instead — its 30-hour case and noise cancellation are genuinely more convenient day to day. Check the current price on Amazon before you decide, since these are very different products at very different positions.
how to wear sports earbuds
It depends on the type. The MIPOW x Miffy Miffy is an in-ear design — each 4g bud sits in the ear canal, so you angle it in and let the ergonomic shape hold it. The esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater is open-ear: the transducers rest against your cheekbones in front of the ear, and the titanium frame with adjustable strap holds them in place.
how to use sports earbuds
For the MIPOW buds, taps on the touch sensor handle play/pause, track skipping, calls and your voice assistant. For the esonstyle, controls are physical buttons: double-click the MFB button to switch between Bluetooth and MP3 mode, and press it three times in MP3 mode to toggle shuffle. Remember that the esonstyle only plays from its 8GB storage while you're underwater.
how to connect sports earbuds
Both pair over Bluetooth — the MIPOW uses Bluetooth 5.3 and the esonstyle uses Bluetooth 6.0 with a range of about 15 meters. On the esonstyle, double-click the MFB button to move between Bluetooth and MP3 mode. Just note that Bluetooth does not work underwater on the esonstyle, so pair it on land and switch to MP3 before you get in.
what are sports earbuds
They're headphones built to survive movement, sweat and weather. The MIPOW x Miffy Miffy is IPX5, so it handles sweat and splashes. The esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater goes further with IP68, rated for submersion to 3 meters for 60+ minutes, and adds an 8GB MP3 player so you can train without a phone.
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See also: MAcnas Open Ear Clip vs Jzones Open Ear Clip, Bingozones Open-Ear Headphones vs VLOP Bone Conduction Headphones, S&H 3.5MM vs LEFXMOPHY Green Case Replacement, LC-dolida Sleep Headphones vs Pmjebe Open Ear Headphones