We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-30 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a pair of everyday wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation, a sound signature tuned by a well-known artist, and enough battery to get you through a commute, choose LG xboom Buds; if you need headphones you can actually wear in the water for lap swimming, choose Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming. These two products look like they belong in the same category, and they really don't — one is a city-life ANC earbud with IPX4 water resistance, the other is an open-ear bone conduction headset with IPX8 protection built for full submersion. That single difference in water rating is the whole story here, so let's unpack it properly.
• LG xboom Buds — biggest strength: Active Noise Cancellation with a 3-mic array, graphene-coated dynamic drivers, and up to 30 hours of total playback with the case (24 hours with Adaptive ANC on).
• LG xboom Buds — biggest trade-off: IPX4 only. That's splash and sweat resistance, not swimming protection, and there's no built-in memory for music without a Bluetooth connection.
• Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming — biggest strength: IPX8 waterproofing rated for full submersion down to 3 meters, plus 32GB of internal storage so you don't need a Bluetooth signal underwater at all.
• Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming — biggest trade-off: No noise cancellation whatsoever, and Bluetooth simply doesn't work underwater — you're in MP3 mode in the pool.
• Who each pick is for: LG xboom Buds for commuters, walkers and gym-goers who want ANC and rich sound in the city. Tayogo for swimmers, snorkelers and open-water athletes who need music that survives being submerged.
The xboom Buds are built around listening quality and quiet. LG tuned them with will.i.am's input, and the hardware behind that is a pair of 10mm graphene-coated dynamic drivers running a 20 Hz – 20,000 Hz range. Graphene coating is there to cut distortion, which matters most on bass-heavy tracks and on calls. On top of that sits 3-mic active noise cancellation — the feature that lets you keep the volume reasonable on a train or a busy street instead of cranking it up to drown out the world.
Battery is the other headline. LG quotes up to 30 hours of playback with the charging case, dropping to 24 hours with Adaptive ANC switched on. A 5-minute fast charge gets you an hour of playback, which is the kind of thing that saves you when you're heading out the door and realize you forgot to charge. The buds connect over Bluetooth 5.4, support Auracast for streaming one source to multiple devices, and take touch controls plus Google Assistant or Siri. Stabilizing fins keep them snug, and the whole package is lightweight — around 1.65 ounces for the buds and roughly 1.27 ounces for the case.
Then there's water. LG rates these IPX4, and the company's own framing is honest about it: "water resistant," designed for unexpected city weather from morning to night. That means rain, sweat, a splash at the sink. It does not mean laps in a pool.
Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming: Who It's For
This is a specialist tool, and it's worth being clear about that up front. The Tayogo headset carries an IPX8 rating, which is the highest water-protection class in the IP system — the design brief here is full submersion, not splash resistance. Tayogo states clear audio down to 3 meters (about 10 feet), which covers lap swimming, snorkeling and most recreational water sports. It's an aluminium-and-plastic open-ear wraparound, around 3.5 ounces, shaped to sit under swimming goggles or a cap.
The interesting part is how it delivers sound. Bone conduction bypasses the eardrum and transmits vibration directly to the inner ear, which is exactly why it works where normal earbuds fail — water blocks a conventional driver's path into your ear canal, but it doesn't stop bone conduction. That's also why the open-ear design is a genuine advantage in the water: your ears stay unplugged, so you can hear a coach, a lane-mate, or what's going on around you.
The 32GB of internal memory is the other half of the equation. Bluetooth signals don't travel through water — Tayogo says so plainly, and it's physics, not a limitation they invented — so the headset switches to MP3 mode in the pool. 32GB holds a huge library (Tayogo cites over 8,000 songs), and you load it by drag-and-drop from a Mac or PC in MP3, WMA, WAV or APE. On land, Bluetooth 5.4 works normally with a 10-meter range. Battery is quoted at up to 8 hours of playback with a 2-hour charge time, and controls are physical buttons rather than touch — which is the right call when your hands are wet.
Buy the Tayogo if you swim, snorkel or train in water and want your own music with you. Skip it if you want noise cancellation, touch controls, or a compact pocketable case — none of those are part of this design. It's also worth knowing there's no ANC here at all, so on land it's an open, ambient-aware listen rather than an isolating one.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for swimming → Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming. IPX8 and submersion to 3 meters versus IPX4 splash resistance. This isn't close.
• Best for noise cancellation → LG xboom Buds. 3-mic ANC, with Adaptive ANC as a mode. Tayogo's noise control field is "None."
• Best for listening without a phone → Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming. 32GB of internal storage. The LG has no onboard memory and needs Bluetooth.
• Best for commutes and city noise → LG xboom Buds. That's the design brief: trains, buses, busy streets, ANC on.
• Best for open-water awareness → Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming. Open-ear bone conduction leaves your ear canals free to hear your surroundings.
• Best for touch controls and voice assistants → LG xboom Buds. Touch control plus Google Assistant and Siri. The Tayogo uses physical buttons.
• Best for a compact carry case → LG xboom Buds. A charging case roughly 2.48 × 1.29 × 1.23 inches. The Tayogo is a wraparound headset with no case listed.
• Best for land-based workouts → either, but for different reasons. LG gives you secure fins and ANC; Tayogo gives you a fit that won't shift and ears that stay open.
In my opinion, the right answer depends entirely on whether you get in the water. If you swim, the Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming is the one I'd buy — IPX8 submersion plus 32GB of onboard music is a combination the LG simply cannot match, and no amount of tuning changes a rating. If you don't swim, I'd buy the LG xboom Buds: ANC, graphene drivers, voice assistants and up to 30 hours of case battery make it the far more capable everyday headphone. Buy for the water rating you actually need, not the spec sheet that looks nicer.
can i wear waterproof headphones in the shower
Yes, and the two here behave very differently. The LG xboom Buds are IPX4, which handles splashes and steam-room moisture but isn't rated for being soaked or submerged. The Tayogo is IPX8 and rated for full submersion to 3 meters, so shower water is well within what it's designed for. If shower listening is a real habit, the higher rating is the safer choice.
are headphones waterproof
Most are not — "water resistant" and "waterproof" are different claims, and the IP rating tells you which you're getting. IPX4 means protection against splashing water; IPX8 means the device is built to be submerged. The LG xboom Buds carry IPX4, while the Tayogo carries IPX8, which is why only one of them belongs in a pool.
do bone conduction headphones work underwater
They can, and that's the point of the Tayogo design. Bone conduction sends sound to the inner ear through vibration rather than through the ear canal, so water blocking your ear doesn't stop the audio the way it does with standard earbuds. Note that Bluetooth doesn't transmit underwater, so you listen from the 32GB of internal storage in MP3 mode while swimming.
which one should i buy for swimming vs commuting
For swimming, the Tayogo Bone Conduction Swimming — IPX8 and 32GB of built-in music, with Bluetooth 5.4 for land use. For commuting, the LG xboom Buds — 3-mic ANC, touch controls, voice assistants and up to 30 hours with the case. If you want to compare what each costs today, check the current price on Amazon before deciding.
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See also: OYEALEX Active Noise Cancelling vs Ordtop Earbuds, Zolo True vs JLab Graphite Bundle, LOBKIN Bone Conduction Headphones vs MUSICOZY 5.4, Kensington H1000 vs Maeline 3.5mm: On the Ear Headphones