We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-22 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
If you want a pair of headphones you can actually wear in the pool and under the water, choose MONODEAL Swimming Headphones-IP68; if you need all-day open-ear earbuds for the gym, running, cycling and calls on dry land, choose Kinglucky Next-gen Clip.
These two look similar at a glance — both are open-ear, both are wireless, both are aimed at active people. But they solve very different problems. One is built to survive being submerged. The other is built to be forgotten on your ears from morning to night. Picking the wrong one means either a headphone that dies the moment it gets wet, or one that never leaves the pool deck.
• MONODEAL's biggest strength: a true IP68 rating with a 32GB offline MP3 mode — it keeps working when Bluetooth physically cannot, which is exactly what happens underwater.
• MONODEAL's biggest trade-off: it's a bone-conduction, over-ear band design at 24 g, so it's bulkier than a clip-on and you must remember to switch to MP3 mode before you get in the water.
• Kinglucky's biggest strength: feather-light 5.3 g clip-on buds with up to 50 hours of total playtime via the charging case and Bluetooth 6.0.
• Kinglucky's biggest trade-off: IPX5 only protects against rain and sweat — it is not a swimming headphone, and there's no built-in memory for offline playback.
• Choose MONODEAL if swimming, showering or heavy sweat sessions are the whole point.
• Choose Kinglucky if you want near-invisible earbuds for the gym, commuting, running and calls that stay comfortable for hours.
The MONODEAL S820 is one of the few genuinely water-first designs in this category. Its IP68 rating is the headline: the manufacturer states it can handle immersion up to 2 metres for 2 hours. That's the difference between "sweat-resistant" and "you can swim laps with this on." It uses bone conduction drivers instead of speakers shoved into your ear canal, so audio travels through your cheekbones and leaves your ears completely open. In a pool, that matters — you keep awareness of other swimmers and lane traffic instead of sealing yourself off.
Who should buy it: lap swimmers, triathletes, people who train in the pool several times a week, and anyone who wants one headphone that survives both the water and the workout. The over-ear band and 24 g weight are the price of that durability — it's not the sort of thing you forget you're wearing, and the silicone build is clearly aimed at sport rather than all-day office wear. Who should skip it: if you want something invisible for meetings, casual listening and long commutes, or if you mainly care about maximum battery life away from water, this isn't the tool. It's a specialist, and it's very good at its specialism.
Kinglucky Next-gen Clip: Who It's For
The Kinglucky i121 is the opposite philosophy: make the earbud disappear. Each bud weighs just 5.3 g and uses a C-shaped bridge that clips onto the ear rather than hooking over it. Kinglucky says this design is aimed at comfort across all ear shapes, and specifically calls out small ears — a real pain point for people who find standard hooks too loose or too pinching. Because nothing enters the ear canal and nothing presses on the glasses, it's the kind of earbud you can genuinely wear for a full working day without the ache that comes with heavier designs.
Battery is the other headline: 6 hours on a single charge and up to 50 hours total with the charging case, with a 2-hour charge time. That's a huge margin over the MONODEAL's 8 hours, and it's the number that matters if you're the sort of person who forgets to charge things. Bluetooth 6.0 is the newest wireless generation here, which Kinglucky pairs with claims of low latency and efficient power use. For calls, there's ENC (environmental noise cancellation) with dual directional transmission aimed at keeping your voice clear in wind — useful on a bike or a breezy run. The IPX5 rating with a hydrophobic nano-coating covers rain and sweat. There's also a digital display on the case so you can see charge status at a glance, and touch controls on the buds themselves.
Who should buy it: runners, cyclists, gym-goers, commuters and anyone with smaller ears who has given up on over-ear hooks. It's also the better pick if you spend your day on calls and want the buds to stay put and stay comfortable. Who should skip it: swimmers. IPX5 is a splash-and-sweat rating, not an immersion rating, and there's no onboard memory for offline playback — so this is a dry-land headphone through and through. Note that Kinglucky's own marketing leans on a global sales claim from a third-party survey; I'd set that aside and judge the product on its design and specs, which are strong on their own.
• Best for swimming and underwater use → MONODEAL Swimming Headphones-IP68. IP68 with 2 m / 2 hour immersion and MP3 mode is the only one of the two that works in water.
• Best for battery life away from a charger → Kinglucky Next-gen Clip. 6 hours per charge and up to 50 hours with the case versus 8 hours total.
• Best for comfort and all-day wear → Kinglucky Next-gen Clip. 5.3 g clip-on buds with a C-shaped bridge beat a 24 g over-ear band for long sessions.
• Best for small ears → Kinglucky Next-gen Clip. It's explicitly designed around small-ear fit; the MONODEAL band is a one-size over-ear design.
• Best for calls in wind → Kinglucky Next-gen Clip. ENC noise cancellation with dual directional transmission is built for exactly that. The MONODEAL has a mic for calls but lists no noise control.
• Best for listening without a phone → MONODEAL Swimming Headphones-IP68. 32GB of onboard memory means no device needed at all.
• Best for awareness of your surroundings → a tie. Both are open-ear, so neither blocks out traffic, lane-mates or training partners.
• Best for gym, running and cycling in the rain → either, but Kinglucky is lighter and MONODEAL is tougher. IPX5 handles sweat and rain; IP68 shrugs off full immersion.
If I had to pick one, I'd buy the MONODEAL Swimming Headphones-IP68. In my opinion it's the more capable product because it does something the Kinglucky simply cannot: it works in the water, and the 32GB MP3 mode means it works there without a phone. For swimmers, that's not a nice-to-have, it's the entire point. That said, if you never get in a pool, I'd go the other way — the Kinglucky Next-gen Clip is lighter, more comfortable for hours, better on calls and has far more battery. Buy the MONODEAL for the water. Buy the Kinglucky for everything else.
Yes — it carries an IP68 rating, and the manufacturer describes immersion up to 2 metres for 2 hours. The key detail is that you must switch to MP3 mode while swimming, because Bluetooth doesn't transmit reliably through water.
No. It's rated IPX5 with a hydrophobic coating, which covers sweat and rain but not immersion. It's a sports earbud for dry land — running, cycling, gym work and commuting.
The Kinglucky Next-gen Clip, clearly. It offers 6 hours on a single charge and up to 50 hours with the charging case, while the MONODEAL is rated at up to 8 hours total. Both recharge in about 2 hours.
The Kinglucky Next-gen Clip, in my opinion. At 5.3 g per bud with a clip-on C-shaped bridge, it's designed for all-day, pain-free wear and is specifically shaped for smaller ears. The MONODEAL is a 24 g over-ear band — comfortable for sport, but a more noticeable fit.
The MONODEAL Swimming Headphones-IP68. Its 32GB of built-in memory lets it play music and audiobooks with no phone or connection at all, which the Kinglucky can't do. Check the current price on Amazon before deciding, since that's the one variable I can't compare here.
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