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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-26 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
• Raycon Fitness Open Ear — biggest strength: a true open-ear design with rotating ear hooks and a 40-hour total battery setup (8 hours per charge plus 32 more in the case), built for movement and sweat.
• Raycon Fitness Open Ear — biggest trade-off: there is no active noise cancelling at all, and the open design means you'll hear the gym around you — which is the point, but not for everyone.
• Twelve South AirFly Pro — biggest strength: it converts any 3.5mm aux jack (airplane screens, gym TVs, gaming consoles, car stereos) into Bluetooth 5.3 audio, and it can pair two sets of headphones at once.
• Twelve South AirFly Pro — biggest trade-off: it makes no sound on its own. Without a pair of Bluetooth headphones, it does nothing.
• Who each pick is for: Raycon for someone who wants earbuds they can wear while lifting, running, or cycling; AirFly Pro for someone who already owns good wireless headphones and wants to use them with wired audio sources, including gym equipment.
The Raycon Fitness Open Ear is, at its core, a movement product. The open-ear shape sits outside your ear canal rather than plugging it, so you stay aware of your surroundings — useful in a crowded gym, on a sidewalk run, or when you're cycling and need to hear traffic. The ear hooks rotate on two axes, which is Raycon's answer to the fit problem that plagues a lot of open-ear buds: instead of one fixed shape, you adjust the hook behind your ear until it locks in.
Battery is the other headline. Raycon lists 8 hours of playback per charge with 32 additional hours from the charging case, for 40 hours total. That's a full week of gym sessions for most people before you think about plugging anything in. Bluetooth 5.2 gives you roughly 10 meters of range, and multipoint connection means you can jump between a workout playlist on your phone and a work call on your laptop without re-pairing.
Buy it if you want sweat-resistant earbuds that stay secure during lifting, running, or cycling, and you'd rather hear your environment than shut it out. Skip it if your priority is deep isolation or passive noise blocking.
Twelve South AirFly Pro: Who It's For
The AirFly Pro is a small Bluetooth transmitter and receiver that plugs into a 3.5mm aux jack. In transmit mode, it takes audio from a wired source — an airplane seatback screen, a gym TV, a treadmill console, a gaming setup — and sends it to your Bluetooth headphones. Flip it to receive mode and it does the reverse: your phone streams to a car or boat stereo through the aux port.
Its best trick is dual pairing. Two sets of Bluetooth headphones can connect at the same time using dedicated pairing buttons, so you and a training partner can both listen to the same gym TV, or two people can share a movie on a flight. That's a genuinely useful feature you won't find on most transmitters.
Audio quality is handled by Bluetooth 5.3 with aptX HD Adaptive support and low-latency performance, which matters if you're watching a screen rather than just listening to music — lip-sync drift is the classic complaint with cheap adapters. Twelve South rates battery life at over 25 hours and deliberately skips a display to save power, and the unit weighs about 15.6 grams, so it disappears in a pocket or tech pouch.
The obvious caveat: AirFly Pro produces no sound itself. It's an accessory for headphones you already own. It also needs a wired 3.5mm source to be useful — many modern gym machines and phones have dropped that jack entirely.
Buy it if you own good Bluetooth headphones and want them to work with airplane screens, gym TVs, or older stereos. Skip it if you're looking for actual earbuds to wear while you train.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for wearing during a workout → Raycon Fitness Open Ear. It's the only one of the two you can actually put on your head and listen to.
• Best for total battery life → Twelve South AirFly Pro, at over 25 hours per charge, though Raycon's 40-hour figure includes the charging case, so it's not a like-for-like comparison.
• Best for awareness and safety outdoors → Raycon Fitness Open Ear. The open-ear design keeps you tuned into traffic, announcements, and training partners.
• Best for sharing audio with someone else → Twelve South AirFly Pro. Dual pairing lets two sets of headphones listen to the same source.
• Best for sound quality on movies or gaming → Twelve South AirFly Pro, thanks to Bluetooth 5.3, aptX HD Adaptive support, and low-latency performance.
• Best for sweat and movement → Raycon Fitness Open Ear. Sweat resistance and rotating ear hooks are built specifically for motion.
• Best if you want zero extra gear → Raycon Fitness Open Ear. No second pair of headphones required.
For someone searching "headphones for gym," I'd buy the Raycon Fitness Open Ear. It's the product that actually does the job you're asking about: it goes on your ears, stays there through movement, shrugs off sweat, and keeps you aware of your surroundings with enough battery to cover a week of sessions. The AirFly Pro is excellent at what it does — I'd genuinely recommend it to frequent flyers and anyone stuck with a wired gym TV — but it's an adapter, not headphones. If you already own great Bluetooth headphones and your gym equipment still has an aux jack, flip my recommendation. Otherwise, Raycon is the one that solves the gym problem out of the box. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since both sit in very different budget categories.
what is best headphones for gym
In my opinion, the best gym headphones are ones that stay secure during movement, resist sweat, and let you stay aware of your surroundings — which is exactly what the Raycon Fitness Open Ear is designed for, with rotating ear hooks, sweat resistance, and an open-ear fit. If you'd rather use your own premium Bluetooth headphones, the AirFly Pro lets you connect them to wired gym equipment instead.
what headphones for gym
For lifting, running, and cycling, open-ear earbuds like the Raycon Fitness Open Ear are a strong fit: 8 hours per charge, 32 more from the case, Bluetooth 5.2 with multipoint, and no noise cancelling so you can hear what's happening around you. If your gym's machines have 3.5mm jacks, the Twelve South AirFly Pro is the better pick because it turns that wired audio into Bluetooth for headphones you already own.
what headphones for gym reddit
The recurring theme in gym-headphone discussions is fit and sweat resistance over raw sound quality, plus the debate between blocking the world out and staying aware of it. The Raycon Fitness Open Ear lands firmly on the awareness side with its open-ear design and ear hooks. The AirFly Pro gets mentioned in a different context entirely — keeping your existing headphones usable with airplane and gym screens.
what headphone is good for gym
A good gym headphone stays put, handles sweat, and lasts through multiple sessions. Raycon's Fitness Open Ear checks all three: a lightweight open-ear build, sweat resistance, and 40 hours total with the case. Just note it has no noise cancelling — if you want isolation in a loud gym, that's a different product category, and the AirFly Pro won't help there either since it makes no sound on its own.
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See also: SoundPEATS PearlClip Pro vs iLive Electronics True: Open Ear, SHOKZ AFTER Aeropex Open-Ear vs eEAR BC-HPH-Pro-001, Avantree Duet vs Raycon Essential Open Ear