How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want a wired, low-drag set of swim earbuds that tucks into your goggle strap and never needs charging, choose Swimbuds Sport Waterproof Swimming; if you need an untethered, open-ear pair with built-in storage and Bluetooth, choose Hostena Full-Coverage Liquid Silicone. One is a purpose-built lap-swimming tool with a short cord and a huge eartip selection. The other is a cordless bone-conduction headset with an MP3 player inside. They solve the same problem in opposite ways, and the right pick depends entirely on how you swim.
• Swimbuds Sport biggest strength: A 40cm short cord built for lap swimming, an IPX8 (10ft) watertight seal, and 11 pairs of eartips in 4 styles so you can dial in a real seal.
• Swimbuds Sport biggest trade-off: It's wired. You need a 3.5mm source and a place to put it, and the seal depends on you fitting the right tip correctly.
• Hostena biggest strength: IP68 protection, 32GB of onboard storage, Bluetooth 6.0, and open-ear bone conduction that keeps your ears clear of the water and your surroundings audible.
• Hostena biggest trade-off: Underwater it will only play from MP3 mode, not Bluetooth, and it's a bulkier 3.68 oz headset you have to charge.
• Pick Swimbuds Sport if you want a lightweight, corded, goggle-mounted setup and you already swim with a music source.
• Pick Hostena if you want no wires at all, want music stored on the headset itself, and value hearing what's around you in the pool.
Swimbuds Sport is the descendant of the Swimbuds Classic, and the design brief is obvious the moment you read the specs: it's built for swimmers who move. The 40cm (roughly 15-inch) cord is the whole idea. It's short enough that it won't loop, snag or drag behind you during laps, and it's meant to be run under your goggle strap with the cable pointing upward so the buds sit just above the ear. That's a very specific, very deliberate fit, and if you've ever fought a long cable in a pool, you understand why it matters.
Who should buy it? The lap swimmer. Someone who counts lengths, wants zero charging anxiety, and is happy to plug into a phone or MP3 player they leave at the poolside. The short cord and goggle-strap routing make it feel like swim gear rather than consumer electronics. Who should skip it? Anyone who wants to swim with no device nearby, anyone who dislikes in-ear buds, and anyone who wants to hear traffic, lane mates or a coach while they train. One practical note from the spec sheet: don't pair the clear Ergo tips with FitGoo lubricant. That's a specific incompatibility worth remembering.
Hostena Full-Coverage Liquid Silicone: Who It's For
Hostena takes the opposite approach and removes the wire entirely. The X26 is an open-ear bone conduction headset wrapped in full-coverage liquid silicone, IP68 rated and safe to two meters underwater. Because it conducts sound through bone rather than sealing your ear canal, your ears stay open. In a public pool or open water, that's a genuine safety argument, not marketing fluff: you can hear a whistle, a swimmer beside you, or a boat. The soft silicone is also described as fitting alongside your goggles and cap rather than fighting them.
The headline feature is the 32GB of built-in memory, which the spec sheet says holds up to 8,000 songs and supports MP3, WMA, WAV, APE and FLAC. That means you can swim with no phone, no player, and nothing in your pocket. Bluetooth 6.0 is on board too, with a 33-foot range, plus multipoint pairing, so it doubles as a normal everyday headset for calls and podcasts out of the water. Battery is 8 hours of play with 90 hours of standby and about a 1.5–2 hour charge over the magnetic cable. The kit is minimal: the headset, the cable, a manual, and a 1-year warranty.
Here's the catch, and the spec sheet repeats it three times for a reason: underwater, Bluetooth does not work. You must switch to MP3 mode before you get in. If you forget, you'll be swimming in silence. It's also a 3.68 oz headset, noticeably more hardware on your head than a pair of buds. Who should buy it? The swimmer who wants total freedom from devices, values situational awareness, and will happily manage a charge and a file transfer to get it. Who should skip it? Someone who wants the smallest possible thing in their ears, or who refuses to think about charging before a swim.
• Best for lap swimming with a device at the poolside → Swimbuds Sport Waterproof Swimming. The short cord and goggle routing are designed exactly for this.
• Best for swimming with no phone or player at all → Hostena Full-Coverage Liquid Silicone. 32GB of storage and up to 8,000 songs on board.
• Best for situational awareness in open water → Hostena. Open-ear bone conduction keeps your ears unobstructed.
• Best for a customized, sealed in-ear fit → Swimbuds Sport. 11 pairs of tips across 4 styles is far more fit tuning than most sets offer.
• Best for battery independence → Swimbuds Sport. It's wired, so there's no charge to manage and no mode to remember.
• Best for all-day, out-of-water use → Hostena. Bluetooth 6.0, multipoint pairing and 8 hours of playback make it a usable everyday headset.
• Best for the lightest thing on your head → Swimbuds Sport. At 11.34 g versus 3.68 oz, it's not close.
• Best for diver depth → Hostena on paper. IP68 to two meters versus the Swimbuds' IPX8 rating to 10 feet, both comfortable for pool swimming.
For pure lap swimming, I'd buy the Swimbuds Sport Waterproof Swimming. In my opinion, the short cord, the goggle-strap fit and the 11-tip kit are exactly what a pool swimmer needs, and never having to charge or remember an MP3 mode is a real quality-of-life win. I'd choose the Hostena Full-Coverage Liquid Silicone instead if I swam in open water, wanted to hear my surroundings, or hated the idea of leaving a player at the poolside. It's the more versatile device out of the water and the more independent one in it. Two different swimmers, two genuinely different answers.
FAQ
can i wear waterproof headphones in the shower
are headphones waterproof
Not all of them, and that's the trap. Plenty of "sweatproof" or "water-resistant" headphones have no immersion rating at all. What you want is an IPX or IP rating that explicitly covers being submerged. The Swimbuds Sport is IPX8 (10ft) and the Hostena is IP68, which is why both are sold specifically as swimming headphones rather than general workout gear.
Yes, and that's the point of it. The 32GB of built-in memory holds up to 8,000 songs and plays MP3, WMA, WAV, APE and FLAC files, so you can load music once and swim with nothing else. You'll need the included magnetic cable and a computer to transfer files.
The Hostena. Its open-ear bone conduction design leaves your ear canals open, so you stay aware of whistles, voices and anything else around you. The Swimbuds Sport uses sealed in-ear buds, which gives you a tighter, more isolated fit but blocks outside sound.
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See also: ZHQMG Bone Conduction Headphones vs MARLALL Liquid Silicone Swimming, MINISO MS217 vs esonstyle Swimming Headphones Underwater, jojofuny 1pair vs RUDIWRO Silicone Ear Hooks: Secure Fit