Whether it’s time to relax after a stressful afternoon, or you’re in the 2:30 PM slump and need some extra energy to finish out the day, good music can make all the difference. The earbuds that come with your phone can work in a pinch, but they’re sorely lacking when it comes to lots of features. Adding music to your work, travel, or workouts can make a big difference in how much you enjoy them. I’ve broken down my top picks for each below.
Best Headphones for Working out
Vi [buy on Amazon – $189]
Vi [Good workout headphones need to stay in place, have great audio, and be water resistant. Why I like the Vi is that it does all three of those very well, but it will also track your heart rate, running cadence, and even act as a running coach if that’s your thing. Like an Amazon Echo or Apple’s Siri, you can ask it things like “what’s my heart rate,” and it will answer back. I won’t dive into how the running coach part works, so you can read more about it here, if you’re interested. Currently the heart rate monitor and other health sensors only work within the Vi app, but they’ve said they’ll be adding more functionality next month in October.
Best Headphones for Travel
Samsung Level On PRO [buy on Amazon – $189]
For any headphones to be considered ideal for travel, they need to have good battery life, be wireless, have great sound, and be comfortable to wear for multiple hours. The Samsung Level On PRO headphones check off all four of these boxes and have a lot of other features that are convenient for traveling. First up is the ability to listen to music while turning off ambient noise cancelling, which comes in handy when changing gates or trying to listen to pilot announcements. Another is the ability to pause, play to jump to the next song or adjust the volume by using the touchpad on the outside of the earpiece.
The battery life on these is rated for 15 hours of continuous listening or phone calls, but if you forget to charge them, you can always plug them in with their audio cable, so you’ll never be stranded without being able to use them. If you have a Samsung Android phone, there are a bunch of other features you can use these for (learn more about them here). One last feature I haven’t used, but sounds pretty interesting is that you can wirelessly share music between two Level Pro headsets. This seems especially helpful if you’re traveling with a friend and want to share music, or even better a movie on your iPad.
Best Headphones for Work
Samsung Level On PRO [buy on Amazon – $189]
Many of the features that make the Level On PRO headphones great for travel make them great for work as well. The noise cancelling does a great job in blocking out ambient noise, and the built in microphone makes it easy to transition from listening to music to taking phone calls. I keep a pair of these in my bag and frequently use them at coffee shops when I need to tune out the world and focus on some work.
Any other suggestions you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments below!
