Last modified on May 20, 2026
Running is my main sport, and I love doing so with something to listen to. I have been running with music since I started 14 years ago, and have changed headphones regularly, either because they broke, or because I needed a pair with better features. This is my review of the Powerbeats Pro 2 in the context of sport, and more specifically running.
I bought a pair of Powerbeats Pro 2 in August 2025, and have been using them for the majority of my runs since. They mostly replaced my Sony NW-WS headphones who have the unfortunate tendency to die after a good year of use (the last pair being the WS413, following some WS623 and WS414 before that). They’re unfortunately not produced anymore, so it was sadly time to switch to something else.
In this review, I’ll logically often compare them to the Sony NW-WS lineup, and occasionally to other headphones I’ve used (for sport or not).
The Bluetooth connection is very stable, I haven’t had any disconnections or dropouts since the beginning, which is infinitely better than the Jaybird X3, which were quite sensitive to the phone’s position. The connection is also very “aggressive”, in the sense that it will connect to the phone without any user action. As soon as they’re turned on (which is always, even when they’re in the case with the lid open), they will connect to the phone, even overriding any connection to other headphones. This is really unpleasant, and never happened with any other Bluetooth headphones I’ve possessed.
The sound quality is good; I haven’t heard any issue with the sound, but I’m not an audiophile, so I can’t say much about it. The maximum level isn’t really loud though, which is a good thing for the ears, but it lacks at certain times: I occasionally like to pump the adrenaline with some loud music, and the Powerbeats Pro 2 don’t really allow that. The Sony NW lineup has a much higher maximum level.
The buttons are not very good when doing sports, as the tactile area is quite large and doesn’t require a lot of pressure to activate. This translates into a lot of accidental presses when the whole body moves (especially when running, but also in many other sports). While walking, it’s much less of an issue, I can be more precise with my inputs.
The resistance to sweat should be enough, as they’re IPX4, but they might not be the best choice for running under heavy rain (which is much more of an issue here in Trondheim than in Lausanne or Geneva). I killed many Sony NW headphones by running under the rain or showering with them, even though they’re advertised as IP65, so I’m quite cautious not to expose these new headphones to too much water.
Contrary to the Sony NW-WS, they don’t have built-in storage but rely on the phone. That’s of course almost required for podcasts or actual plays, but can be more of an issue depending on where you run and how you manage your music. I used to manage the MP3 tracks on the Sony headphones, which allowed me to almost always run without my phone (not needed when you run in the city), but this was quite time-consuming. I switched more and more to Spotify over the years, which makes the music management easier and brings a convenient way of discovering new music. But the disadvantages of Spotify are only growing: the music discovery gets worse and worse (it likes to recommend songs and artists you’ve already listened to), and approx. 25% of my sport playlist is now unavailable… But that’s a problem with Spotify, not the headphones.
The battery life is good, I charge them between each run and they never ran out of battery. They’re also quite stable on the ears: they have a small tendency of coming out of the ears, but much slower than the Sony NW-WSs, which were already quite good in that regard. It just requires a bit of pressure from time to time to put them back in place (beware not to press the buttons when doing so though). They’re comfortable to wear, quite lightweight, and the lack of structure behind the neck is a nice change (I was a bit worried about that before trying them, because it’s what made the NW-WS more stable than the Jaybird X3).
I find the active noise cancellation (ANC) to be a deception, as it tends to work badly when running. It performs notably worse than the Sony WH-1000XM5 (which I also tried for running), the wind noise is often loud. And they don’t isolate naturally as much as the NW-WS do, despite no ANC mode for the latter. Add to that a low maximum level, and you get a headphone that can never immerse you in the music. They have a “transparency mode” that allows you to hear the ambient noise (a nice safety feature for running in the city), but considering I never heard much difference between both modes, I’ll call that a failure. Note that at home, in a quieter environment, the ANC works much better, and I can definitely feel the difference between both modes.
Despite advertising the Apple H2 chip, the integration with Android works well, and I haven’t needed to install the companion app, the headphones work as any other Bluetooth headphones. The app is required though for using the integrated heartrate monitor, which may be a nice feature for some, but I prefer using the monitor on my Garmin watch, or even the one on my chest strap when more accuracy is needed.
In conclusion, to my taste, the Powerbeats Pro 2 aren’t great headphones for running. Certainly not bad, but far from being the best. I’ll continue looking for a better alternative, maybe a crossover between the Powerbeats Pro 2 and the Sony NW lineup? I hope this will help you decide if they’re the right headphones for you though!