Most workout earbuds solve fit by hoping your ears are average, and these solve it by letting you bend them. The Sport X20’s ear hooks rotate up to 30 degrees and extend up to 4mm, so you’re adjusting the hook to your ear rather than the other way round. Launch price was $79.99. Inside are 11mm drivers with adaptive noise cancelling and a transparency mode, worked by physical buttons rather than touch panels. Battery runs 12 hours with cancelling off or 7 with it on, up to 48 total with the case. IP68, which means genuine submersion.
Overall sound quality is very good, which is a solid result for something built primarily to survive being sweated on. It’s bass-forward in the usual Soundcore way, and the bass is boomy and prominent with a midrange that’s a touch muffled, so vocals sit slightly behind the beat. For running that’s arguably the right call. The cancelling was rated excellent across the frequency range, which is genuinely surprising in a sports bud, though you’ll hear a faint rush of hiss in a silent room with nothing playing.
Fit is the reason to buy these, and I’ve not had them shift once. They stay put through vigorous movement if your ears are medium or large, and the adjustable hooks are why. IP68 means you can rinse them under a tap after a session rather than wiping them and hoping, which over a year of running matters more than any spec. Two caveats. Smaller ears may find the earpieces bulky, since the hook mechanism needs somewhere to live. And accidental contact with the controls during a run can trigger unwanted volume changes, which is the price of physical buttons on something you’re moving in.
Bluetooth with dual-device multipoint, SBC and AAC codecs, and physical buttons for everything including cycling the noise modes. Buttons are the right choice here: touch controls and sweat are a bad combination, and anyone who has tried to skip a track with wet fingers knows it. The Soundcore app handles EQ and mode settings. There’s no wireless charging on the case, and the transparency mode is the one you’ll want on roads.
Buy these if you run, lift, or cycle and you’ve had earbuds fall out or fail on you, particularly if your ears are medium or large. The adjustable hooks plus IP68 is a combination very few sports buds offer at this price. Skip them if you have small ears, since the housings are bulky, or if you want neutral sound, because these are tuned to punch. For the specific job of staying put while you sweat on them, they’re one of the better answers under a hundred dollars.
Pros
• Ear hooks rotate and extend, so the fit actually adjusts
• IP68, so you can rinse them under a tap
• Noise cancelling rated excellent across the range
• Physical buttons, which beat touch controls when you’re wet
Cons
• Bass is boomy and the midrange sits back
• Bulky for smaller ears
• Buttons get pressed accidentally while moving
• Faint ANC hiss audible in silence
Our score: 7.8/10