Adidas RPT-01 sport headphones
Best: Overall
Rating: 10/10
The well-known sports apparel brand has made a big splash in the world of sports headphones in the last few years and we think the RPT-01s – which have been around since late 2019 – are still the must buy product. The styling often splits opinion, but all our testers liked the knitted fabric that covers the headphones, which felt good and were rather welcome on winter runs where they doubled like a pair of ear muffs. This covering means they are very lightweight for over ears and the fabric can be removed and washed when needed.
We did have some worries about how secure they would be, but they were super solid and there was no slippage whatsoever. Adidas have also put a lot of thought into the controls with a switch which clicks up, down, left and right. After a little bit of trial and error, the innovative switch makes navigation around your playlist, adjusting volume, pairing etc., a total no-brainer. In fact, we would say that the controls were the best on test and we never suffered from the frustrations that can arise when trying to curate your music while on the move.
There’s no quick charge but a full charge will give you an astonishing 41 hours of playback, according to our testing, so you shouldn’t need to worry about them being out of juice when you need them. The cherry on top for us was the audio quality, which was akin to over-ears that sell for twice the price with a broad soundstage to give you a truly immersive experience.
There’s no ANC but you won’t need that because the combination of the very snug fit and the fabric that encases the headphones really does a great job making you feel alone with your tunes. There’s nothing akin to transparency mode though, so if you do need to be more aware of your surroundings these might not be for you. Finally, our caller claimed they had one of the clearest calls they’d experienced when we were wearing the RPT-01s and we certainly had no issues carrying on a conversation at our end.