When I was younger I had a high-adrenaline running playlist that I carefully curated: Arctic Monkeys, Jay-Z, Rage Against the Machine. It got my heart rate up, the same way drinking a lot of coffee made me more productive. As podcasts became a thing鈥攁nd I decided a more moderate heart rate has its upsides鈥擨 seized the chance to explore ideas while trying to hit my weekly mile goals. What remained constant was my appreciation for the evolution of earbuds, from wired to wireless, from basic to loaded, with features like active noise cancellation, and always toward better and better sound. So it is a delight to be able to test and select the best-performing sport earbuds on the market.

Update March 2025: We’ve tested and selected new sport earbud models in six categories, including a new best overall pick of the Bose QuietComfort.

The Hottest Trend in Sport Earbuds

This year鈥檚 hottest trend is open earbuds, which allow you to hear far more of what鈥檚 going on around you, and I can鈥檛 say I鈥檝e been sold on them. There鈥檚 no doubt that they make a lot of sense for people who run along the roadside or, even more so, cyclists who go anywhere near cars鈥攇enerally a very bad time to be canceling the noise around you. Open earbuds work in one of two ways: either with the transmitter positioned near your ear canal but not in it (see the VERIO 200 in our reviews below) or through bone conduction (found in the H2O Audio TRI 2 Pro below), which bypasses your eardrum, sending sound directly to your inner ear by way of your skull bones.

Since I live in the desert and rarely pass another living soul on the trails, I don鈥檛 need to hear what鈥檚 going on around me, and open earbuds will always be challenged to sound as good, or as loud, when they鈥檙e handicapped by having to reach your hearing by alternative methods. So for music, they鈥檙e not my favorite; for the spoken word, I鈥檓 learning to like them.

During this year鈥檚 tests, one of my fellow reviewers said he appreciated that the open design allowed him to hear not just passing cars but songbirds. Which sent me into a brief panic: Am I missing all the birdsongs? Sadly, there aren鈥檛 a lot of birds on my trail, but next summer when I鈥檓 hiking up at 10,000 feet and the dark-eyed juncos are chirping in the high branches, I鈥檒l put that theory to the test.

In the meantime, many closed-ear models these days (see Bose and Bowers & Wilkins below) let you employ a transparency (or awareness) mode that enhances ambient sound. This can be a nice in-between solution if your need for awareness isn鈥檛 so much life-and-death as it is a courtesy to the runner or biker 鈥渙n your left.鈥�

As our tests demonstrated, there鈥檚 a wide array of applications for those little pieces of tech we鈥檙e so fond of popping into our ears. We tried out a variety of models designed to optimize listening for every type of activity. Here are the seven we liked best in a range of scenarios: indoors or out, on land or in the water, on city sidewalks or remote trails where you can block out the noise and be in your own sound tunnel鈥攁s long as your remote trail doesn鈥檛 pass through bear country.

At a Glance

• Best All-Around:
• Best High-Fidelity:
• Best for Runners:
• Best Open-Ear:
• Killer Value:
• Best for Water:
• Most Innovative:
• How to Choose Earbuds
• How We Test
• Meet Our Lead Tester

Best All-Around

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds

Pros and Cons
鈯� That reliable Bose sound
鈯� Excellent noise cancellation
鈯� Case feels a bit cheap

The most surprising thing about the new iteration of the QuietComfort Earbuds is the price, which has dropped from $280 in the first generation to $180. Bose also offers a premium model called the QuietComfort Ultra, which goes for $300. Surely the new economy model is lacking something those other versions had? Not a whole lot, as far as we could tell.

The new model is anchored on what Bose is best known for: smooth, warm sound that鈥檚 well balanced, with no overblown bass-iness and nothing too tinny on the high end. The QC II also comes with active noise cancellation that performed well, for example, when running on a windy day. With various sizes of fins that help you find a secure fit, they proved above average as workout earbuds, although parkour practitioners will probably experience slippage. The charging case has a slightly cheap plastic feel but is perfectly adequate.

The QC IIs come with their own app, which testers found easy to use; one 鈥済reatly appreciated being able to modify the touch controls, which I tend to dislike in earbuds, via the app.鈥� If you鈥檙e one of those people, you鈥檒l like the options for voice control, which let you pause, answer calls, and even take a selfie just by saying so. The battery life is very good, at 8.5 hours on medium volume with ANC turned on, and the charging case supplies 2.5 extra charges. With IPX4 water resistance, they repel splashing water but won鈥檛 be happy if submerged. And Bluetooth Multipoint means you can connect a phone and a laptop at the same time, without needing to fuss with Bluetooth settings every time you make the transition.

There鈥檚 nothing unexpected here鈥攁side from the low price鈥攁nd that鈥檚 a good thing. The QuietComfort II performed like a champ and had a just-right feel, and it鈥檚 always nice to pick up some excellent Bose tech and still afford to take your partner to dinner on Friday.

Best for Audiophiles

Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 In-Ear True Wireless Earbuds

Pros and Cons
鈯� Pristine sound quality
鈯� Non-frustrating touch controls
鈯� Not cheap

鈥淭he most audiophile worthy of all the earbuds I鈥檝e tested,鈥� one of our veteran reviewers gushed after a month with the Pi8s. Through hours of listening sessions on planes, on trails, on couches, and on city sidewalks, this was the pair that invariably impressed everyone on our test team, with their 鈥渋ncredibly balanced and musical鈥� sound quality.

The $400 price鈥�$150 above Apple鈥檚 ubiquitous AirPod Pros and $100 north of the Bose QuietComfort Ultras鈥攎eans you have to be serious about your music, and about taking good care of them. They鈥檙e IP54-rated, able to handle sweat and a misty rain, but are not the pair you want to bring to the gym each day. While the four sizes of ear tips help them sit pretty securely and comfortably, they will fall out on occasion. All the same, we won鈥檛 discourage you from ever bringing them on a run on a sunny day, where their high-fidelity clarity is sure to put a little more oomph in your step.

The active noise cancellation on the Pi8s is excellent, similar to that on the Bose QCII, with touch controls for toggling between on, off, and transparency mode. The touch controls work better than in most earbuds we鈥檝e seen, with a satisfying light noise that鈥檚 akin to a mouse click. We also love the pearlescent finish on the outer surface of the Pi8s, which come in four colors. A robust companion app lets you turn off the touch controls and has a five-band equalizer so you can tweak the sound profile to your liking. Battery life here is an average 6.5 hours, and the charging case holds two additional charges (13.5 hours).

Another nice feature is something called retransmission. This allows you to use the included USB-C-to-3.5mm cord to plug the unit鈥檚 charging case into an external device like an in-flight entertainment system and the case will send the signal into the buds, so you鈥檙e not stuck listening on that plastic-wrapped pair the flight attendants hand out with the peanuts.

One reviewer reported, 鈥淚 listened to an album with two double basses鈥斺�淏ut Who鈥檚 Gonna Play the Melody?鈥� by Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer鈥攁nd I could hear their fingers and the pull of the bow on the strings in ways I hadn鈥檛 before.鈥� That鈥檚 a good example of what makes these shine like few have before them.

Best for Runners

SoundPeats Q35 HD+ Neckband Headphones

Pros and Cons
鈯� Impossible to lose
鈯� Lightweight
鈯� Struggles with heavy bass
鈯� Cord can annoy some

If impressive sound coupled with a secure fit is what you鈥檙e after, this is the model for you. The Q35 HD+s are held firmly in place by semi-rigid fins that position them snugly鈥攕omething we鈥檙e surprised more earbuds don鈥檛 come with鈥攚hile a barely there cord wraps behind your neck. If you drop and do push-ups and gravity pops the buds out, the cord makes it impossible for one to roll away into the shrubbery to be lost forever. It鈥檚 a satisfying package: light but with a sturdy build, and easy to spool into your pocket when you stop for coffee.

It鈥檚 a form factor that鈥檚 been around for years and, as one tester who runs routinely notes, has been perennially dependable. What we didn鈥檛 expect, for the bargain price, is something that sounds this good. The sound is not as detailed or as robust in the low end as the Bose or B&W models, but you鈥檙e certainly getting more than you paid for. For a heart-pumping track like the Who鈥檚 鈥淏aba O鈥橰iley,鈥� they sound good enough for hours on the trail.

And time on the trail is another thing they鈥檝e got covered: The company rates them at 17 hours on a charge, after which they get plugged back in鈥攏o backup power in the carrying case, which is flimsy but does fine at protecting the device and keeping the cord from tangling with the other stuff in your backpack.

IPX5 water resistance means they鈥檒l have no problem with a light rain and should not be impacted by moisture on a long, sweaty day on the trail. And the mic built into the inline control module means the Q35 HD+ handles phone calls well鈥攚ith the proximity to your mouth arguably capturing your voice better than the mic on a wireless earbud can. It鈥檚 an impressive piece of gear that could have just as easily slotted into our Killer Value category.

Best Open Ear

Beyerdynamic VERIO 200

Pros and Cons
鈯� Best-sounding open-ear model
鈯� No discomfort inside your ears
鈯� Ear hooks can be uncomfortable

Cycling on a city street while dialing in to the all-hands meeting? Hiking with a buddy and wanting to switch between conversation and catching up on your podcasts? Knocking out two chapters of Moby-Dick on Audible on your daily run? All these use cases have their perfect companion in the VERIO 200.

And this is leaving out music, which historically (in our test team鈥檚 estimation) has sounded too weak and tinny in the open-ear design but now, at last, is starting to approach the real thing. Rock 鈥檔鈥� roll will probably never shine with this form factor, but it鈥檚 never come closer than this. Thanks to the wizards at Beyerdynamic, classical and jazz came through with a clarity that one tester called 鈥渂etter sounding and generally more sophisticated than previous attempts at open ear.鈥�

The VERIO 200s play for eight hours on a charge and have a well-designed case that provides 27 more hours. (Some found the case a little large, but others appreciated that the earpieces slide in so seamlessly, without the multiple repositioning attempts required with some brands that use a smaller case.) The dual mics make them very effective for calls, and an IP54 rating makes them suitable for runs and walks in a light rain鈥攐r for a sweaty CrossFit workout, where they鈥檇 do a good job of staying in place thanks to an effective wraparound design. (Some reviewers, however, found them uncomfortable after an hour or so.)

Of course, safety is the main motivator for going to an open-ear design, and even at full volume the VERIO allowed the sound of fellow bikers and pedestrians to be heard. Returning home, we loved being able to leave them on for hours more, listening to the news or a ballgame while being able to chat with family, with no pausing or bud removal required.

Killer Value

Mixx StreamBuds Custom 1

Pros and Cons
鈯� Compact
鈯� Surprisingly loud and clear
鈯� Small size means easy to lose
鈯� No IP rating

The Custom 1, from UK-based Mixx, delivers a really impressive sound at a great price. Out of the box, the first thing that charmed us was the size of the case, small enough to close your hand around. The earbuds themselves are small too鈥攁 fact that made them coveted by my wife, who can鈥檛 deal with anything too bulky sitting in her ears.

That tiny case is also tough, made of zinc alloy that looks sleek and can handle being dropped, stepped on (we tried it out), and generally tormented. Said case charges the Custom 1s for six hours of playtime and carries three extra six-hour charges: pretty impressive for such a wee thing.

But it鈥檚 the Custom 1鈥檚 well-detailed acoustic quality that won us over: 鈥淢usic sounded warm, with good lows, though sometimes a bit muffled,鈥� said one tester. Others also echoed the word 鈥渨arm鈥濃�攖hey seem to offer a certain rich quality that makes orchestral music shine through.

The Custom 1s sounded great on runs but are definitely not the most secure, and at their size, you鈥檒l be nervous about losing them. 鈥淚 preferred them for walking rather than more active running or hiking,鈥� one tester remarked. Nor do they come with any IP rating for water or dust resistance; this doesn鈥檛 mean they can鈥檛 handle moisture, but apparently the company didn鈥檛 do that testing. If you鈥檙e a fan of compactness, if you have smaller ears, or if you simply like discovering hidden gems at a bargain price, however, this is one to add to the mix.

Best for Water

H2O Audio TRI 2 Pro

Pros and Cons
鈯� Totally waterproof
鈯� Onboard memory
鈯� Song transfer is slow
鈯� Can cause tickling

Have you harbored dreams of funneling techno into your auditory nerve while windsurfing on San Francisco Bay, then voice-commanding to switch over to an incoming business call? One member of our review crew put three models of waterproof earbuds through this very test and, while the process stands to be improved through future innovations, it worked fairly well, with the TRI 2 Pro coming out on top.

H2O Audio has been selling good products for swimmers and the like for years鈥攊t takes a special approach, not least because they need to be IPX8, able to go 12 feet underwater for as long as you want them to鈥攍ike this model can. And, of course, a Bluetooth signal won鈥檛 travel under the waves with you, so tracks need to be stored locally, either on a waterproof MP3 player or an even better solution, like this unit鈥檚 8GB of onboard memory that can store 130 hours of tracks. (It can move your own mp3 files over or 鈥渞ecord鈥� music from a streaming service like Spotify, though this is a slow process.)

The TRI 2 Pros employ bone conduction technology, which makes them great for podcasts while out on a run or bike ride, but a little less ideal when trying to rock out in said open-air activities: Then they can start to tickle. Still, H2O Audio and other companies are making these units sound better every year. And it鈥檚 underwater that they really shine: When you use the included earplugs to neutralize the water noise in your ears, it鈥檚 surprising how smooth music sounds, and at much more moderate volumes. They鈥檙e a minor godsend for lap swimmers, snorkelers, and triathletes (presumably the core audience for the Tri line) who like to enhance their life aquatic by playing their favorite symphony or devouring an audiobook. The headset will play for up to nine hours in Bluetooth mode and six hours in memory mode and comes with a zip case (which is rather bulky) that provides two and a half refills.

Back to our windsurfer: The TRI 2 Pro worked under a helmet (and this success was replicated on the ski slopes), which also secured them in the event of a fall. Playing tunes when the wind was low was enjoyable, but in high wind it was a challenge: 鈥淚 could hear the music, but the output of the headphones had to compete with the roar of wind in my ear canals. It鈥檚 simply a matter of physics.鈥� This also meant the tester鈥檚 hopes of 鈥渢urning sales meetings into sails meetings鈥� by joining conference calls were largely dashed. Listening worked fine, but the microphone couldn鈥檛 pick up his voice from deep inside his helmet. Maybe one day.

Most Innovative

Denon PerL True Wireless Earbuds

Pros and Cons
鈯� Rich, dynamic sound
鈯� Impressive app
鈯� Customizable sound profile
鈯� Chunky size

鈥淓ach product is hand-tuned by our sound master,鈥� Denon says of the PerLs, and while we don鈥檛 know exactly what that means, it speaks to the Japanese DNA in these premium-sounding buds. Take the accompanying software, for instance: The first thing you do with these wireless buds is download an app that streams a series of sounds and frequencies into your ears to measure how you hear, then creates a personalized profile that transforms how good music sounds. It鈥檚 one of the best uses of a headphone app we鈥檝e seen.

The PerLs came across as lively but not piercing on the high end, with realism and verve. There鈥檚 even a high-gain option on the app that boosts volume for quiet recordings, which one tester called 鈥渁 welcome feature that I would love to see in a lot of sometimes anemic Bluetooth earbuds.鈥� These capabilities are made possible by a series of ultra-sensitive microphones, which probably explains their rather enormous size鈥攐ne reviewer called them 鈥渟harp-edged Alka-Seltzer tablet earbud bodies鈥� and noted, 鈥淚 had to remove the supplied fin attachment before these felt okay.鈥�

Others liked the fit and found them great for running, where they kept the adrenaline flowing with some of the best full-on rocking-out sound in the test. 鈥淪t. Vincent and Spoon sounded like I was listening to vinyl,鈥� one tester said. The active noise cancellation is decent, the six hours of battery is average (with two more charges from the case), and an IPX4 rating means they can handle a light rain. Given the quality and attention to detail, we consider these a true bargain at $139 or less.

How to Choose Earbuds

Earbuds are more like shoes than most other gear categories: so much depends on the right fit. What comfortably fits one person鈥檚 ears may not suit another鈥檚, and there鈥檚 more to it than size. The internal anatomy of the ear makes certain designs actually sound better to one person than the next. If you can鈥檛 try them out at a store or borrow them from a friend, it may be best to buy them from a retailer with a good return policy. Once you have them in hand, do some real-world tests with the different tip sizes, and trade them in if you aren鈥檛 in love.

If you want to get serious about the perfect fit, consider aftermarket foam eartips, like . In addition to helping with a more secure fit, they provide passive noise isolation, which can improve the experience with both ANC-equipped and ANC-less earbuds. Should fit issues persist, consider a model with behind-the-ear hooks like the .

Also give some thought to which features do it for you: Some people like sleek touch controls, others prefer old-school push buttons; some like to tap for quick pausing, others would rather forgo that feature and pull out one bud to ask for directions, so as to avoid the annoyance of unwanted pauses every time your fingers go near them. And if you live in a rainy climate, be sure to choose ones with an ending in 4 or higher (as all the models here do).

Finally, be aware that there are more specialized designs emerging and getting better each year鈥搇ike these earbuds for , others for , and for those who want to stay more tuned in to their surroundings.

How We Test Sport Earbuds

• Hours of Testing: 246
• Test Environments: Running, hiking, dog walking, cycling, windsurfing, skiing, rock climbing, yardwork, car camping, conference calls, video streaming, noisy coffee shops
• Highest Elevation: 10,152 feet, Leadville, Colorado
• Lowest Elevation: 5 feet underwater in Lake Pleasant, Arizona
• Most Listened-To Tracks: Childish Gambino: 鈥淟ithonia,鈥� The Cure: 鈥淎lone,鈥� Drugdealer and Kim Bollinger: 鈥淧ictures of You,鈥� Fontaines D.C.: 鈥淔avourite,鈥� J Dilla: 鈥淲orkinonit,鈥� Kenya Grace: 鈥淪trangers,鈥� Magdalena Bay: 鈥淚mage,鈥� Slowthai ft. James Blake and Mount Kimbie: 鈥淔eel Away,鈥� Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross: 鈥淐hallengers鈥�

The first thing we do with any earbuds, headphones, or speakers is attempt to pair them with our phones without consulting the user manual: the quicker, more intuitive, and easier the Bluetooth setup, the more points scored. Then we put them through rigorous hours of testing doing the kinds of things 国产吃瓜黑料 readers do鈥攆rom dog walks to HIIT workouts, from fireside listening to our day jobs, which for one of us is at the local woodworking shop. Our testers, who range in location from Alaska to Berkeley to Santa Fe to New York City, spent hours in them, bouncing up and down on trails, treadmills, and trains.

Our team turns in reports on each product tested, providing a score from 1 to 10 for five different measures: sound quality, pairing and connectivity, fit and comfort, rain and drop protection, and user friendliness. Scores are averaged, with more weight given to sound quality and (knowing our audience) how well they stand up to the elements. Note: Battery life estimates in these reviews are based on manufacturer specs; it鈥檚 difficult to confirm those numbers, given the time involved and variances among user habits (different volumes, different uses, different functions enabled). Actual results may be 10 to 20 percent lower, judging from averages experienced in general testing.

Meet Our Lead Tester

Will Palmer has been testing gear for 21 years for 国产吃瓜黑料, where he was managing editor and copy chief for nine years. Based in Santa Fe, he has been a runner since 1984, and while the mile counts have decreased over the years, he鈥檚 kept motivated to head out the door on the hottest, coldest, and wettest days by the opportunity to test the best new products鈥攁nd to commune with the junipers and pi帽ons.

The post The 7 Best Sport Earbuds (2025) appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

This story update is part of the聽国产吃瓜黑料听颁濒补蝉蝉颈肠蝉, a series highlighting the best writing we鈥檝e ever published, along with author interviews and other exclusive bonus materials. Read 鈥淭he King of the Ferret Leggers,鈥� by Donald Katz here.

The author of this tale was Don Katz. Forty-two years later, he鈥檚 recounting the legend of this piece to me while sitting inside a majestically repurposed church in Newark, New Jersey, global headquarters of the company he founded: , the world鈥檚 leading creator and seller of audiobooks and other original content. Katz recently stepped back from his longtime position as CEO, but he remains active and keeps an office in town. He also remains close to Newark Venture Partners, a social-impact early-stage investment fund, and Audible鈥檚 Global Center for Urban Innovation; he established both to focus on solutions to urban inequities, after moving Audible to Newark in 2007.

Hold on a minute: the guy who wrote a piece about ferrets gnawing a man鈥檚 privates is the same guy who created Audible? Yes, and a common thread runs through 碍补迟锄鈥檚 writing career and the business he built: a love of story.

In late 1982, Katz submitted the ferret-king piece to John Rasmus, then 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥�s editor in chief. This was back in the magazine鈥檚 primordial days, when it was still finding its voice. Rasmus loved it. Then the artwork came in鈥攁 graphic image by , the famous Rolling Stone artist, showing Reg on the field of battle, clad in baggy pants that appear to be spraying blood.

Rasmus: 鈥淚 said, 鈥楿h-oh.鈥欌�夆��

Katz had talked Steadman鈥攈is good friend and colleague from their days as Rolling Stone contributors in England, where Katz had moved to study at the London School of Economics before getting started as a writer鈥攊nto illustrating the piece. Delicately, Rasmus nestled the article and its vivid depiction into the issue, running it with a brief subhead (鈥淎 True Story鈥�) under the rubric 鈥淩evelries of the Rustics.鈥�

It鈥檚 not an exaggeration to say that this piece became talismanic for the magazine. 鈥淚t gave us all kinds of good reasons to do stories like 鈥楩erret Leggers,鈥欌�夆�� says Rasmus, who in 2017 wrote a tribute to it for 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥�s 40th anniversary issue. It also helped establish that an 国产吃瓜黑料 story could be literary, visceral, and funny at the same time, often involving a protagonist who must do a particular thing because, to paraphrase George Mallory, it is there to be done.

鈥淔erret Leggers鈥� is so good that it was stolen many times, even before the internet made that easy to do. People typed it up, put their name on it, and got it published. Katz, who for years worked as an award-winning magazine writer and author, spent more time than he wanted to cease-and-desisting these thieves.

碍补迟锄鈥檚 decision to write for a living, and in particular his ability to hear and employ the oral traditions of storytelling in his work, was born in the early 1970s, when he studied at New York University under , the author of the classic novel Invisible Man. The idea of what Ellison called the 鈥渕usicality鈥� of the spoken word surely was lodged in 碍补迟锄鈥檚 head while he labored to bring Audible to life. It wasn鈥檛 easy. The company would eventually become a huge success, but after the dot-com bust of 1999, Audible traded for as little as four cents a share. It took a decade to make a profit.

碍补迟锄鈥檚 two career arcs reminded me of something he wrote about ferrets back in 鈥�83. This creature, he observed, has one very good trait: 鈥渁 tenacious, single-minded belief in finishing whatever it starts.鈥�

OUTSIDE: As a character, Reg Mellor is hilariously over-the-top, and I think some readers today may wonder if he treated his athletes with the respect and care they deserved.
KATZ: Well, Reg would have said that the real athletes were the tiny cohort of humans who subjected themselves to ferrets being put in this uncaring and potentially cruel situation. My story set out to be a literary satire, pitting legendarily tough Brits from a specific county against equally tough animals, which, as few readers would have known, had been raised and deployed for generations to chase other animals out of holes for the benefit of hunters. There鈥檚 no doubt that there were plenty of people around England more than 40 years ago鈥攚hen there was a movement to outlaw ferrets as pets due to various attacks that happened inside homes鈥攚ho gave me statements and assertions that became my description of exaggerated ferret fury. But ferret legging was a clearly unacceptable treatment of sentient beings. From my view鈥攁s someone who鈥檚 aware of emerging science about animals and the father of a vegan animal-rights activist鈥攊t鈥檚 good that this is no longer a thing, which leaves my literary excursion into irony as a cultural artifact of another time and place.

How did you get the idea to write 鈥淭he King of the Ferret Leggers鈥�?
When I got to England in the mid-seventies, there was this satirical, couched-in-gossip magazine called Private Eye. I saw a squib in there about someone named Reg Mellor, who had retired in disgust from a competition called ferret legging because he was able to do it for so long that everyone in the stands got bored and left.

I pulled the page out of the magazine and thought: That is so weird. Someday, I鈥檇 like to find out what that is.

I bounced the idea off Ralph Steadman, who was already famous in the United States for his Rolling Stone work with Hunter S. Thompson. I kind of put us together as a package. For whatever reason, I got the OK from 国产吃瓜黑料 to do it.

The story was published, and it fairly immediately became a cult thing. People passed it around at caf茅s, as if we were living in the days of Victorian poetry. Writers sent it to each other, and it started to have, you know, buzz鈥攁nd all sorts of unintended consequences for me.

Such as?
Right around that time, I had this idea of trying to write a big story about Nike. The head of Nike, Phil Knight, had never given interviews. I sent him 鈥淔erret Leggers.鈥� He loved it. I got the OK to enter Knight鈥檚 world, and that experience grew into my 1994 book, Just Do It: The Nike Spirit in the Corporate World.

I鈥檝e read that 鈥淔erret Leggers鈥� was stolen a bunch of times.
The story comes out, and I go back to writing books and other magazine articles. Then I get a phone call from a friend who was talking to another friend in Germany who was raving about this hysterical article in a major German magazine, about a man in Yorkshire, England, who puts ferrets down his pants.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e been plagiarized,鈥� he said. I lawyered up and was paid triple damages鈥攚hich wasn鈥檛 that much because of how small my 国产吃瓜黑料 fee was. But at the time I needed the money!

In the late 1990s, when the Unix-based Internet was becoming the World Wide Web, I became aware that the story was available online with other people鈥檚 bylines on it. I remember writing to some person at Carnegie Mellon University who was trying to publish it under his name.

I said, 鈥淵ou might not know the concept of intellectual property, but I wrote that. I basically live on that story being republished.鈥� And the kid wrote back, saying, 鈥淵ou old fart, you should be happy that anyone even cares about a story you wrote in 1983.鈥� He attached various manifestos that said information should be free, which was one of the early ideas defining the Internet: to wipe out professional-grade content in favor of the crowd鈥檚 content.

Later, when Audible was designing the first download service for content鈥攁nd inventing the first digital-audio player, which came out almost five years before the iPod鈥擨 asked our engineers to create an encryption system that would at least cow the people who wanted to steal others鈥� work. I said at the time: 鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to sustain the professional creative class through this digital transformation, there have to be some protections. Otherwise, no one鈥檚 ever going to get paid.鈥� That was key to Audible鈥檚 formation, and a focus on powerfully composed and artfully performed words was fundamental during the 27 years I ran the thing.

For many people the writer-to-tech-CEO trajectory might be confusing at first, but it makes sense that the common link is a love of words.
That鈥檚 right. Audible was an idea and a company culture led by a writer. And the truth is, I daydream in prose.

How did you get the elite venture capitalists who backed you to believe in a writer who wanted to create a media category based on technologies that didn鈥檛 yet exist?
Well, some of them didn鈥檛 believe. But because I鈥檇 studied and written about businesses large and small, I knew that getting a business going required capital, and I would need to deploy language and stories that would overcome perceived risk. I discovered, for instance, that 93 million Americans sat in traffic jams driving to and from work鈥攚hich meant there were hundreds of millions of hours per week that Audible could fill with a premium service offering self-selected entertainment, education, and information. This was a key point in the original business plan. Consumers could 鈥渁rbitrage鈥� their time, I argued, by programming their own listening time. They could make dead time come alive and get to work smarter than the person in the next cube.

That鈥檚 a daunting leap.
The technology-invention risk, on top of the market risk, was real, but I used my journalistic training to be honest about what I didn鈥檛 know, and to find expert fellow pioneers and employees to supplement that. The realities of financial and cultural success took much longer to achieve than I expected, but from the beginning I thought鈥攁nd preached鈥攖hat digital technology could create an Audible-spawned media category alongside music, books, and other printed material, along with all permutations of film and video. I didn鈥檛 go so far as to attribute this to what I learned as an English major mentored by Ralph Ellison, or go on as I did later about why Stephen Crane and Mark Twain wrote like Americans because of their ability to listen to the polyglot sound of Americans talking. But these things were never far from my thoughts.

You also had to invent the technology and the hardware to make it happen. You had to invent the Audible MobilePlayer and a way to download encrypted files. And last but not least, you had to persuade the book publishers to license the rights to books.
Despite the efficiencies of never being out of stock in digital, and the price benefits of no physical packaging, resistance from the publishing establishment was intense. There remained an aristocratic strain within the publishing elite that did not want this change.

This seems like the right time to tell you that, by studying your vast oeuvre鈥攎agazine pieces, books, and Audible itself鈥擨鈥檝e identified themes that run through your work. May I try them out on you?
I love that you did that.

My first theory is that you鈥檙e drawn to people鈥攜ou may be one of those people鈥攚hom the mainstream considers to be, uh, crazy. People who have outrageous ideas and pursue them. Reg Mellor is such a person.
Definitely true. I also think of them as relentless people who just don鈥檛 give up on ideas. In my case, the shift from writing to creating Audible was, even to myself, something of a mystery.

Two more themes: you鈥檙e drawn to endurance and domination. Both apply in 鈥淔erret Leggers,鈥� but also in 国产吃瓜黑料 stories like your profile of the father of fitness, Jack LaLanne, which was memorably called 鈥淛ack LaLanne Is Still an Animal.鈥�
Jack was such a fascinating, bloody-minded character. He was 80 when I spent time with him, and I think of him often now, as I navigate the realities of aging alongside continued aggressive physical activity.

And, obviously, in the story of Audible, which hung by a thread several times between 1995 and its sale to Amazon in 2008. By 2023, according to one statistic I saw, Audible dominated the U.S. audiobook business, with nearly two-thirds of the market.
There are many ways to define business success, and Audible has clearly achieved a startling level of it by traditional metrics. But what has always mattered to me are the lives that Audible touches in so many ways across listeners, writers, actors, and employees. But there鈥檚 no question that if you want to pursue ideas that others may view as unlikely, you better need to win and fear failure in ways most others do not.

Do you have any regrets?
That I was never good enough to be an NHL player. I鈥檓 a lifelong hockey player. I would have traded in any of it to be a professional.

The post Behind the Scenes of the Funniest Story 国产吃瓜黑料 Ever Published appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

What鈥檚 stranger than a story about people stuffing ferrets down their pants? How about that story leading the writer to create one of the largest, most successful digital media companies, ever. When聽国产吃瓜黑料听辫耻产濒颈蝉丑别诲听The King of the Ferret Leggers, by Don Katz, more than 30 years ago, it became an instant classic and is now considered the funniest story 国产吃瓜黑料 has ever published. But what people don鈥檛 know is that writing the piece began a long, strange journey that ended with Katz founding audio giant Audible.

The post The Story of 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥檚 Funniest Story appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The winners of this year鈥檚 audio tests came from brands that range from three-year-old startups to longtime audio stalwarts, a testament to how dialed the technology has become. Each year we see more and more bargain models on the market that, if you didn鈥檛 check the price tag, you might think went for $100, or twice that. And every year brings more new and clever features, like in-ear detection and sound profiles to suit your taste for bass vs. treble. Then there鈥檚 active noise cancellation (ANC), which first came to earbuds some five years ago but has become commonplace, perhaps an indicator that the world around us really needs to shut the hell up, and that we all鈥攚hether running, doing yoga, or commuting鈥攃an best find our sweet spot when alone in our particular sound cave. One thing 国产吃瓜黑料 readers can appreciate is the increasing ruggedness and water resistance in basically any pair of buds you might acquire鈥攅ven those that don鈥檛 have high are likely able to survive a walk in the rain or a drop into a puddle and still keep doing what they do. With less and less to separate high-end products from low-end, the differentiators are becoming more a question of how much care and attention to detail are put into the product.

Read on for our winners, from deserving buds of all shapes and sizes to the best premium travel headphones.

Updated August 2024: We’ve updated the formatting of this guide and updated the retailers and pricing of our picks.

At a Glance

• Best All-Around:
• Best for Runners:
• Best for Smaller Ears:
• Killer Value:
• Best Travel Headphones:
• How to Choose Earbuds
• How We Test
• Meet Our Lead Tester

If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside. Learn more.

Best All-Around

Marshall Motif II ANC

Pros and Cons
鈯� Top-notch, dynamic sound
鈯� Rockin鈥� design
鈯� Highly grippable stems
鈯� Shorter-than-average battery life

The Motif II ANCs have the same popular stem design as Apple鈥檚 beloved AirPods Pro but cling to your ears even better. Like the AirPods Pro, they sound fantastic, with faithful, crystal-clear highs, mids, and lows (and no artificial, random bass boosting), and come with a versatile app that includes a custom equalizer (where, yes, you can add more bass). But unlike the AirPods Pro, the Motif II ANC earbuds carry Marshall鈥檚 pedigree classic rock aesthetic, which is actually very useful: the grippy metal stems make them much easier to handle, and the textured vinyl case feels indestructible. They even come in at $50 less than Apple鈥檚 counterpart. In testing, connectivity proved flawless, and their active noise cancellation (ANC) was very effective, though a step below Apple鈥檚 model. One tester did find that their robust design meant they needed occasional fit adjustment during runs, and their IPX5 protection means they鈥檙e not rated to keep out dust and solids, but they will do fine with heavy rain, sweat, or sea spray. Battery life is the only real downside: They play for just 6 hours with ANC engaged or 9 hours without (similar to the AirPods Pro but 2鈥�3 hours less than competitors like Sony, Sennheiser, and JLabs) and the case holds four extra charges. But with the 鈥渂est sound quality of all the buds in this test,鈥� according to one tester, and a design that made everyone take notice, the Motif II A.N.C.s take home our top prize for their character and quality.

Read our full review of the Marshall Motif II ANC.

Best for Runners

Beats Studio Buds +

Pros and Cons
鈯� Easy to use
鈯� Secure fit
鈯� Consistently good sound
鈯� Limited grip area makes them easy to drop

The well-engineered Studio Buds + are our top pick for runners because of their light weight and small profile, staying in place well while you bob about. One tester, who even used them while paddleboarding, found that they 鈥渇it really well immediately out of the box and never fell out or needed adjusting.鈥� They didn鈥檛, however, boast the lockdown security of the 鈥渨ingtips鈥� that came built-in on the earlier (and still available) . The Studio Buds + are an improvement over their predecessors (same name sans the +), with upgrades that include better ANC and longer battery life (6 hours with ANC on, 9 hours without). With an IPX4 protection rating, they held up against sweat and light rain. This model put extra oomph in our strides with bassier but nice 鈥檔鈥� clear sound, similar to that of the Apple AirPods Pro. ANC on the Studio Buds + is only middle of the pack but did a decent job blocking out the chatter in a crowded coffeehouse, and Beats tripled the size of the microphones for a call quality that impressed testers. We also liked the push controls on the outside of each bud, which never accidentally paused tracks the way touch controls sometimes do. Similarly, they don鈥檛 have in-ear detection, a feature some of our testers find aggravating. Forgot to charge them? A five-minute plug-in adds a quick hour of playback time. While their diminutive size can make them hard to grasp when plucking them out of the magnetic case, we nevertheless found ourselves reaching for them routinely, especially when heading to the trail. And as you鈥檇 expect from the brand, the Studio Buds + look sleek and wholly of the moment鈥攚e especially approved of the transparent option, but the ivory and black/gold opaque models are also appropriately sporty.

Best for Smaller Ears

Raycon Fitness Earbuds

Pros and Cons
鈯� Extreme portability
鈯� Surprisingly bold sound
鈯� A bit on the fragile side
鈯� More likely to be lost

The magic in the straightforwardly named Fitness Earbuds lies in their barely-there size. Both the lightweight buds and the case鈥攚hich fits in the palm of your hand and slips discreetly into any pocket鈥攁re tiny. This makes it all the more impressive that they can pump out rich, deep sound for 12 hours on a charge (with ANC off) and hold 44 more hours of recharging in the case. One of our testers, a runner with several ear piercings, said 鈥渢hese felt the most comfortable and secure in my ears,鈥� a fact that is helped by the soft stabilizing fins that cleverly slip on and off depending on your preference. Folks with larger ears enjoyed them too but did have occasional trouble with them falling out. The Fitness Earbuds come with helpful touch controls for volume, ANC, and even three different sound profiles (more bass, etc.), and their multipoint feature lets you connect to both phone and laptop at the same time. IPX7 water-resistance means they can handle rain and even short periods of total immersion. One tester who works as a carpenter wore them at work and 鈥渘ever had any issues with them being affected by sweat or sawdust.鈥�

Killer Value

JLab GO Air Sport

Pros and Cons
鈯� Exceptional value
鈯� Secure fit
鈯� Infrequent pairing issues
鈯� Some tunes can sound tinny

For those who put their buds through hell, there鈥檚 nothing to dislike in this smooth-sounding unit, given that they come with a replacement cost that is barely more than a pizza with all the toppings. Their comfortable, bendy, ear hooks all but guarantee a secure fit during workouts, even if your workouts involve handstands. With an IP55 rating, they can handle dust and moderate rain. 鈥淭hese were my go-to earbuds for durability,鈥� said our Anchorage-based tester. 鈥淚 tested them on trail runs and hikes during misty Alaska rains. They are very durable and did not fall out of my ears or seem to be affected by rain or sweat.鈥� While one runner on the test crew found the relatively large case a bit cumbersome to carry in a pocket, the 8-hour charge was adequate for most workouts and daylong activities (and the case provides another 24 hours). As for that case: We like that it has its own built-in USB charging cord. The touch controls are nice to have but don鈥檛 always perform as expected, and the earbuds do not come with ANC, though at this price that shouldn鈥檛 be an expectation. Based on their durability, clear sound, reliable connectivity, and price, they make perfect sense for more rough-and-tumble activities or as a backup to pricier headsets.

Best Travel Headphones

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2e

Pros and Cons
鈯� Excellent sound
鈯� Invitingly discreet design
鈯� Not suitable for adventures

鈥淭hese are the best-sounding over-ear wireless headphones I鈥檝e experienced,鈥� one of our veteran testers exclaimed. In a category dominated by the likes of Bose, Sony, and Apple, it鈥檚 refreshing that this year鈥檚 most inviting travel headphones come from a legendary British audiophile brand, founded in 1966, known for its excellent but pricey and historically not rugged headphones. The Px7 S2e addresses both of those issues, quietly going about its business with a solidly built and thrilling-to-listen-to product at a price that is perfectly reasonable. We gave them style points for a nice range of beautiful, nature-based color options, from the standard Anthracite Black to Cloud Grey, Ocean Blue, and Forest Green. The active noise cancellation, while not best in class, does a decent job, using four microphones to adapt to your surrounding soundscape, and they come with a barebones but serviceable app. Battery life is a stellar 30 hours, and a 15-minute charge provides seven additional hours. While testers wished they could reach slightly higher volumes, bass-heavy head-bopping isn鈥檛 what these are made for. 鈥淚f you want balance, resolution, accuracy, transparency, and deeply pleasurable naturalness, this one delivers,鈥� a tester wrote. They do fall short in packability鈥攐ne tester noted, 鈥渋t would be nice if they folded鈥濃�攁nd we wouldn鈥檛 advise wearing them in a downpour, but the Px7 S2e comes with a sturdy protective case that will stand up to a certain degree of rough handling. Just remember to pack it in your carry-on.

How to Choose Earbuds

Earbuds are more like shoes than most other gear categories: so much depends on the right fit. What comfortably fits one person鈥檚 ears may not suit another鈥檚, and there鈥檚 more to it than size. The internal anatomy of the ear makes certain designs actually sound better to one person than the next. If you can鈥檛 try them out at a store or borrow them from a friend, it may be best to buy them from a retailer with a good return policy. Once you have them in hand, do some real-world tests with the different tip sizes, and trade them in if you aren鈥檛 in love.

If you want to get serious about the perfect fit, consider aftermarket foam eartips, like . In addition to helping with a more secure fit, they provide passive noise isolation, which can improve the experience with both ANC-equipped and ANC-less earbuds. Should fit issues persist, consider a model with behind-the-ear hooks, like the JLabs GO Air Sport reviewed here.

Also give some thought to which features do it for you: Some people like sleek touch controls, others prefer old-school push buttons; some like to tap for quick pausing, others would rather forgo that feature and pull out one bud to ask for directions, so as to avoid the annoyance of unwanted pauses every time your fingers go near them. And if you live in a rainy climate, be sure to choose ones with an IP rating ending in 4 or higher (as all the models here do).

Finally, be aware that there are more specialized designs emerging and getting better each year鈥搇ike these earbuds for , others for , and for those who want to stay more tuned in to their surroundings.

How We Test

• Number of Miles Run During Testing: 255
• Number of Dogs Walked: 8
• Yoga Sessions: 7
• Hours of Podcasts Consumed During Travel: 28
• Coldest Temp: 鈥�3, Anchorage, Alaska
• Warmest Temp: 90, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Most Remote Testing Location: Antarctica
• Most Listened-To Tracks: Japanese Breakfast: 鈥淧aprika,鈥� Bob Marley and the Wailers: 鈥淣atural Mystic,鈥� Wet Leg: 鈥淐haise Longue,鈥� Danger Mouse and Black Thought, feat. MF Doom: 鈥淏elize,鈥� Kelly Lee Owens: 鈥淢oebius,鈥� Brian Eno: 鈥淒iscreet Music,鈥� Sam Fender: 鈥淗ypersonic Missiles鈥�

The first thing we do with any earbuds, headphones, or speakers is attempt to pair them with our phones without consulting the user manual: the quicker, more intuitive, and easier the Bluetooth setup, the more points scored. Then we put them through rigorous hours of testing doing the kinds of things 国产吃瓜黑料 readers do鈥攆rom dog walks to HIIT workouts, from fireside listening to our day jobs,聽which for one of us is at the local woodworking shop. Our testers, who range in location from Alaska to Berkeley to Santa Fe to New York City, spent hours in them, bouncing up and down on trails, treadmills, and trains.

Our team turns in reports on each product tested, providing a score from 1 to 10 for five different measures: sound quality, pairing and connectivity, fit and comfort, rain and drop protection, and user friendliness. Scores are averaged, with more weight given to sound quality and (knowing our audience) how well they stand up to the elements. Note: Battery life estimates in these reviews are based on manufacturer specs; it’s difficult to confirm those numbers, given the time involved and variances among user habits (different volumes, different uses, different functions enabled). Actual results may be 10 to 20 percent lower, judging from averages experienced in general testing.

Meet Our Lead Tester

Will Palmer has been testing gear for 20 years for 国产吃瓜黑料, where he was managing editor and copy chief for nine years. Based in Santa Fe, he has been a runner since 1984, and while the mile counts have decreased over the years, he鈥檚 kept motivated to head out the door on the hottest, coldest, and wettest days by the opportunity to test the best new products鈥攁nd to commune with the junipers and pi帽ons.

The post The Best New Sport Earbuds and Headphones of 2024 appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The story goes that in the early 1960s, John Entwistle, bassist for The Who, couldn鈥檛 hear his instrument over the clamorous drums of his maniac bandmate, Keith Moon, so he asked London drum shop owner Jim Marshall to build him a louder amplifier. This resulted in guitarist Pete Townshend needing a louder amp from Marshall so he could hear his guitar over Entwistle鈥檚 bass鈥攁nd thus was Marshall able to go into business making history鈥檚 most beloved amps.

Updated August 2024: We’ve updated the formatting of this review and updated the retailers and pricing of the product.

Marshall Motif II ANC

Pros and Cons
鈯� Top-notch, dynamic sound
鈯� Rockin鈥� design
鈯� Highly grippable stems
鈯� Shorter-than-average battery life

If you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside.聽Learn more.

Sixty years later, the Marshall company has smartly reapplied its rich pedigree, bringing its engineering know-how to today鈥檚 consumers by producing (in conjunction with Zound Industries) a stellar line of headphones, earbuds, and Bluetooth speakers, like the Emberton II, the best speaker in our roundup last year).

This year our attention was captured by Marshall鈥檚 Motif II ANC true wireless earbuds, which in shape and size are very similar to Apple鈥檚 AirPods Pro, except they鈥檙e all decked out in black, the Darth Vader to Apple鈥檚 Stormtrooper.

The Apple-pioneered stem design has found its way into lots of other companies鈥� offerings, which testifies to how the design, despite looking clunky, manages to stay firmly lodged in your ears, through some kind of ergonomic alchemy, during most basic activities.聽The stem also makes for a nice place to grab onto them, which, if you鈥檙e a big-handed person on a cold day, can make smaller, rounder earbuds a pain in the ear.

The Motif II ANCs, however, one-up Apple by adding textured plastic on their stems (with an attractive gold touch on the tip), which makes them even more grippable and seems to help hold them in place while you鈥檙e wearing them鈥攕omething our testers universally appreciated. On the outside of each earbud is a touch control that allows you to pause, skip tracks, turn on active noise cancellation (ANC), and employ Spotify Tap, which lets subscribers play from the music service without opening their phone.

As for the ANC in its name, while their noise canceling is not as robust as Apple鈥檚, Marshall鈥檚 earbuds did a pretty good job of blocking out wind while running and loud talkers in caf茅s (though no amount of ANC would be enough to cope with Keith Moon). They also have IPX5 ingress protection, meaning they鈥檙e not rated for their ability to keep out dust and solids but will do fine with heavy rain, sweat, or sea spray. One tester found that they needed occasional fit adjustment during runs, though it鈥檚 worth noting that they weigh less than the AirPods Pro鈥攁t 4.3 grams per bud, compared with Apple鈥檚 5.3 grams.

But design isn鈥檛 what made these our favorites. Listening to our favorite tracks on the Motif II ANC was a consistently pleasant experience. Where some brands use artificial bass boosting or other gimmicks to make it feel like you鈥檙e at a rave at 4 a.m., these delivered clear, faithful highs, mids, and lows鈥攑roducing more of a sense of sitting inside a sealed-off recording studio, hearing every note and nuance. Should bass really be important to you, that can still be achieved by downloading Marshall鈥檚 app and playing around with its equalizer.聽More versatile than the typical companion app, Marshall鈥檚 lets you dial in exactly the balance you like, and you can even program multiple EQ settings and then use the touch control to shift among them.

Marshall also nailed the design of the charging case. Made from 70 percent recycled plastic, the case鈥檚 textured vinyl surface evokes the classic Marshall amp stacks, and it鈥檚 built tough鈥攚e鈥檝e dropped it and sat on it and it didn鈥檛 crack. The case gives you four charges of six hours each, in addition to the six hours of initial playing time you鈥檒l get in the buds with ANC turned on (or nine hours without). This is about average: in line with the AirPods Pro but two to three hours less than competitors like Sony, Sennheiser, and JLabs.

The Motifs were our 2024 pick for Best All-Around earbuds, for their build quality, consistently impressive audio, everyday versatility, and sheer character. Our Gear Guide testing team spent some 35 hours with them, happily grabbing them when heading out on runs, hikes, ski tours, and cross-country travel, and they also performed admirably when making phone calls, washing the car, and tinkering in the workshop. With what one tester called the 鈥渂est sound quality of all the buds in this test鈥� and a design that made everyone take notice, they鈥檙e a prime example of the state of the art of Bluetooth earbuds today.

The post We Loved the Classic Look of These Earbuds from Marshall. Then We Were Wowed by Their Sound Quality. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Our founding host, Peter Frick-Wright, is returning鈥攁nd we couldn鈥檛 be more excited. After taking the last four years to focus on short-run podcast series like Missed Fortune, , and , Peter will be back starting with our November 29 episode. Together with his creative partner, Robbie Carver, Peter will be bringing a diverse cast of talented journalists and storytellers to the 国产吃瓜黑料 Podcast. Our best is yet to come.

The post Big News About the 国产吃瓜黑料 Podcast appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

This is The Offerman Files, where actor, humorist, , and Nick Offerman shares tales of wild creatures, gassy adventures, and hitting his brother in the face with a fish.

When I first learned that , the Peacock series I was working on, would be filming scenes in a cenote in the Dominican Republic, I said, 鈥淗ell yes!鈥濃�攁nd then immediately cracked the ol鈥� dictionary app to look up what a cenote was. 鈥淐enote (suh-noh-tee): A deep natural well or sinkhole, especially in Central America, formed by the collapse of surface limestone that exposes groundwater underneath.鈥� Like I said, hell to the yes. After consuming many titillating photos online, I flew to the Caribbean robustly juiced with anticipation to experience this magical geological anomaly.

As we all know, the promised good times ahead often don鈥檛 turn out to be all that good. Or, more accurately, the highlights are rarely what we expect they鈥檒l be. Before I knew it, I was schlepping down hundreds of dangerously slick, uneven stone steps into a cave system that was for sure spectacular. It had an otherworldly quality, kind of like we were spelunking into the digestive tract of an enormous rock giant. But I didn鈥檛 have much opportunity to enjoy the scenery, because I was focused on performing my role. Also, I was wearing extremely heavy makeup so that I appeared old, plus a wig. By the time I鈥檇 completed my descent and was 鈥渙n set,鈥� I was sopped with sweat. And I had an easy job compared with the crew, who had carried down the equipment and supplies.

The work was grueling for all of us, and came with a certain amount of forced tedium that can inspire horseplay. When we find ourselves stuck in such circumstances, left literally to our own devices, that鈥檚 precisely what happens. Tucked beneath a sheltering pine in a downpour? Sequestered in a lodge without a deck of cards? If you don鈥檛 count a skilled beatboxer among your number, then you, too, might turn to the original streaming service of making fart noises with your mouth, hands, armpits, elbows, or鈥攊f you have the talent鈥攜our actual flatulator.

It鈥檚 funny how an adventurous life teaches us this lesson time and again. We travel thousands of miles to experience the glory of nature, only for our dreams to be dashed by random factors: the weather, our fellow tourists, our upset stomachs, an insect. Whatever the thing we鈥檙e excited about鈥攖he summit, the powder run, the cenote鈥攖here鈥檚 a strong chance it will be a tad underwhelming, if not a complete bomb. Usually it doesn鈥檛 matter. If you鈥檙e lucky enough to have quality companions, you often find that the best moments arrive when you least expect them.

When I was a kid in Illinois, our family had a ramshackle fishing cabin known simply as 鈥渢he cabin.鈥� My favorite memories have nothing to do with fish or bears or the woods. Instead, I remember staying up for hours with my siblings and cousins doing funny voices, paralyzed with laughter at the stupidest bits. Lying awake in the dark when you鈥檙e supposed to be asleep, especially if other humorless people (parents) are trying to sleep nearby, can be an intoxicating circumstance for foolish humor. It鈥檚 like trying not to laugh at a fart in church, when the atmosphere of reverence and the fear of mortal punishment makes the temptation that much more urgent. Suddenly, church is no longer a bore.

The same rules apply on an overnight film shoot at a subterranean lake in the Dominican Republic. Something majestic about human nature allows us not only to survive tedium and stave off boredom, but to delight in the stupid diversions we come up with when we get saddled with a bout of waiting.

In our raft, there was just one problem: Cristin might have a golden ear, but how were the rest of us to judge whether the pitch I鈥檇 attempt to produce was the right one? This was easy, as it turned out: , a tuning app on my phone. One of its functions is to play out a selected tone as if you鈥檇 just plucked a string on your guitar. I tapped the G, and鈥�tingggg 鈥� tingggg 鈥� 迟颈苍驳驳驳驳鈥�a high clarion sound rang out in the cave. This was quickly followed by exhausted giggles and titters from Cristin and the two other actors on our raft, William Jackson Harper and Luis Gerardo M茅ndez. I tapped it again鈥�迟颈苍驳驳驳驳鈥�and as the tone hung in the air, they waited for me to match it with a tunesome whine from my nether-trumpet.

And so I did, though not until my third try. It was unmistakably on pitch, with a slight tremolo.

鈥淗oly shit, that was it!鈥� exclaimed Will, and we all agreed, laughing and shaking our heads in disbelief, relieved that the contest had drawn to a triumphant close. I had some inexplicable need to legitimize this feat, and I rather hounded Cristin to Venmo me the $50. She did, and I felt darkly victorious, proud, and filthy at the same time, as though, like Cool Hand Luke, I had eaten 50 eggs in an hour.

PS: The next day, I awoke with a tinge of that benign shame that can follow a night of revelry in which you know you took things too far. You removed one garment too many, perhaps, or were a little too demonstrative with the pelvis on the dance floor. My light chagrin was assuaged when I opted to donate my winnings to the GI Research Foundation, and to this day my pride at my feat remains. It鈥檚 evident in my answer every time someone hears of my victorious, late-night, subterranean flourish and asks, 鈥淗ow did you do that?鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 classically trained.鈥�

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Jackery Solar 1500 Generator ($2,699)

Looking for a long-running generator that can power most appliances, including a blender or a computer鈥攂ut loathe the obnoxious growl of a combustion engine in the wilderness? The Jackery Solar 1500 generator pairs a portable power station with four powerful solar panels to deliver a staggering 1,534 watt-hours. Translation: you can keep an entire household running for weeks if you have to.

Nebula Cosmos Laser 4K Projector ($2,200)

Powerful lasers allow this lunch-box-size 4K projector to produce crisp, detailed images at a wildly bright 2,400 ISO lumens. That means you can watch a movie outside during the daytime. It also delivers near theater-quality sound through dual ten-watt speakers and dual five-watt tweeters.

Sonos Roam Wireless Speaker ($179)

Sonos is known for incredible sound in a sleek package, but we were more than a little impressed with the quality and volume of this Coke-bottle-size speaker (which weighs less than a pound)鈥攆rom crooning highs to powerful bass drops. It鈥檚 waterproof, dustproof, and designed with internal shock absorption, so we felt safe taking it rafting down the Rogue River.

MoMA Design Store TEAC TN-400BTSEWA Bluetooth Turntable ($550)

Lo-fi, meet high-tech: this turntable connects to any Bluetooth-compatible speaker, so you can listen wirelessly to your parents鈥� vinyl collection. Regardless of what speakers they prefer, the audiophiles in your life will rejoice at the precise tracking produced by the low-torque DC motor and the 颅S-shaped tone arm.

Sponsor Content
Skydio 2+ ($1,099)

Capture all of life鈥檚 expeditions like never before with the Skydio 2+. As the only drone designed from the ground up to be self-flying, it鈥檚 your ticket to the perfect action shot. Skydio鈥檚 AI technology will follow your lead to deliver breathtaking drone footage while seamlessly avoiding any obstacles in its path. All while leaving your hands free to adventure safely and create like no one else.

Insta360 X3 Camera ($450)

Insta360 built on the significant feature set from the brand鈥檚 One X2 by adding a sensor and massive 2.3-inch touchscreen. It can shoot at 5.7K in 360-degree mode and lets you edit footage in the field. An 鈥渋nvisible鈥� selfie stick (meaning it won鈥檛 show up in the frame) and stabilizing technology guarantee you won鈥檛 miss a 颅moment of your wildest backcountry days.

Knog Quokka Run 150 Headlamp ($35)

This USB rechargeable headlamp boasts a Translucent silicone strap with a red-halo effect for improved visibility from all angles. On top of winning you cool points, those features elevate this four-mode, 150-lumen headlamp into an incredibly visible tool for night running.

Pale Blue USB-C AA and AAA Rechargeable Smart Batteries ($30/each pack of 4)

Rechargeable batteries are not new, but we are losing our minds over these from Pale Blue. They鈥檙e incredibly easy to use and reliable. Each one plugs into a USB-C cord (no pesky specialized charging station) and has a built-in LED light that lets you know how much juice they have. They have a lifespan akin to 1,000 traditional batteries and charge five times faster鈥攋ust two hours.

HigherDose Infrared Sauna Blanket ($599)

Do you know someone who is obsessed with the benefits of using a sauna but lives in a place too small to ever build a full-sized one? This 420-watt, 5-amp, sleeping bag-shaped blanket will deliver them the same benefits that a cedar addition to their house would at approximately 1/20th of the price.

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I am not a horror fan. When I鈥檓 settled around a campfire and someone asks, 鈥淒o you want to hear a ghost story?鈥� I respond with a hearty, 鈥淣ope!鈥� I am, however, a fan of audio鈥擨 work as a podcast producer鈥攁nd I鈥檓 a sucker for a good gimmick. So when I learned about a horror story that can only be heard in Sweden鈥檚 forests, I was immediately smitten. I hopped a plane to Stockholm shortly after and headed to the woods to scare myself silly.

The mysterious piece of fiction, called Kiln, is written by , Sweden鈥檚 answer to Stephen King. He鈥檚 written over 20 books, including , a vampire novel and his best known work in the U.S. You can鈥檛 pick Kiln up at a bookstore or even a library, however. Instead, it鈥檚 an audio story you stream on your phone that has been geo-locked within Sweden鈥檚 borders, forcing fans to quite literally follow him into the darkness of his country鈥檚 forests. For Halloween weekend, however, it鈥檚 been unlocked and for anyone who wants a taste.

After arriving in Stockholm, I headed to the woods of V盲stmanland, a region about a two hour drive from Stockholm. While you can technically listen to Kiln anywhere in Sweden, you could also watch The Shining on your phone in the yogurt aisle of the grocery store, but you wouldn鈥檛, would you? So I opted to follow recommended listening practices and found a good forest to walk through. Thanks to Sweden鈥檚 freedom-to-roam laws, you can walk in any woods in the country. I opted for one near the, a bed and breakfast in V盲stmanland. I was alone when I walked into the quiet woods, armed with headphones and a link to Lindqvist鈥檚 story. I have been in the woods many times, but it鈥檚 never felt quite so lonely.

Creeping myself out in the forest was exactly what Lindqvist was hoping his story would facilitate. The project began when Visit Sweden, the country鈥檚 tourism board, asked Lindqvist to write a story that would help encourage visitors to leave the urban centers and go into the woods. They created , as well as to visit throughout the country to listen to it.

Tourists in Sweden tend to crowd Stockholm鈥檚 coffee shops or or head to Malm枚 to explore its eclectic restaurants, but the country is covered in trees, and its forests are very much part of Sweden鈥檚 national ethos.

鈥淵ou haven’t really visited Sweden if you don’t see our forests,鈥� says Lindqvist. 鈥淭hey are a part of the Swedish identity.鈥� Tree-filled stretches like V盲stmanland lie right outside of Stockholm, and the lake-filled district of V盲rmlandand Lapland spreads to the northernmost reaches of the continent, waiting for outdoor enthusiasts to explore.

It鈥檚 not only the woods that Swedes love鈥攖he paranormal is built into their lives as well. Fairy tale creatures like trolls, elves, huldra, and N盲cken are as much woodland creatures as moose and bears. 鈥淭he supernatural has always played an active role in Swedish culture,鈥� Lindqvist says. 鈥淚t is more than just a backdrop to the crime stories and Nordic noir movies that have made the country famous.鈥�

When Lindqvist was a child, he had a healthy fear of the woods and those that live in it. 鈥淭he creatures that scared me as a child were big locusts, especially the kind that have a sort of neck. They can slowly tilt their heads and look at you. What are they thinking?鈥� he asks. The forest was a sinister place to him, the perfect setting not for kidnapping or physical harm, but something worse鈥斺�渃easing to exist.鈥�

As I walked through the forest, I began to see why Lindqvist found the woods to be such an unsettling place. The forest in Sweden is not like the wet, piney forests I know in the Pacific Northwest or the crisp deciduous woods of the Northeast. The woods in Vastmanland are moss lined. Every step you take your foot sinks down a few inches like the ground is preparing to envelop you. Worse, each step disappears, the moss springing back up to leave no trace of the path you took. As I trek through the woods, I note the lingonberry and blueberry bushes, taking a rough inventory of foraging options, you know, just in case my trip goes longer than expected.

Before it gets too dark鈥擨鈥檓 truly not brave enough to listen to a ghost story in the dark in unknown woods)鈥擨 find a misplaced boulder to use as a back rest, and settle onto the soft mossy ground. Then I put on my headphones and brace myself.

No spoilers, naturally, but the experience terrifying and wonderful and worth the trip. Kiln follows an unnamed visitor to Sweden (a tourist just like you!) who enters an unidentified patch of woods and emerges haunted by his experiences.

鈥淣ature seems to come alive and lures you to come after it,鈥� Lindqvist told Visit Sweden after being tasked with the story. It鈥檚 a tale that travels with you, or to crib the title of a horror movie I didn鈥檛 watch, it follows. You leave the woods, but the story stays in the back of your mind, even as you follow a path out of the trees, head back to the warmth of a bonfire, and travel home on the plane. The story wants you to come back to the woods. If you dare.

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翱耻迟蝉颈诲别听editors spent June checking books off聽their summer reading lists, from聽novels聽in the聽Star Wars universe聽to聽emotive poetry compilations. Here are the movies, books, music, and more that we enjoyed last month.

What We Read

Last month I reread Chinua Achebe鈥檚 classic novel聽. I hadn鈥檛 read it since college, decades ago, but remembered its theme of a man trying to hold on to what he had built in life as the world changed around him, which feels appropriate now. What struck me this time was how much of the work is dedicated to describing, in sparse, evocative prose, the culture of the Igbo people and the life that the hero, Okonkwo, creates for himself before聽the inevitable unraveling. When the fall comes, things go south fast before the tragic conclusion. I felt the same disgust as I did initially about those forcing their culture on others without understanding the ramifications of their actions, but also gained a new appreciation of how temporary our efforts are in light of the short arc of a life and the certainty of change, which doesn鈥檛 lessen their value. 鈥擩onathan Beverly, senior running editor

The best thing I read in June was Courtney Bush鈥檚 poetry collection , which is being published in a limited run by Newest York. It鈥檚 brilliant, funny, and accessible, even if you don鈥檛 typically read a lot of poetry. Reverent and attentive, delightfully unserious and dead serious at the same time,聽Bush collects insights from preschoolers, drunk friends, songs, books, movies, and more, then madly synthesizes all of it into something you can hold. 鈥擜bigail Barronian, senior editor

What We Listened To

At the end of May, I snagged a last-minute ticket to catch Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile. It was a particularly harrowing news week, and I welcomed the opportunity for catharsis in a crowd, all of us collectively banging our heads to some thumping tunes. June brought more demoralizing headlines, so I kept turning to Turnstile鈥檚 album聽, ratcheting up the volume on my headphones to get lost in the mosh pit of my mind. The opening song,聽鈥�Mystery,鈥� begins with a dreamlike sequence before bursting into explosive guitar, shepherding the listener into a riotous soundscape. Tracks throb with energy, kicking out short riffs that prompt a foot tap at minimum, but don鈥檛 be surprised if that鈥檚 a gateway to full-out dancing. Even if hardcore isn鈥檛 your thing, the album has a聽grooviness that cuts across genre鈥攋ust take it from this pop-music lover.聽鈥擠aniella Byck, associate editor

What We Watched

As a Star Wars fan who grew up with the prequels, I was psyched (and a bit聽nervous) to聽watch the new聽 TV series. The films had well-documented flaws, but Ewan McGregor鈥檚 Kenobi wasn鈥檛 one of them, and the trilogy鈥檚 world building sparked imaginations and spawned countless possibilities for other stories in the Star Wars universe. With every decision Disney makes to fill gaps in the story, some of that potential is either realized or taken away. Thankfully, the show was well worthwhile. Instant-classic Darth Vader moments more than made up for a few of the perplexing decisions in the series, and I loved the finale. To get another take on Ben Kenobi during his Tatooine desert seclusion, I concurrently read , the 2013 novel by John Jackson Miller. The book isn鈥檛 canon anymore, and it diverges slightly from the show on the Jedi鈥檚 mindset. But its scale and timeline don鈥檛 intersect with the series鈥攊t鈥檚 more like a western set in one town鈥攕o I enjoyed leaning into what I liked most about each story. For more commentary, former Binge Mode podcast cohosts Jason Concepcion () and Mallory Rubin () continue to produce fun and thoughtful podcasts that dive deep into all the episodes from a fan perspective. 鈥擩on Ver Steegh, digital production manager

No, this isn鈥檛 some weird sci-fi聽film. is a 2019聽documentary that follows migratory beekeepers as they bring their hives to fruit and nut farmers to pollinate crops. It delves into the mysterious decline of bee populations over the past several decades due to various mites, pesticides, and largely, as many beekeepers underline, other unknown reasons. As a beekeeper myself, I appreciated the gorgeous close-up shots of the workers taking flight and gathering pollen from flowers. And I definitely shed a tear or two when one of the men interviewed talked about losing half of his bee population in one season. Anyone who cares about our planet鈥攐r eating nuts, for that matter鈥攕hould watch this film. 鈥擜bigail Wise, digital managing director

Before you shell out ten bucks to see , you should know that鈥斺�攊t has a critics鈥� score of 30 percent and an audience score of 77 percent. It鈥檚 not a good movie, but it is a good time.聽I watched it with my family over Father鈥檚 Day weekend (as did, uh, however many people equals in ticket sales) and I only fell asleep once, during a scene toward the middle that was heavy on humans and low on dinosaurs. And that鈥檚 the thing about this movie鈥攊t very much delivers on the volume of velociraptors. Every scene goes like this: characters with names I can鈥檛 remember have to get somewhere鈥攐nto a plane, into a nefarious biolab, et cetera鈥攂ut wait, there are dinosaurs chasing them. Sure, film buffs gripe that聽Jurassic World: Dominion is an 鈥溾�� and a 鈥溾�� full of 鈥�.鈥� Which, like, OK, but it鈥檚 chock-full of CGI and animatronic dinosaurs. It鈥檚 worth the ten bucks. 鈥擨sabella Rosario, assistant editor

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