The Urbanears Juno are great workout earbuds, but they're no AirPods

At first glance, the Urbanears Juno look a lot like Apple AirPods, but then again, which headphones don't these days? Apple's stemmed design is now a staple feature for most earbuds, but the Juno still stand out, thanks to their budget-friendly price. 

Like many of the best workout earbuds, they're housed in a pillbox-style charging case, all in white, with a USB-C port on the bottom to recharge the headphones and case. The buds sit neatly in your ear, even during intense exercise, and come with noise cancellation too. 

I've tested a lot of headphones over eight years and found that the Juno sit comfortably in the middle, neither great nor terrible. But it's unusual to find such a good blend of features for the price, which makes them an excellent pick for everyday workout earbuds. 

Urbanears Juno review: price and features

You can pick up a set of Urbanears Juno for $99, which makes them just under half the price of the Apple AirPods Pro. While you might not get Apple's smarts, like Siri integration, Apple Fitness+ features, or spatial audio, they're still great value for money.

There's active noise cancellation (ANC), which prevents sounds from the outside from interrupting your music, podcast, or guided workout, eight hours of battery life (topped up to 26 hours with ANC on, 36 hours without), and an IPX4 rating to protect them from sweat. 

This is not a world away from the features you'd find on the Jabra Elite 7 Active (my all-time favorite workout earbuds), but with a stemmed design to keep them in place during exercise, rather than a custom-designed ShakeGrip material around the tip. 

Urbanears Juno review: sound quality

Sound quality is clearly an important factor, but as long as they don't sound bad, that might be all you're after from a set of workout earbuds. The Juno fall into that category, faithfully recreating your favorite tracks, but without the clarity of the Beats Fit Pro. 

Although I wore the earbuds throughout the day, listening to a variety of music, podcasts, and audiobooks, I also used my standard headphone reference tracks for testing; the remastered edition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (for dynamic range) and Deadmau5's Faxing Berlin (for bass). 

Both fared well, although I missed some of the detail on the treble end of the spectrum during Bohemian Rhapsody, and the bass wasn't as pounding as I'd expect from Faxing Berlin.

You can toggle between several pre-set equalizer modes with the Urbanears companion app, but these adjustments didn't quite do the trick, and even in Bass Boost mode, I still missed the lower end, which is a crucial part of the best workout music. 

The active noise cancellation was generally very effective, although it struggled to completely remove traffic noise, I do live in the center of a busy city, so whether this is a problem for you depends on your local environment and how you train. 

Urbanears Juno review: design and comfort

The Urbanears Juno are extremely comfortable — most of the time, I barely noticed they were in my ears. This is fairly rare, as many in-ear buds add some pressure around your ear canal, which can lead to soreness or cause a headache. 

But I wore these stemmed buds for hours at a time, listening to music during workouts, podcasts while I cooked, and, of course, while working out. I tried them during high-intensity resistance training sessions, where I moved around constantly, but they never fell out. 

During fast-paced moves like burpees, I found that the buds moved slightly. But a quick twist was all it took to get them back in place. And this was with the standard tips; the buds come with small, medium, and large tips so you can experiment to find the right size. 

You can use the touch controls on both buds to play/pause audio, change tracks, or toggle between noise cancellation modes. There's no spoken feedback, and I was never sure exactly which noise cancellation mode I had activated, so I'd cycle through until it sounded about right. 

Urbanears Juno review: battery life

Urbanears claims that you should get eight hours of playback from each bud. Although I never kept them in for that long, the battery usage seemed about right, and you can always check how much you've got left in each bud (and the case) in the app. 

The specifications note that the case and buds combined last 26 hours with noise cancellation and 36 hours without. This was broadly accurate, and I didn't have to top up the case more than once every 10 days, a process that takes about 90 minutes. 

Should you buy the Urbanears Juno?

The Urbanears Juno are a solid set of workout earbuds. They're more suited to everyday use, like during walks or around the house, but the stemmed design does keep them in place during most exercises. 

The standout feature is the price, though. For just under $100, you get noise cancellation, eight hours of battery life, and good sound quality. They might not be the absolute best, but there's a good blend of features, comfort, and quality for your money. 

However, if you're after crystal-clear audio, exercise-focused design, and enough water resistance to use them in the rain, you'll need to look elsewhere. But the Urbanears Juno are a fantastic, feature-packed, budget-friendly option. 

Also consider

Apple AirPods Pro

If you're a fan of the stemmed design, but don't want to miss out on Apple's features, then the Apple AirPods Pro are a great choice. They don't play well with Android phones, but if you use an iPhone, you get personalized audio, integration with Siri, and impressive noise cancellation. 

Jabra Elite 7 Active

The Jabra Elite 7 Active came out in 2021, but I'm yet to find a better set of workout earbuds. The ShakeGrip design keeps them in place during intense exercise, the noise cancellation and transparency modes are very effective, and you can customize the audio using the Jabra app.