Jaybird Tarah Pro Wireless Earbuds Review: My New Favorite Sports ‘Buds

Jaybird has long been known for making great earbuds that are especially well suited for workouts. The Tarah Pro is no exception—these robust and comfortable buds tick pretty much every box on the perfect-for-workouts checklist.

When it comes to picking a solid set of wireless workout earbuds, there are three primary things that matter: fit/comfort, build quality, and lastly, sound quality. As such those will be the things that we focus on in this review.

Fit and Comfort: Once You Find “Your” Fit, They’re Amazing

My biggest complaint about most earbuds—especially ones designed for use while working out—is that they’re just not comfortable. Or the fit sucks. Or they won’t stay in my ears. Seriously, I’ve been using the same Bluetooth earbuds for workouts for the last five years; I destroyed one set with sweat so I bought a second one. Because those were the best ones I’d ever had when it comes to fit and comfort.

Fit is the most crucial aspect of any set of workout earbuds. They can sound amazing, but if they hurt, won’t stay in, or are generally just uncomfortable I’m not going to wear them. Period. When I’m working out, I want to focus on… working out and not on my earbuds.

When I first tried on the Tarah Pro, I was less than enthusiastic about the fit. Then I tried working out with them—I’m a cyclist, so I’ve been testing these with indoor training (no earbuds on the road for safety reasons!) where I sweat a tremendous amount—and I was even less than impressed. They kept slipping, wouldn’t stay in, and were honestly just annoying.

I tried different tips (they come with three different sets of varying sizes), but that didn’t help either. So I reached out to Jaybird and asked what I was doing wrong, and they sent back the Tarah Pro fit guide. Let me tell you guys something: this is a game changer.

After looking at the fit guide, I realized there are two ways of wearing the Tarah Pros: over-the-ear and under-the-ear. The whole time I had been trying to get them to work with the “under” method I wished they were over-the-ear. When I found out you can do either/or, my mind was blown.

So I watched the video on how to set them up for over-the-ear use. The design here is so freakin’ cool: you can literally turn the “ear gel” around to a different orientation, which puts the bud itself in the proper position for over-the-ear use. The cable then goes around the top of your ear. This is where it’s at.

After figuring out my perfect fit, I fell in love with these buds. Using the over-the-ear fit, they stayed in place perfectly, regardless of much I sweat or how hard I worked during training. They did what any good workout ‘buds should do: they got out of the way, let me enjoy music, and focus on my workout.

To put it simply: these are my new favorite set of workout earbuds. After years of using some pretty antiquated ‘buds, the Tarah Pro has finally replaced them as my go-to set.

Build Quality and Design: Built Tough

So I’ll admit that it took over three years to destroy my other sports ‘buds and I haven’t had nearly that much time with the Tarah Pros, but they seem super solid in the six weeks or so I have been using them.

They have some thoughtful features that I feel like will definitely increase the lifespan of these buds, like the braided cable. It’s not a sticky rubber coating, but a far more robust and practical cloth-like material.

The earbuds themselves also have a premium feel to them. They’re “heavy” in all the right ways—light enough to stay in your ears, but just enough heft so they don’t feel cheap. They also have magnets in the backside so they stick together. That’s cool!

When wearing the buds, the inline remote hangs down on the right side, which can cause them to weigh down on that side if you don’t get the synch strap pulled tightly. If you wear the buds in the over-the-year format, the remote fits snugly up against your head when the strap is pulled tight. I find this to be very practical for quick use and exceptionally comfortable too. It’s a win-win. (I’m a big fan of the over-the-ear format.)

Finally, I want to quickly talk about two more features: the app and battery life. Like so many other Bluetooth headphones out now, there’s an app that can be used for a handful of different things, like setting the EQ or finding new content to listen to. It’s pretty simple stuff, and honestly not something you need just to use the headset.

There is a benefit for Android users, whoever: when connected, the app will show the Tarah Pro’s battery life in the notification panel/bar. That way, you always know how much juice is left. Cool, cool.

Speaking of battery life, Jaybird claims the Tarah Pro can get 14 hours of playback time, which is, frankly, quite a lot of run time for something without a whole lot of room for battery space. I used these exclusively for indoor training, which I do for 60 to 120 minutes per day five times a week (sometimes longer on weekends), which on average comes out to six to eight hours per week.

During my time testing the Tarah Pro I roughly had to charge them once every two weeks, which is right on par with Jaybird’s estimate. That will change depending on the situation, of course—if you use them at a higher volume or in more extreme weather conditions (like Texas heat, ugh) then you’ll likely get a bit less. Still, the battery life is solid.

There’s also the charging situation to discuss here: the Tarah Pro uses a proprietary charger and pogo pins on the back of the remote. It’s kind of awkward and sort of annoying that you can just use a standard microUSB or USB-C charger, but it also makes sense to keep the design streamlined. And since they do get such good battery life, it’s not a total dealbreaker.

Sound Quality: Full and Defined

What good is a set of earbuds/headphones/face speakers if they don’t sound good? Not very, I’d say. I mean, there’s always the argument for “these are just for working out” so they don’t need to sound that great (which was the argument for the earbuds I wore while working out for years). The good news? The Tarah Pros sound killer.

Once you find the right tips to fit your ears, it should create a nice seal. That means there’s a good amount of bass resonance in your head, providing a lot of low end. But not so much that they’re muddy! There’s such a good balance between lows, mids, and highs with the Tarah Pro, I was very impressed as soon as I connected them and starting jamming.

While I’m not going to go into excruciating detail about the Tarah Pro sound, just know that they’re very well balanced—great lows, clear highs, and enough mids to keep everything full. They work well for both music and podcasts thanks to the clarity.

Overall, these are great earbuds. Once you find your fit, they’re incredibly comfortable, they sound great, and they seem to be quite robust. As the headline says, these are my new favorite sports earbuds. They’re fantastic.