Suunto Spark Review: The Perfect Pair for Runs and Rides

I wasn’t surprised to learn that Suunto has provided some protection for the Spark from sweat and rain. The IP55 rating doesn’t extend to the charging case, which is reasonably compact and slim enough to slip into a pocket or running belt if you need to take it with you.

The Suunto offers two control methods, but neither of them are the type I like to see on earbuds made for exercise. Both buds have touch panels mounted on the outside, which I generally find easy to use while running or with sweaty hands. Even Suunto says the single-tap controls can be easily triggered by accident. Fortunately, the controls are well spread across the speaker units, and accidental triggers were rare. These touch controls can be tapped or held to skip or advance a track. They can also adjust the volume or play and pause audio. You can additionally use them to turn on the metronome and workout tracking modes. This is all great, but I would like them to switch between EQ modes as well.

The head gesture controls aren’t as successful. It uses some pretty standard motion sensors found inside most smartwatches to register a nod or movement of the head to answer or reject a call or skip a track. I’ve used these on Suunto headphones before, and my experience wasn’t great. If you’re walking or sitting on a bike, they’re absolutely fine. When you run, your head naturally moves around a lot, and this can lead to accidentally losing control. This quickly becomes annoying.

stellar open ear sound

Photograph: Michael Saw

Bottom line, the Suunto Spark feels great. I’ve tested a lot of open-ear earbuds and headphones, and I’d put the Spark up there with the best headphones, including Shox, Anker, and Bose.

Whether it’s the overall depth of sound or the versatility of the Fit, I was impressed. They’re also adept at keeping out wind from getting in the way and drowning out a podcast or call. A big part of that strong performance lies with the available EQ mode, which (as mentioned) has to be enabled from the Suunto Phone app. This is the same app used to set Suunto watches. It’s not the prettiest, but the headphone section is very easy to deal with.

There are four EQ presets, along with an additional custom option, giving you more control over the sound profile than other Suunto headphones. The switch on air flow is what makes this possible. Air conduction works by placing the speaker near your ears and behaves just like traditional earbuds. One of the main advantages compared to bone conduction is the ability to provide much greater sound optimization.