No matter how seasoned of a traveller you are, there’s simply no such thing as an effortlessly smooth, peaceful international journey. We don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer, but something as little as a spilt coffee threatens to ruin an entire travel experience when running on a less-than-ideal amount of sleep.
Whether dealing with airline delays, old planes, loud passengers, security queues, lost luggage, or any number of other unexpected frustrations which pertain to the ever-universal sod’s law of travel; all that we can do is simply take a deep breath and tell ourselves that the end destination will hopefully, inevitably counterbalance the stress of the journey.
But what if there was a way to peacefully cocoon yourself into your very own little world from the moment you step foot out of your door, to the second your heel meets foreign soil? Enter: portable, unbeatably comfortable, noise-cancelling headphones.
What to consider before purchasing a pair of headphones fit for flying
- Noise-cancellation: If, like us, your foremost priority is to shut off the rest of the world (until, of course, security and passport control) then your first point of reference before purchasing a new pair of headphones for travel should be noise-cancellation capacity. Ideally, you should look for what’s known as adaptive noise cancellation. Though it typically comes with a higher price tag, it uses multiple microphones and speakers to perfectly neutralise outside noise depending on the environment that you’re in.
- Comfort: Whether for long-haul flights or two-hour train journeys, over-ear headphones should offer maximum, featherlight comfort. So much so, that you should ideally forget you’re even wearing them. While a snug fit is necessary for high-performing noise cancellation, there should be ample room for your ears to breathe.
- Battery life: An impressive battery life is an essential feature for long-haul travel. No matter whether you’re simply utilising the noise-cancelling capacity of the headphones without playing any music, or you’re planning on watching an entire season’s worth of television, invest in headphones with a decent battery to prevent boredom.
- Portability: Foldable over-ear headphones are a fantastic choice for frequent travellers, given they take up considerably less room in hand luggage.
- Connectivity: Should you wish to movies in the sky, you’ll likely need a pair of headphones which come with optional wire connectivity. However, there’s also a relatively new device on the market known as AirFly which plugs into your in-flight entertainment and connects to your favourite pair of Bluetooth headphones – no wires necessary.
We’ve rounded up a selection of the best headphones fit for travel.
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Sonos Ace
The Sonos Ace is a fantastic pair of noise-cancelling headphones that are just about worth the investment for the casual commuter. From the moment you put them on, the ultra lightweight and remarkably comfortable headphones evoke a barely-there feel which is incredibly rare for over-ear style tech.
Rather than employing frustratingly sensitive touch control, the Sonos Ace functions with the help of three, delightfully clickable buttons: the satisfying Content Key on the right earmuff which pauses, plays, skips songs, answers calls and adjusts volume, the singular button beneath the Content Key which controls noise cancellation, and the power/ Bluetooth button on the left earmuff.
DolbyAtmos spatial audio offers hi-tech brilliance, leaving listeners feeling like they’re floating. It’s not for everyone, but the dynamic head tracking is a fascinating feature which particularly shines when watching films. What’s more, the Bluetooth Multipoint allows users to switch between two favourite paired devices quicker than ever.
Rapid charge provides three hours of listening time in three minutes from zero per cent, while complete charge from zero per cent requires up to three hours. A full charge provides a whopping 30 hours of listening while Aware Mode/ Noise Cancelling is active. You’ll never go without high-powered noise cancellation ever again.
Buy now £449.00, Sonos
Bose QuietComfort 45
Best for: The sound of silence
Many years ago, when my job involved mostly sitting on planes to places to look at new tech, the ultimate tool in my travel-surviving arsenal was a set of Bose QC 2 ANC over-ear headphones. Capable of aurally cutting me off from the endless droning engine noise and droning passenger noise, and yet still keeping me entertained enough to be acutely aware every time a flight attendant approached with a drinks trolley, the QC 2 cans were my most trusted travel companion. Then, after an overnighter in NYC, I accidentally left them behind on the plane in my rush to disembark back at Heathrow, never to be reunited with them again. This was over a decade ago, but as you can probably tell I never got over the sudden loss.
But Bose did, and its QC models have been part of an ongoing evolution ever since those early days. The tech-packed by today’s QuietComfort 45 make those beloved QC 2s look as prehistoric as I myself.
Offering both wired and, yes, wireless options, these may just well be the most comfortable over-ears about, thanks to pleatless ear cushions that barely bother your head even after hours of wearing them and a featherlight weight of just 240g. Which is just as well, as you’re not going to want to take them off once you experience the absolute sonic deprivation that Quiet Mode brings to your shell-likes within seconds of activation. Developed over 50 years of research, this is noise cancellation like no other, relieving you of the outside world entirely and leaving you free to revel in lush high-fidelity audio, perfectly presented with all the clarity of cut crystal and personally adjustable via the EQ in the accompanying Bose app.
Which brings us to the Bluetooth element. Featuring 5.1 for stronger connection over greater distances, you can also use the built-in mic to summon your voice assistant and make and take phone calls utilising the four external microphone arrays to reject outside noise and focus solely on your voice for incredibly clear conversations even in chaotic outside conditions.
But while the wireless connection is impressive, it’s when you hook the 45s up via the bundled 3.5 to 2.5mm cable that you really appreciate the immense, immersive audio experience that Bose is capable of delivering, with majestic sweeping soundscapes becoming your audio every day.
Currently reduced by £70 on the link below, go bag yourself some Bose brilliance. Just don’t leave them behind you after some booze-heavy transatlantic red-eye round trip.
- Connectivity: Cable and Bluetooth
- Drivers: 40mm
- Noise Cancelling: Acoustic
- Mic: Yes
- Weight: 240g
Buy now £250.00, Bose
Bose QuietComfort 45
The QuietComfort series has been going for a long time, and has very much settled into a groove. The QC45s from 2021 look similar to, and share drivers with, the QC35II phones released in 2019, and they look rather like the QC35s from 2016... an update to USB-C charging (a five-minute charge yielding 2.5hrs of playback) is good to see on the latest models, but that’s probably the most noticeable of the updates on these noise-cancelling wireless headphones.
Not that that’s a bad thing, however, as these are incremental upgrades to something that’s not broken. The headphones fold up nicely for storage, and are comfortable to wear. Noise cancelling makes use of six microphones, four of which are beamforming, and a single button to switch between transparency levels. There's no aptX support, but Apple’s AAC and the more generic SBC codec should mean support for most devices.
Sound quality is excellent, with a slight overreliance on high and mid tones that will send you to the Bose Music app to correct. Once you’ve tuned them to your liking, the noise cancelling can show you what it’s really capable of, your music is well isolated against any background sounds that might sneak through, and with a pleasant emphasis on speech tones that means podcasts are clear, with no muddy overemphasis on the bass.
Buy now £295.96, John Lewis
Sony WH-1000XM4
Once hailed as some of the best headphones ever made, the XM4s are relegated to a great value proposition by the release of the XM5s. It’s possible to find them with around £100 off the RRP as we write, and the XM3s are still available for even less.
What do you get for buying 2020’s cans? Well some consider the ‘old’ look to be superior to the XM5s’ redesign, and you keep the 30-hour battery life and the same sound processors, though there are fewer microphones at work to filter out ambient noise and pick up your voice when you’re on a call. They still automatically pause your music when you start talking, and can detect whether you’ve taken them off. They also fold up smaller, as they retain the joints and hinges smoothed over on the newer model.
As the supported codecs are limited to SBC, AAC and LDAC some older Android phones and all Windows users will find themselves poorly catered for, but owners of dedicated Sony hi-fi equipment will be extremely happy. With a comfortable fit and superb noise cancellation, there's nothing wrong with stepping back a few years when it sounds this good.
Buy now £230.00, Argos
Sennheiser Momentum 4
Best for: Comfort and control
A colossus of the audio arena, Sennheiser is, quite simply, one of the most popular headphone companies in the history of headphone companies; and you don’t get to be that without lavishing absolute innovation on your products at every turn.
The latest in the over-ear line, the Momentum 4, features an audiophile-inspired 42mm transducer system with an accompanying app including built-in EQ, presets, sound modes, and the option to personalise your sound still further, this is Sennheiser’s Signature Sound and it’s ear-delightingly dynamic, bright, brilliant and clad in clarity.
When it comes to battery, a full charge will give you a whopping 60 hours of play, with ‘Smart Pause’ helping conserve that charge by automatically stopping and starting when you take them off or put them back on, so you’re never likely to be stuck for top tunes or calls clearer than a crystal bell, the adaptive ANC assisting invaluably in those areas.
And when it comes to controls the innovation continues to abound, with an intuitive and invisible tap and swipe ‘Smart Control’ system built into the ear cup cap making it impossibly easy to access all functions with none of the fumbling often associated with fiddly buttons.
But what of comfort? Here we find a lightweight build designed to take the strain off the muscles, complete with deep, softly cushioned earpads, a very pleasantly padded headband, and a lovingly low-friction hinge mechanism that provides perfect, pressure-free fit, so when it comes to comfort, the M4 envelopes the head like a tailor-made noise-glove.
A fresh audio tech triumph from Sennheiser at a more than reasonable price for listening gear at this level, the ANC performance may not be quite up there with the ‘twice the price’ options I’ve already looked at here, but then… practically half the price!
Buy now £245.05, Amazon
Sennheiser HD 400S
Best for: Big performance on a budget
Sennheiser has a rightly weighty reputation in the audio arena; renowned world over for creating cans of formidable power, performance and prowess, they have also been associated for a long time with an equally powerful price tag. But that confidence-boosting cost is only if you want to wrap yourself in the brand’s witchcraft-suggesting wireless options. Indeed, by adding an analogue wire, lucky ear users can enjoy Sennheiser’s undoubted top tech for next to nothing.
Take the HD 400S, for exacting audio example. Ultra-light at barely a fly-bothering 217g, the dynamic 32mm drivers deliver exactly the kind of superior sound-response you expect from Sennheiser, with fine detail woven skilfully throughout, bass tighter than a duck’s derriere, and performance perfection itself found in the midrange and high-end.
What’s more, there’s an omnidirectional mic built-in for calls, complete with an inline remote control so that you don’t have to fiddle with your phone to alter music volume or hang up on someone who has irked you.
And here’s the thing, all this Sennheiserness is available at just £45 currently at Currys. Which, as a man who once accidentally left his beloved, many-pounds-costing, Sennheiser noise-cancelling cans behind on a plane, is hard to compute. Okay, they’re reduced at Currys, but even direct from Sennheiser you’d be paying just £59, which is bafflingly good value.
Good looking and as comfortable to wear as your favourite, well-broken-in, slobbing around the house jogging pants, the Sennheiser HD 400S phones are worth buying even if you already own what you consider to be decidedly ‘decent’ over-ears.
- Connectivity: Detachable cable
- Drivers: 32mm
- Noise Cancelling: Passive
- Mic: Yes
- Weight: 217g
Buy now £45.00, Currys
JBL Tour One M2
“Designed to inspire.” says the message on the box. Well, the JBL Tour Ones are certainly an attractive, well-proportioned and fine-sounding pair of headphones.
Like the Sennheiser Momentum, the JBL ‘phones come stylishly presented and boast a solid carry case rather than the Sennheiser soft silver-grey pouch.
They’re really lovely to the touch and are smaller than the rival Sennheisers. They took barely a second to connect via Bluetooth - the merest flick of a toggle switch - and whatever you’ve been streaming on your device starts playing automatically.
These are over-ear and really comfortable to wear. The sound quality is excellent though perhaps not as revelatory as the Sennheiser. They win top marks for ease of use - not too many buttons, easy volume adjustment and the option of noise cancelling if it’s your preference.
The sound is “brighter” than Sennheiser, meaning female vocals – I tested them by playing the Cowboy Junkies - come with a degree of sibilance. But Bob Dylan’s latter-day masterpiece, Murder Most Foul, retained his deep growl.
Buy now £199.99, JBL
Logitech Zone Vibe 100
Best for: Making light work of it all
One of the main causes of discomfort when it comes to cans in the workplace is having to heave their weight around on your head all day. While the initial hour(s) may not prove too problematic, as time drags on heavier headphones will begin to take their toll on your neck muscles. Most of the time the trade-off for losing weight is losing tech, but then along comes the Zone Vibe 100 from Logitech and blows that equation out of the water.
A work of over-ear ingenuity, the 100 weights just 185g, yet still manages to take the form of full-sized double-sided desk warriors with 40mm drivers, dual omnidirectional, noise-cancelling MEMS mics with directional beamforming and DSP, and a battery good for 18-hours of chatty Kathy time and 20-hours listening. This, of course, all makes the Vibe 100 an excellent option for both work and play.
In the case of the former, the flip-to-mute noise cancelling mic makes for crisp, clear conversation, while with the latter those drivers pump creamy rich audio with thunderous bass and clear highs right into your head when the working day is done.
Connecting to your devices over super-stable Bluetooth 5.2, the aforementioned bird-like lightness of the Zone Vibe 100 makes them wearable without any worry of weight at all, while the memory foam earpads and lamb-soft knitted covers make them as comfortable as cans can be.
Buy now £110.00, Logitech
