I travel a lot, and I know plenty of other people who travel a lot. Some like books, others e-readers. Some bring neck pillows, some don’t. Some drink on planes, other avidly avoid alcohol. They all have their own strategies, but just about every frequent traveler I know has some sort of noise cancelling headphones - even if they don’t watch or listen to anything. I have a friend who travels all the time who slips them on simply to discourage conversation and drown out background noise while reading.
There are a wide range of noise cancelling headphones on the market at price points from $30 to several hundred dollars. I haven’t tried them all, but my wife and I have tried many, and I can make both general and specific recommendations.
There is no doubt that active noise cancelling works better - much better - than passive, which is not really “noise cancellation” at all. If you see the words passive noise cancellation it means the headphones physically block outside noise by covering your ears. Active noise cancellation uses advanced electronics to generate a (silent) noise that counters ambient noise, and as the name suggests, cancels it to a degree - no noise cancelling headphones will eliminate outside noise altogether. If you want to drown out background noise, go with active.
I’ve tried several units with external circuitry, meaning the brains are in a little box attached to the cord rather than in the earpieces themselves. The advantage is that this allows you to carry much smaller headphones, even in-ear buds. The disadvantage is that every such model I’ve used has not worked as well, and worse, they’ve broken - and quickly.
As a result, I am personally convinced that the best option is larger, “over the ear” headphones, which while bulkier, hold up better to the rigors of travel, and the size difference is a small price to pay for making long flights more comfortable.
I’m hardly alone: Google “Best Noise Cancelling Headphones” and basically every review or list will have over the ear models rated best, and the winner is usually the Bose Quiet Comfort series, long the gold standard and the ones you see many road warriors wearing. My favorite tech review site is The Wirecutter, which does a ton of research and testing with a panel of experts to narrow each product category down to just one winner, and about a year ago they tackled noise cancelling headphones and chose the Bose.
After trashing several cheaper models I broke down and purchased a pair of the Bose QuietComfort 15 ($300) several years ago and really liked them. They were comfortable, had good sound quality, and exceptional noise cancellation. When I lost them, I replaced then with the then new, smaller QuietComfort 3 ($349) which features the same technology and performed just as exceptionally, but are smaller and use a rechargeable battery versus AAAs. They claim 25 hours of use and I have watched four full-length movies several times without issue.
My complaints with the Bose models are two: first, the leathery coating on the earpieces has worn and flecked off with use, what I consider too little use, and while the headphones themselves work fine, I often exit planes with back spots on my face as a result. The second is that like Apple products, they adhere to the less-is-more one button design philosophy even when less is less. As a result the headphones have just one control option - on or off. While the QuietComfort 3 now comes with a second mic cord for integrated iPhone use, what it is seriously lacking on the headphones is independent volume control - especially since the movies I rent on iTunes and play on my iPad are often too low even with the iPad volume turned all the way up.
By comparison, rival Sennheiser’s newest, top of the line model for travelers, the MM 550X Travel, is like the Space Shuttle. Sennheiser contacted me and offered a demo loaner of this model, which I just returned after using on half a dozen flights, domestic and international - and I miss them. To my ear, the noise cancellation rivals that of the Bose, while the actual acoustics are better. Performance-wise, they passed the test easily, but it is the extras they wow with, especially volume controls integrated into the earpiece with simple up and down buttons you can use while they are on, and finally I was able to get my movie viewing at the desired volume. They also have Bluetooth 2.1, as well as SRS surround sound, a boon to anyone who has gotten used to the joys of a home theater. This makes them especially attractive to travelers like me who watch a lot of movies. The TalkThrough function let you press a button on the earpiece and hear what is going on around you, for instance, when the flight attendant takes your drink order. You can even control the playlist on your iPod, mobile phone or laptop from the earpiece. And while I am not sure why you would want to, you can shut off the noise cancellation (they call theirs NoiseGuard) and use them as regular high quality headphones. The MM 550X uses a rechargeable battery like the Bose and it performed well for me. It came with a set of international power outlet adaptors, a nice extra, and the headphones are a bit more comfortable. While larger, the way they collapse actually makes the carrying case noticeably smaller than my QuietComfort 3. However at $500 the Sennheiser is quite a bit pricier, especially given that Bose has long been at the top end of the market.
Presumably because they are newer, the Sennheiser MM 550X was not among the dozen or so models tested in The Wirecutter piece last September (no Sennheiser model was in it) and I’m curious what the results would be today.
My bottom line is that if money were no object I’d get the MM 550X with at least as good performance and all the extra features. However the QuietComfort3 delivers a lot for $350, the QuietComfort 15 a lot for even less, and I won’t mind going back to using mine. In comparison, no other brand or model I’ve used over the years was worth paying less for.
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