Sapa – Best headphones for travel 2019: noise-cancelling headphones ideal for holidays

 

If you fly long-haul a lot, you’ll know the evil that is the 60+ decibels of white noise a big aircraft’s engines and air-con systems produce. Cue noise-cancelling technology, where precise arrangements of microphones inside and outside the ear-cups continuously measure, compare and react to the sound-waves they detect.

Essentially creating sound-waves to cancel-out the low frequencies, the trend is for pricey wireless noise cancelling headphones that are packed with cutting-edge electronics. 

They’re great, but while they succeed in what they do, they are bulky as well as pricey. That’s fine if you have the cash to burn and you travel with lots of luggage, but if you travel light you’ll want to investigate some of the other, better value options for travel-proof earphones out there. 

Luckily, noise-cancelling earphones are now coming of age, with some great quality products to pick from across the price range.

These are the Sapa – Best headphones for travel 2019 :

Two companies dominate wireless noise cancelling headphones; Bose and Sony. When it comes to bulky wireless noise cancelling headphones aimed at business travellers, for every benchmark Bose there’s a Sony lurking in the shadows. 

The newest of the lot, Sony’s WH-1000XM3 – announced at IFA 2018 – are four times more powerful than the previous version, and best Bose on battery life at 30 hours.

If that’s a reason to buy, it’s also the reason why the WH-1000XM3 are identically priced to the Bose QC35 II. The WH-1000XM3 also deal in High-Resolution Audio, and do sound much better for music than the Bose QC35 II, but they are slightly heavier

The Sony’s also have a feature which adapts the noise cancelling based on your current atmospheric pressure, which should make them work even better on planes. Whether the effect is a placebo or not, it makes the WH-1000XM3s the best headphones for travel.

Bose’s flagship is the QC35 II, a recently refreshed update of the original QC35, though what’s been added is pretty minimal; compatibility with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant. Is that really necessary? While flying, it’s impossible, so consider searching for the original QC35 if you just want them for plane journeys.

Both models have the same excellent noise-cancelling abilities, with three powers to choose from, alongside great all-around sound quality, a 20-hour battery life, a 1.2 m cable, and best of all (if you intend to sleep), a beautifully soft headband. 

It’s a great product, but in terms of functionality, you can get almost the same technology for a lot less.

If you prefer to travel light, and don’t like the idea of packing a large pair of over-ear headphones, these premium, noise cancelling Bluetooth in-ears from Bose could be the option for you.

The QC30s are almost as cocooning as the mighty impressive QC35s above, but they’re obviously more lightweight, and allow you to sleep more comfortably. The only issue is that they don’t sound as good as the larger, more expensive options on this list.

The PX is Bowers & Wilkins’ first pair of Bluetooth ANC headphones, and boy, they’re impressive. For a start, you can control the level and type of ANC using an app on your smartphone. 

The headphones sound great, with B&W’s usual exciting, but well balanced, signature sound. In fact, we’d say they sound slightly better than the other big-ticket noise-cancelling headphones. 

The PX also features motion-sensing, which means if you lift a cup from your ear, the sound is paused, and if you take them off entirely, they go into a standby mode. It’s very useful when travelling, as you’ll frequently need to remove them to talk to people.

If you like to travel in style, then the BeoPlay H9i headphones could be for you.  The headband uses cowhide leather atop aluminum, while the ear cushions are wonderfully soft and designed for supreme comfort. In fact, they’re so soft and padded your ears can get a little too warm on a flight.

Inside, the Beoplay H9i headphones offer Bang & Olufsen’s Signature Sound, excellent active noise cancellation, and an innovative touch interface (which can be a little fiddly at times).

We found the H9i was let down by the proximity sensor, which kept pausing the music for no reason, and the app, which refused to connect for us.

These true wireless buds from Sony are like Apple Airpods but designed specifically for travelling. While there are some annoying quirks around charging and staying connected, the WF-1000X were a technical marvel, managing to pack AAC, aptX, an unusually good EQ adjuster, and ANC into tiny true wireless buds. 

The ANC is surprisingly effective, although of course, it’s not remotely on par with the likes of the Sony or Bose on this list.

These aren’t for long haul flights, though, as the battery life is only around two hours.

These are, essentially, the Marshall Mid headphones  with the added bonus of noise cancelling. They sound almost identical to their ANC-less sibling, but with the flick of a switch, you can instantly drown out background noise… to an extent. 

If you’re looking for the ultimate noise cancelling, there are not it, the ANC is considerably more, uh, ‘subtle’ than the likes of Bose and Sony.

They’re still a great pair of headphones for travelling, though, with excellent, punchy, bright, and lively sound.

These Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 headphones are elegantly engineered from stainless steel, faux-suede and leather, and packed with tech that sounds fantastic. 

In particular, Sennheiser’s NoiseGard noise cancelling technology is great at sucking out sound from the world, leaving you to enjoy one of the most impressive wireless performances we’ve heard. 

Combine the above with a 22hr Bluetooth battery life and folding frame they were born to travel.

Half the price – and half the size – of the flagship Sony and Bose efforts are these dinky, smart-looking headphones from Libratone. An over-ear model boasting solid build quality, the Q Adapt on-ear have various strengths of ‘CityMix’ noise-reduction control, one of which does a great job cancelling-out plane noise, though it does let some sound in. 

There’s also a 50% noise cancelling option that is safer when you’re out and about and don’t want to be completely cocooned from traffic noise when crossing roads, etc. The ear cups are touch-sensitive so can be used to play/pause/alter the volume, and there are 20 hours of battery life. 

Until recently noise cancelling has been an expensive proposition, but that all changes with the arrival of the cut-price Tune 600BTNC from JBL. Lightweight and easily foldable for travelling, these headphones – available in pink, blue, white and black – are distinguishable from the big brands only in build quality. 

If you can stomach its relatively short 12-hour battery life and a rather plasticky feel and look, as well as rather a clumsy positioning of some of the buttons, do so because the Tune 600BTNC are otherwise highly impressive. Although noise cancelling is not up there with the top brands, it’s very close, and there’s always plenty of bass.

Are you the kind that likes a quick dip or a workout after a long flight? If so, here are some totally different, totally waterproof earphones for you. These waterproof earphones work as a standalone Walkman, able to store MP3 files on its 4GB or 16GB capacity flash memory. However, it also connects wirelessly to a smartphone via Bluetooth, so you can use them as standard earphones for general use. 

While not good at keeping engine noise out when at 35,000ft., Sony’s NW-WS623 instantly make swimming a less lonely experience. Available in black, blue, white and green, the NW-WS623 weighs just 32g and work continuously for 12 hours between recharges