Things To Know About Headphones For Travel
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Whether it's airplane, train, or carpool van, the most important aspect of travel listening is to isolate yourself from outside noise so you can relax and enjoy your journey. Another important reason to get good isolation when traveling is that when the ambient noise around you is loud, you have to turn the volume up to overcome it; this may lead you to listen at levels that could damage your ears. When you have effective sound isolation, you can listen enjoyably at safe volumes.
The best isolation possible is achieved with in ear headphones, which provide around 23dB of isolation. The disadvantage with in ear headphones is the in ear style is difficult for some people to wear comfortably, and they can become annoying if you have to keep pulling them in and out of your ears. The next best isolation is provided by noise cancelling headphones, which provide about 15dB of isolation. The biggest downside with these cans is that of all the noise-blocking options, noise-cancelling headphones generally exhibit the poorest sound quality. They are also battery powered so you might run out of juice on a long flight. Some do have AAA batteries that can be replaced on the road. Closed headphones have the least isolation at about 10dB, and rarely isolate well at all for the low rumbling frequencies, which are the big problem with airline and other forms of travel. On the upside, they can sound very good and can be made to sound even better with an amp.
Our Recommendations For In Ear Travel Headphones
While any of the in ear models will provide better isolation than noise cancellers, it is the deep sealing in ear headphones that will isolate best. A very low cost but decent sounding and deep sealing in-ear headphone is the Klipsch Image S2. Etymotic has long been making some of the best in-ear headphones: the Etymotic ER6i is relatively inexpensive and sounds great at its price; the Etymotic HF5 is a beautiful looking and sounding earphone; and the Etymotic ER4P has been a strong recommendation for many years and remains a great earphone. Shure also makes a very strong line of deep sealing in ear headphones, all of which are good. We'll point out the Shure SE310 as a good sounding in ear that's compact and stylish, and the slightly larger but oh-so-good sounding Shure SE530, a triple drive earphone with the best sound of any non-custom in ear we've heard. Call us at 800-828-8184 for current pricing on all Shure models. All Shure earphones are very well accessorized and iPhone/cellphone headset adapters are available.
Our Recommendations For Noise-Cancelling Travel Headphones
The Sennheiser PXC 350 is a solid and competent noise cancelling headphone; a traveler's headphone, ready for the road. The sleek and compact Denon AH-NC732K with its easy-to-pack carry case is a terrific headphone for movie and TV watching, as the slight presence peak in its sound improves speech intelligibility. With all the bells and whistles, the Sennheiser PXC 450 is so fully featured that with a push of the button the music will mute and an outside microphone is activated, and you'll be able to hear the dreaded, "Would you like a bag of peanuts, sir?" Fortunately, you'll be able to release your finger and go back to the sublime sound and isolation of these fine headphones. For first-class travelers looking for something on the high-end, the Sony MDR-NC500D may be the noise cancelling headphone for you. It's very good sound and terrific black and chrome styling are a real treat, but the biggest gift from these cans is the extraordinarily effective digital signal processing (DSP) noise cancelling circuit that works significantly better than anything we've heard to date. Highly recommended!
A Special Tip For Those Watching Movies And Listening To Music On Laptops
Audio enthusiasts will tell you that laptop computers are notorious for poor sound quality (note: the folks from Apple actually do a pretty good job). There are several key problems here: 1) there is a lot of radio frequency (RF) and power supply; 2) laptops feature low supply voltages, and 3) the internal digital to analog converter (DAC) and analog audio amplifiers inside laptops are typically not of very high quality. This can be completely remedied by connecting to an outboard DAC and headphone amp via the USB interface. The audio electronics get out of the noisy computer environment, the DAC will be much better quality, and the headphone amplifier will drive the headphones with more authority. You can also use an external DAC, or a headphone amp with a DAC, with noise cancelling headphones. Though they won't utilize the drive power from the headphone amp, they will benefit from the better sound clarity of the DAC.
HeadRoom's Total BitHead has a built in DAC and amp, and is a great way to get a significant improvement in your laptop listening at a very reasonable price. Our Portable Micro and Portable Desktop Amp also have built-in USB DACs and will satisfy discerning listeners.
Carrying Your Portable Gear
If you are using one of our portable headphone amps and an iPod or small portable audio player, HeadRoom's line of carrying cases may have just the solution for you. However, if you're on a tight budget, and because there are many unique individual needs, we encourage you to look at the variety of camera bags on the market. By carefully cutting holes to route wires, a camera bag can make for a great travel bag solution.
