Selection Guide: Travel

Top Affordable Headphones for Travel

Best Noise Cancelling	Best In-Ear Headphones	Best Closed Headphones	Best Amp/DAC Combo
Audio-Technica ATH-ANC9 $299.95	Etymotic MC3 $99.00	Audio Technica ATH-M50 $159.00	HeadRoom Total BitHead $149.00

Top Travel Picks for Audiophiles

Best Noise Cancelling	Best In-Ear Headphones	Best Closed Headphones	Best Amp/DAC Combo
Polk Ultrafocus 8000 $349.95	Shure SE 535 $499.99	Ultrasone Edition 8 $1,499.00	HeadRoom Portable Micro Amp with DAC $549.00

Things to Know About Headphones for Travel

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Whether it's airplane, train, bus 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 and your music. Effective sound isolation allows you to listen at safer levels since you won't be forced to overcome loud ambient noise with sheer volume.

The best ambient noise isolation possible is achieved with top in ear headphones, which typically provide around -18dB ~ -30dB of isolation, along with excellent sound quality without need for portable headphone amps. However, some people have difficulty wearing in-ear headphones since they fit into the ear canal basically like earplugs, and they may become inconvenient if you need to keep pulling them in and out of your ears.

The next best noise isolation is typically offered by noise cancelling [NC] headphones, which provide approximately -15dB ~22dB of isolation but mainly within the lower sonic frequencies. Another downside with these headphones is that noise-cancelling electronics adds a premium to the cost while cutting down on sound quality. They are also often battery-powered so with some models you could run out of juice on long flights; most have AAA batteries that can be replaced on the road. Noise-cancelling circuitry excels at filtering out low-pitched, constant sounds like airplane cabin noise and train rumble. However, NC headphone designs do not attenuate much ambient environmental frequencies over 1,500 kHz, so high-pitched street traffic, loud talking or the hollering kid behind you may still penetrate your blissful listening coccoon.

Closed headphones will usually provide isolation ratings between -10dB ~ -20dB (depending on model) but they only rarely can truly isolate those low, almost sub-sonic 'rumbling' frequencies typically heard in an airline cabin. On the upside, top closed headphones can sound very, very good and can be made to sound even better with a portable headphone amp along for the ride. Most closed-back headphones are comfortable to wear and function beautifully in other environments like dorm room or office cubicles. Please Read More about closed-back headphones!

Best In-Ear Headphones for Travel

While top in-ear models will provide better isolation than noise canceller headphones, it is the deep sealing 'in ears' that will isolate best. Etymotic Research hold many patents in this category and has long been making some of the best in-ear headphones in the industry: the Etymotic HF5 is a beautiful looking and also beautiful-sounding earphone and the audiophile-grade Etymotic ER4PT has been a "serious listener" recommendation since our HeadRoom inception; it remains a truly brilliant earphone more than 10 years after its initial introduction. For smartphone listeners, the Apple iPhone-ready Etymotic HF3 is simply unbeatable in all-around audio performance and microphone clarity and features a handy 3-button Apple player controller built-in. Non-Apple listeners will need the 1-button design of the equally impressive Etymotic HF2 model suitable for any smartphone or music cellphone. Shure also makes a strong line of fully sealing in-ear headphones, all of which are extremely good performers. We'll specifically point out the Shure SE425 as a superbly detailed, musical set of in-ears that are easy to wear, along with the slightly larger but oh-so-sweet sounding Shure SE535, a triple-driver reference earphone with the fullest tonal presentation of any 'non-customized' in-ear we've heard to date. All Shure earphones remain very well accessorized and after-market iPhone/cellphone Shure headset cord adapters are available for the newest detachable-cord Shure 'SE' line of earphones.

Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones for Travel

The affordable Audio Technica ATH-ANC7b is a slim, solidly-engineered and very competent noise cancelling design, a traveler's headphone ready for road trips and airports. The pricier Audio-Technica ATH-ANC9a ups the sound quality while improving noise-cancelling ability. We've tested a lot of noise-cancelling headphones and very few come close to sounding as good as the fully-featured Polk UltraFocus NC800, a frequent airline traveler's NC headphone of choice. The lovely sound of the Sennheiser MM450X offers travel listeners great Bluetooth wireless sound with a warm-toned musicality and excellent long-term wearing comfort from its deeply padded 'on-ear' cushions. Bestowed with all the best bells and whistles, the Sennheiser PXC 450 is so fully featured that a push of the button will mute the music and an ambient microphone is activated, so you'll clearly be able to hear, "Would you like a bag of peanuts?" Fortunately, you can release your finger and quickly go back to the sublime sound and wonderful isolation of these fine upscale headphones.

For Best Sound with Laptops and iPad, Use a Headphone Amp/DAC Combo

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 electrical noise; 2) laptops feature low supply voltages, and 3) the internal digital to analog converter (DAC) and analog audio amplifiers inside laptops are typically low quality. This is remedied by connecting to a portable headphone amp/DAC.  The DAC electronics get the signal out of the noisy computer environment, the DAC processing will be much better quality, and the headphone amplifier will drive the headphones with total authority. You can also use an external DAC, or a headphone amp with internal 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.

Apple iPad has a digital-USB signal available via the Apple 'Camera Kit' which is actually a USB adapter capable of exporting a true digital signal into any DAC for vastly improved sound quality into your headphones. Click here for our HeadRoom iPad recommendations.