If you are not travelling with a high-quality pair of noise-cancelling headphones, you're doing it wrong. A pair of good headphones is a must for those who travel regularly, to give you ample me-time and make your experience all the more natural and personal. These days the trend for most premium headphones is to firstly, be wireless, and secondly, sport ANC. ANC is the feature where equal and opposite sound-waves are produced that effectively cancel the noise from the surroundings. Luckily enough, the noise-cancelling headphones these days are going through a revolution of their own, with some really cool ones to pick with a varying price range.
It is somewhat common knowledge that two companies have truly been dominating the market of noise-cancelling headphones. Yes, we are talking about Sony and Bose. The newest in their portfolio, the Sony WH-1000XM3 headphones were announced at IFA 2018 and come with four times the power of the previous pair. Equipped with a whopping 30-hour battery life makes these headphones every traveler's choice no matter how long the haul. The WH-1000XM3 deals in high-resolution audio as well, and does sound much better for music, the only downside, however, is that they are a bit heavy. The headphones have a warm characteristic sound with detailed vocals and balanced frequencies. The ANC on these headphones is stellar and beats the Bose NC headphones, which is a big deal since they were previously considered the undisputed ANC Champions.
The AKG GP-N060CA or AKG N60 NC is another stellar example when it comes to noise-cancelling headphones. These super sleek headphones offer top-notch noise-cancelling abilities and are really easy to fit anywhere with your travel gear due to their compact form factor. These are extremely lightweight as well, weighing a mere 200g. Powered by a lithium-ion battery, these headphones have a battery life of over 30 hours when used passively with ANC turned on, and sport a battery life of around 15 hours when used wirelessly with ANC turned on.
The Sennheiser PXC550 is a pair of lightweight headphones with a collapsible design, which makes it easy for you to carry it around. It is claimed to deliver an efficient battery performance, and you should be able to listen to music for 30 hours under optimal use. You can listen to your favourite songs or watch videos during those long flights, without having to worry about the headphones’ battery life. In terms of the listening experience, the adaptive noise cancelling feature should make it suitable for noisy environments. Also, you can easily change the settings with the earcup-mounted touch controls, making your user-experience a comfortable one.
The Beyerdynamic Lagoon is a pair of premium headphones that uses advanced Active Noise Cancellation technology to deliver an immersive listening experience, be it while travelling in a flight or train. With the ANC mode switched on, it is claimed to deliver a playback time of 24 hours, and when it’s switched off, it should deliver a playback time of 46 hours. With the use of the latest audio codecs like AAC, Qualcomm aptX and aptX low latency, you should be able to enjoy a good listening experience, be it while listening to music, watching videos or gaming. You can take this experience a notch further by personalising it using the MIY app so that you can listen to everything exactly the way you want to.