If you spend time on flights that last more than 2 hours, noise cancelling headphones are in order.
You. Need. These. Trust me.
You will feel much better when you land because you won’t be tired out due to all the cabin/engine/crying baby noise that make up long hauls. Besides, it’s nice to be able to hear your iPod/Powerbook when you’re flying.
The gold standard are the Bose Quiet Comfort cans (headphones). They work great. Really great. And if I didn’t have to spend US$300 towards the plane ticket, I’d have a set. In other words, they’re the best out there and the price shows it.
As you go down in price, basically US$150 and below, there are many options from the major electronics manufacturers and others that range from almost as good as the Bose to “WTF? Does this work? Ripoffripoffripoff!”
My current set are these, the Sennheiser PXC-250. Despite the fact that the noise reduction unit is the size of a penlight and that they’re “over the ear” headphones, they sound great and filter out much of the rumbling of the treadmills and ellipticals at the gym. Until I get my butt on a plane, the gym is where I’ve been using these. These retail for US$150 but I was able to grab them on Ebay for US$80.
My previous set, Sony MDR-NC11 earbuds work better in some ways. You have three sets of earbud cushions that you use to create a seal in your ear canal. Once sealed, you can (not) hear the noise reduction work and your music. They worked great during my last two Asia trips. My gripe with these are that the earbuds are kind of big because of the noise reduction circuitry and if you move any faster than walking, the seal breaks in my ears.
I can honestly recommend any of the cans mentioned in this post because they work. I’ve owned two of them (only because the first are waaay outta my price range). And I’m pretty darned finicky!
Musings of a Food and Travel Addict