Over ear headphones for long haul flight

[Medicimama]

Help! Going on a hideously long haul flight next month (two connections, over 33 hours. Economy. Pray for me).

Can anyone recommend any comfortable, noise cancelling over the ear headphones? Please no air pods as they fall out of my ears.

I need something that is super comfortable, doesn’t cause too much clamping pressure (maybe I have a wide head?!) or sweaty ears.

Hopefully it would also work with the inflight system somehow.

Budget under £300…

Are the older models of Bose and Sony really much worse than new ones?

My Bose headphones hurt my ears… so IMO avoid. They have Sound cancellation & also plug in to screen & bluetooth for music & phone calls)

Thanks @Mix56 . Wow so much for ‘ultra comfort’!! Do you have a slighter bigger head? I fear I might which could
cause issues!

Sony WH-1000XM4 have excellent noise cancelling and are currently £175 on amazon, I've had mine for almost 5 years and they are still going strong. They're very comfortable as well.

I have the Sony ones and thought they were very good on a recent long haul flight.

They definitely blocked out the background drone of the airplane and helped me sleep a bit. The battery life was also really good.

May I ask which model you have @HornyHornersPinkyWinky ?

@Medicimama, I think I have big ears !!! (My headphones are a few years old so I cant vouch for newer models

Love my Sonos. Very comfy. Were about £450.

I like Shoks - they are compact and i use them with yellow ear plugs to block out sounds. Lightweight too.

I would buy the Bose ones that are currently £188.95 on Amazon. ExDP had them and they were incredible.

Now veering towards Sony 1000 XM5 which are on sale… obviously a newer model has come out but they’re far more expensive vs sale price. Any drawbacks of Sony XM5s?

I got a pair of Anker Soundcore ones for this purpose - currently £29.99 on Amazon. Work a treat! You don’t need to spend loads

Me and DH both have these, super comfortable, wear them running and they don’t fall off etc. Very padded. Have used to years and DH on second set as they did wear over a decade of course! Great brand. Obviously you’ll have lots of money left over so splash out if you want but FWIW I’m a musician and they do me just fine!

Snap 😁

These look great can they be used for work calls? Do they have a mic? Thx!

Hmm I think DH just uses his laptop mic but I’ve asked him so will report back! Work calls are not part of my world thankfully 😁 I know that if I get a call on my phone I just start talking and it’s all fine…. But I assume that’s my phone mic picking things up!

I absolutely bloody love my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones and find them really comfortable and not sweaty - I thought I'd have to ditch them in summer but twas not to be.

The sound quality is fabulous and the noise cancelling has made my commute/shopping in something like Westfield or Waitrose something vaguely joyful.

My only issue with them is that they do not fold and the carry case is bulky. I now carry a soft bag to store them in rather than the bulky case.

He’s replied! They have a built in mic.

I'll add that I had bought a cheaper pair (with fab reviews) that DO fold about two months before getting these ones. And then my brother let me listen to his Sony headphones and that was it. I never use the cheaper pair, despite their folding action and even when I could do with using a smaller bag for one reason or another.

What is it about the Sony £££ ones that are superior @DailyMaui ? My priority will be noise cancelling and comfort! I like music but not an expert. I do however appreciate the sound quality when we use the soundbar on our new TV vs just leaving it to TV speakers (and TV is a top model one)…

I was looking at the expensive Sony xm6 ones recently but went for the Sony wh-ch770n. Currently £63 on Amazon and fab reviews. They're great. I can't imagine spending an EXTRA nearly £300 could be worth it.

Are they super comfortable @Oddities1 ?

These Anker ones - teens and older kids rate them better than anything they've had that's been more expensive.

Anker Headphones

They're currently 29.99 - a brilliant bargain.

i found Sony to be really uncomfortable, I don’t think I have a particularly ‘fat’ head! But they really squeeze. I have Mpow over the eat head phones which I find very comfortable and good noise cancellation, for work I use Srhythm NC25, very comfy and reasonable enough noise cancellation (used on a flight recently). My husband has BOSE and no two ways about it they are the most comfy with superb noise cancellation. I changed the ear pads on my Srhythm to thick velvet ones and they are very very comfy with no sweating!

I listed to a few songs using my brother's ones and could hear things in the music that I hadn't noticed before. They quality just blew me away and it felt more immersive. For some reason I really listen to the music more closely now as opposed to it being background music to me reading or shopping or walking about.

I've never been without headphones or earbuds and prior to this I'd had all kinds, including airpods for three years (until I lost one...).

I paid £229 for them and to me it was a real luxury buy, not something I decided on a whim but I don't regret it. Also the cheaper ones I had bought were not great for work calls whereas the Sony are really good for this, even on trains or busy areas.

Yes I think so! Amazon is so good at returns I reckon you could try them and return them if you don't like them