Smartly Choose Travel Headphones

Travel × music can be said to be the best way to release the stresses of life, just like the scenes in a movie—whether you’re lounging on a chair under a coconut tree, sniffing the salty sea breeze in the air, or peeking into a nostalgic hall behind window bars in a country lane, the experience just doesn’t feel quite right without soft background music. Therefore, it is indeed necessary to pick a pair of portable travel headphones that can deliver melodious tunes anytime, allowing you to fully immerse yourself in the moment.

Most people’s impression of headphones is limited to the simple earbud-style ones used with iPods or iPhones. It must be said that earbud designs are convenient for everyday busy commutes—you can move around while still being aware of your surroundings, without worrying about traffic, and even in the office, you won’t miss calls or instructions from colleagues or supervisors. But when it comes to travel, such functionality is not enough. Below are some of our suggestions for choosing travel headphones.

Travel emphasizes portability and high mobility. Carrying lots of big and small bags can actually be quite inconvenient. To achieve a lightweight luggage setup, even travel headphones need to be carefully selected. As a result, we usually don’t bring large over-ear headphones when traveling. However, so that travelers can still enjoy high-quality music anytime, most headphone manufacturers have introduced foldable over-ear headphones, which allow users to quickly store them when not in use and take up very little luggage space.

Compared to everyday use, comfort is even more important when wearing headphones during travel. Whether you’re in cold Nordic countries or year-round summer-like Southeast Asia, good travel headphones won’t cause pressure or stuffiness in your ears, and may even provide warmth.

Generally, for headphones that can be worn for long periods, aside from individual head shape differences, the structure of the headphones and the material design of the ear cushion in contact with your ears play a significant role. For over-ear headphones, breathable leather cushions are the top choice. As for those who prefer in-ear (In-Ear) headphones, most choose silicone ear tips to avoid issues like allergies or skin infections.

Of course, even if the headphone design is great, try to avoid using them continuously for long periods to prevent hearing damage.

The biggest difference between using headphones indoors and outdoors is the level of background noise interference. Traditional noise reduction works by forcing your ears to only receive music and blocking out other external noises. However, this method, when used continuously, can easily cause hearing damage, and if you’re walking on the street, you might also be at risk because you can’t hear car horns or people’s voices.

Although electronic noise-cancelling headphones were originally developed for military use, they are now widely used for personal listening as well as in aviation and other applications.

When you listen to music with electronic noise-cancelling headphones, you can still hear ambient sounds, but unpleasant low-frequency noises are filtered out by the headphones’ electronic noise-cancelling technology. As a result, we can still enjoy clear and complete sound quality.

Frequent travelers are no strangers to passing the time on flights by watching movies or listening to music. However, the headphones typically provided on flights differ slightly from those used with iPods/iPhones—the plug design changes from a single jack to a dual jack. If your headphones don’t come with an adapter, you’ll have to spend extra money to buy one or put up with the low-quality headphones provided by the airline. If you care a lot about sound quality when listening to music or watching movies on a flight, consider whether the travel headphones you buy come with a dedicated in-flight adapter as part of your selection criteria.