My gym Bluetooth headphones bit the dust so I need to buy a new pair. Add to that, I’m traveling to Europe this year (from America) and want to make sure the pair I buy will be compatible with the airplanes system. Problem is, I know nothing about how planes and movie watching work.
Do you have to plug them into the planes system? Or are they Bluetooth ? Also, I did read the other ‘headphone recommendations’ threads but if anyone wants to add their 2 cents worth on what would be a good set for my dual needs, that would be appreciated.
I have heard that newer planes now have bluetooth, but that its still rare and you can’t depend on getting it. They do make bluetooth adapters that plug into the airplanes audio jack, you could look into getting one of those. Or you could just ask the flight attendant for a pair of cheap wired buds, last time I flew (before the pandemic) they were free,
I wouldn’t take the chance your plane will have Bluetooth displays - when we flew to the UK last year, only some of British Airways’ planes had them. My wife is fine with cheap wired earbuds, and I made sure we had several pairs for the trip. I have a pair of over-the-ear headphones with an AUX jack, which worked great. A Bluetooth adapter is about $50 if you want to go that route - I don’t have any experience with them, in case you’re worried about lag.
I like to consult SeatGuru.com before a trip. They’re usually a pretty good source of which airlines have which amenities on which planes. Your airline’s website will almost certainly have that information as well. Of course you can’t 100% guarantee that the type of plane that typically operates you flight will necessarily be the one you get.
And be aware that you might have the right set of headphones, only to find that the 3.5mm jack on the plane seat is damaged. It happened to me last year. So always have some back up entertainment on your phone.
I highly recommend something with active noise cancellation. The most flexible, technologically speaking, would be a set of Bluetooth headphones that come with a 3.5mm jack and also an adapter to go from the 3.5mm single plug to that janky dual plug that you sometimes see on older aircraft.
These days I use AirPods and watch my own downloaded movies on my iPad. If I wanted to use the inflight entertainment I would use my Sony WH-1000XMs. They have all the features I mentioned earlier. The downside is that they wouldn’t make very good gym headphones unless you don’t sweat much.
I only mention them specifically because I know them, anything similar would be fine and I’m sure you can find good products at a lower price point.
Edit: The AirPods are convenient but the Sonys shit all over them in terms of sound quality due to being an over ear vs bud design.
I have been on a few planes which have no built-in entertainment system whatsoever (as in built-in screens). Everything is sent via wi-fi and each passenger uses whatever device they have (phone, tablet, laptop) to stream whatever is on offer. In place of the screen in the seat in front of you was a system to clip in a tablet or phone so you can watch hands-free. You use whatever headphones you use with your device. The in-plane wi-fi is free to connect to. If you want internet access outside of the plane then that costs money.
The main issue is you just never know what plane you will get with what entertainment system.
I second this recommendation. Not just for watching movies, but for overall sensory comfort. The noise cancelling can make the plane seem silent. It’s surprising how much more of a relaxing experience it is to spend hours in silence rather than the constant RRRRRRR noise. You don’t have to use them just when you’re watching a movie. You can have them in noise cancellation mode when you’re reading or sleeping. If you’ve never tried noise cancelling headphones, you might be able to try them out at a store like BestBuy. They’re pricey, but it’s money well spent.
If you don’t want to count on the plane’s entertainment system, see if your streaming services allow you to download content for offline viewing. You might be able to download some shows and movies to watch while you’re on the plane, on a train, in the hotel, etc.
I have Bose noise-cancelling headphones and they came with a 3.5 mm to 2.5 mm audio cable, meant for connections to the airplane entertainment system. As a backup, though, I would have some TV shows or movies downloaded to my phone, so I can watch something if there’s a problem with the airplane system.
Some libraries have services where you can “check out” audio books and video media by downloading it to your device. One service I know about is Kanopy. See if your library has that or something like it.
Years ago before planes had any sort of inflight entertainment I used to bring a small mp3 player so I could listen to music. Then American put jacks in the seat arms connected to a collection of music channels, and the flight attendants would offer passengers earphones if they needed them. Then they upgraded to the seatback screens, which were nice. I’m not happy with this new system where I have to use my phone if I want to be entertained. I may dig out my old mp3 player, and hope it still works.
For those of us more budget restrained, I use a pair of Soundcore Anker Q20 headphones.
Runs about $50 on Amazon, with many, Many levels of increasing quality and features in the Q line. They’re pretty damn comfy, do a solid job on hybrid noise cancellation, and come with both bluetooth and included physical cabling options. They are NOT as nice as the Sonys, but at $50, you’re not going to do a lot better.
And if you accidently leave them on some exercise equipment at the gym and they never turn up again, you’ll be in a lot less financial and emotional pain.
I actually think they do a really good job for the pricepoint, and in fact bought them for an international trip that didn’t end up happening, but they’ve been very pleasant on domestic US trips.
For that matter, again, at that price point (even the higher end options are half the Sony listed), you can buy a pair and then something specifically suited to gym use which don’t weight nearly as much as these or the Sony models do.
ETA - to be clear, the Sony models, and other high end models are almost always at least slightly better at both the noise cancellation and sound reproduction (and often far more than slightly), I’m not meaning to slam them, but $$$ talks, and often, good enough is indeed good enough.
There’s always this option. It’s not as comfortable as the noise cancelling headphones, but it works fairly well. I used my shooting earmuffs just now to see how well it works but the ones I show below are super inexpensive.
