Sony MDR-1000X
NOISE-CANCELLING HEADPHONES
For me, noise-cancelling headphones are up there with the dishwasher in terms of life-enhancing innovation. For the last ten years, I’ve almost exclusively travelled with Bose, but on a recent long-haul flight my allegiance switched to Sony.
The MDR-1000XS are nothing short of brilliant, and better than anything I’ve ever experienced for minimising engine noise, chatter and toddler grumbles. Many ANC (active noise-cancelling) headphones create a surreal vacuum effect but it’s not noticeable here. Instead you’re left with quiet, impenetrable calm.
The headphones are light and plush, fold neatly into a reinforced case and have a 20-hour battery life, reliable Bluetooth connection and a 3.5mm cable for plugging into in-flight entertainment systems. They also boast something called a Personal NC Optimiser function, which essentially tunes the noise-cancelling features to the shape of your head. It sounds like a gimmick but it works. And the tricks don’t end there. Place your right hand over one ear-cup and the noise-cancelling cuts out allowing you to hear the outside world at full volume.
The only weak link is the touch-sensitive ear pad controls which are needlessly complicated, but the sound quality soon makes amends. Being able to hear anything clearly on a plane is a bonus, but the MDR1000XS offer an exceptional amount of space, and a silky playback whatever genre. No single frequency dominates – instead, you get an even spread across high, mid and bass tones, even when listening to British Airways’s on-board classical collection. I’m not sure Schoenberg has ever sounded so enticing at 35,000ft.