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It’s become my custom to bring along two pairs of the latest headphones or earbuds when I have air travel planned — one pair for my outbound flight and one for my return.  

Although I can gauge a pair of headphones’ performance on trips to the grocery store or while working in my home office, there’s no more authentic testing ground than the most overstimulating place I know: Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Also: I wore 5 different headphones across 8 flights – here’s how each pair handled my stress tests (2025)

This time, I traveled with some of the latest headphones released this year to test them in a new environment. I took the Apple AirPods Max 2 and Sony WF-1000XM6 from Atlanta to New York City and back, and tested the Sennheiser Momentum 5 and the Sony 1000X The Collexion from Atlanta to Las Vegas and back.

In an airport and on a plane, I can better understand my experience with a pair of headphones’ comfort, battery life, portability, and Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), thanks to my chronic rushing, my forgetfulness about device charging, and my requirement for as much quiet as possible.

Apple AirPods Max 2: ATL to LGA

The good: ANC, sound, ecosystem bonuses

Apple’s AirPods Max 2 provide excellent low-frequency noise cancellation, which is valuable in combating the noise from a plane engine. The Max 2’s dense earpads provide significant physical noise isolation, along with the headphones’ improved digital noise cancellation, leaving little doubt about their strong performance in this category.

Review: Apple AirPods Max 2

The AirPods Max 2 have a lively and vibrant sound profile, which is great for watching movies or YouTube videos while flying. However, the best thing about the AirPods Max 2 is their deep integration with my Apple devices, which comes in handy when I’m switching between my iPhone, my work MacBook, and my personal MacBook on a busy work trip like this one.

The bad: comfort

Though I spent shy of two hours in the air from Atlanta to New York City, I spent an hour with the Max 2 on my head while waiting in the TSA line. After two hours of continuous wear, the sheer weight of the AirPods Max 2 started to bother me, and I took them off and spent the rest of my flight and commute from the airport to the office with my AirPods Pro 3.

Sony WF-1000XM6

The good: ANC, sound

The WF-1000XM6 has so many great features: a sleek design, an easily pocketable case, great battery life, excellent noise cancellation, and good sound. The XM6’s noise cancellation is on par with Apple’s AirPods Pro 3, and its detailed sound and feature set make it a wonderful travel companion.

The bad: comfort

As much as I love the WF-1000XM6’s sound, noise cancellation, and feature set, their form factor is an insurmountable barrier for me. My ear anatomy doesn’t agree with the WF-1000XM6, and despite exchanging eartips and constantly fiddling with their orientation in my ear, I can never get the fit right.

Review: Sony WF-1000XM6

If I could find a semi-comfortable fit, the XM6’s weighty build sits too far outside of my ear canal, and any talking or chewing would immediately dislodge them. After close to an hour of wear, I decided to pop in my AirPods Pro 3.

Sennheiser Momentum 5: ATL to LAS

The good: comfort, sound, ANC, battery

During my initial testing, I found the Momentum 5 to be an incredibly solid pair of headphones. The Momentum 5’s detailed and accurate sound made them the perfect choice for a marathon pre-show listening session as I prepared to land in Las Vegas for a BTS concert.

Alongside a phenomenal sound profile, the Momentum 5 offered hours of comfort, up until the last hour or so of my four-hour flight. It wasn’t until the last leg that the headphones exerted too much pressure on my glasses and several earrings along my ears.

Review: Sennheiser Momentum 5

I would place the Momentum 5’s noise-canceling abilities on par with the Sonos Ace: great, but not the best you can buy. As a result, these headphones did well on a commercial flight, but not as well as the flagship options from Apple, Sony, or Bose. 

I’m notoriously bad at keeping devices charged while traveling, and I never seem to bring enough cables to charge the miniature Best Buy inventory that resides in my carry-on. It was amazing to wear the Momentum 5 on a flight and every morning to the gym without making a dent in its battery.

The bad: portability

The Momentum 5 doesn’t fold, but I wish it did. When haphazardly shoving my belongings into my personal bag, it was more difficult to stuff the Momentum 5 in and keep it moving. This trip was for leisure, and I packed a lot for long nights out on the Strip. I value having a pair of compact headphones I can just throw in a bag, and unfortunately, the Momentum 5 isn’t it.

Sony 1000X The Collexion: LAS to ATL

The good: comfort, ANC

Sony’s special edition over-ear headphones perform best in terms of comfort, thanks to their slimmer earcups, plushier ear pads, and a more padded headband, delivering long-term comfort that exceeds that of the flagship WH-1000XM6.

Review: Sony 1000X The Collexion

The 1000X The Collexion’s noise cancellation isn’t as strong as the WH-1000XM6, but it’s slightly better at canceling midrange frequencies, such as human voices, than the Momentum 5. Along with great sound for melancholic post-BTS concert listening, these headphones’ high comfort and effective noise cancellation made them a great travel companion.

The bad: portability

I’m not a fan of traveling with headphones that don’t fold. Oftentimes, I’ll leave my non-folding headphones at home and rely on my AirPods Pro 3 for convenience when going through airport security, packing up to deplane, and quickly moving through the airport to my destination.

The 1000X The Collexion doesn’t fold, but its carrying case does feature a handle. During my initial testing, I was intrigued by this design choice, but now that I’ve used it in the real world, I didn’t find it very useful. The carrying case became another piece of luggage to carry in my already full hands, and I would have much preferred the headphones to fold so I could easily throw them in a bag.

Writer’s choice

While these are all great headphones, for air travel and vacationing, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 delivers the best experience. The Momentum 5 outpaces competitors in comfort and battery life, two factors that are valuable to me as someone who wants to wear headphones on a flight for as long as I can and frequently forgets to charge them while on vacation.

Despite the Momentum 5’s non-folding design, its noise-canceling performance and exceptional sound make for a versatile travel companion, suitable for listening to podcasts or watching YouTube while flying. Additionally, Sennheiser preserved the Momentum 5’s 3.5mm jack, so you can plug these headphones into a flight infotainment system without the need for additional Bluetooth dongles.