NOW HEAR THIS!

The Sennheiser PXC300 are small enough to fit in a purse

Probably a dozen or so airline freebie headphones have seen the dreaded inner sanctum of my briefcase and come out a mess. So it doesn't break my heart to plug these flimsly mangled contraptions into the TV jack of the cardio machines at the gym then hand them off to another sweaty news junkie, never to see them again.

But the Sennheiser PXC300 noise-cancelling headphones are in a entirely different class. Unlike the typical large noise-cancelling phones that look like earmuffs fit for Nanook, these comfortable phones collapse into a deceptively small, attractive cordura fabric-type zipped clamshell and deliver an impressive range and richness of tones.

I've spent most of my adult professional life flying about once a month but confess that airplane noises still make be jump. The Sennheisers sound good and are comfortable as passive headphones, but a flip of the noise cancellation switch knocks out about 80% of the engine roar, passenger snoring and galley clatter and opens up a natural almost floating sound. The AAA batteries last for about 80 hours.

For a comparison, I switched to the Thai Airways earphones that in Business Class come with what looks like little shower caps over the ear pieces which made them maybe more hygienic. But they were hissy, distant and flat, and certainly neither more comfortable nor any match for the PCX300's audio quality.. (You'd think that for the price of the business class seat, they'd give you something a bit better, specially considering the eclectic and quite wonderful collection of music available on the Thai Airways in-flight entertainment system.)

Incidentally, noise cancelling headphones aren't just for airline seats. The Sennheiser CX700 case snugly holds two adaptors for inflight entertainment: a 1/4" 6.3mm stereo jack and 3.5 mm double mono jack in two elastic loops so you won't be digging around under your seat for them. We wish there were a smart phone adapter as well as I couldn't use it with my Treo without one, but the standard 3.5" jack fits laptops and entertainment devices just fine, meaning Eric Clapton was performing at his very best from my laptop as we flew across the Pacific.

Sennheiser PXC300 headphones with NoiseGard™ Advance, batteries included : $219.95, though with some hunting, you can easily knock 30% off that price.