The dad who travels occasionally and does not want to spend four hundred dollars on headphones that live in a drawer. Not the one who needs the quietest possible cabin, where the more expensive sets are genuinely better.
What it is
Foldable over-ear headphones with Adaptive Noise Cancelling and a battery JBL rates at up to 70 hours with cancelling off. Multipoint pairing to two devices, and a cable input for use on a plane.
Why we picked it
This is the entry point where noise cancelling stops being a sticker and starts actually working, and at this price it can be given to someone who will not baby it. Seventy hours means a fortnight of commuting between charges, and the 3.5mm cable is the small thing that saves the gift on an older aircraft where the seat has a socket and no Bluetooth.



