Precious few airlines currently offer Bluetooth connectivity from their in-flight entertainment screens – but that's no longer a problem, thanks to a nifty new breed of wireless earbud that connects to anything with a headphone jack.
As of December last year, according to Business Insider, only Delta and United were even beginning to roll out Bluetooth connectivity on a small subset of their aircraft. The vast majority of airlines have barely emerged from the hollow-tube stethoscope era, and still seem proud of themselves for offering touch screens and 3.5-mm headphone jacks.
Which is fine if you carry wired headphones – but no use for what we assume is the vast majority of people, who prefer the convenience and pocket-carry portability of wireless earbuds. So we sit there watching in-flight movies using tinny, plastic-wrap airline headphones that somehow seem to amplify ambient noise, with our lovely noise-cancelling buds sitting uselessly in our pockets.
Unless you have some of these: both Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) and JBL now have earbuds on the market which solve the problem. B&W's Pi7 S2 and flagship Pi8, and JBL's TOUR PRO 3 each come with a charging case designed to act as an audio retransmission system for anything that puts sound out via USB-C or through a AUX/3.5-mm analog jack.
Plug them in, and these cases act as dongles which can wirelessly transmit their own Bluetooth signal to the earbuds, enabling high-quality sound while listening to music, movies etc. They both feature Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), with the JBL case also boasting a 4-cm (1.57-in) touchscreen.
B&W is a higher-end luxury brand with a focus on stylish, minimalist design, and its Pi7 S2 earbuds are no exception. They feature 9.2-mm (0.36-in) Dynamic dual drivers featuring balanced armatures, Bluetooth 5.0, 24-bit connection with aptX, ambient pass-through for when the dinner trolley comes past, up to 21 hours of wireless media streaming, three microphones per earbud, wireless and USB-C fast charging, and a total weight of 61 g (2.1 oz). They're available in three colors for US$259.
The top-shelf Pi8s offer a simliar feature set, plus 12-mm (0.47-in) carbon cone drivers for enhanced sonic detail. This, plus David Beckham's endorsement, bumps the price up to US$399.
While the B&W earbuds are squarely aimed at the high-end luxury and audiophile markets, JBL is targeting customers who like a feature-rich gadget experience alongside high quality audio.
In addition to providing an audio retransmission system similar to the B&W, the JBL TOUR PRO 3 has a touch screen built into the charge case. This screen enables access to lots of features, including spatial 360-degree audio and EQ settings, track and call information, and the ability to display your favorite puppy photos.
JBL also allows you to be a river to your people, since its rebroadcasting case also runs the company's AuraCast system over Bluetooth LE. This means you can connect any number of other wireless earbuds to the same signal, so you can watch movies together or share music.
All that, plus adaptive noise cancellation and 44 hours' worth of battery will run you US$299.95 from JBL.
If you've already got some nice earbuds, though, there's no need to upgrade, because there are a ton of companies willing to sell you a simple dongle that takes audio from a 3.5-mm cable and rebroadcasts it via Bluetooth. An Amazon search currently shows me options from seven bucks up to a hundred.
It sure is annoying that Bluetooth isn't built into every airliner in 2024 – and you can bet your bottom dollar that the captain's announcements will still blow out your eardrums at a deafening volume five times louder than the show you're watching – but it's also nice to know that noise-cancelling earbuds don't have to sit in your carry-on through a long flight.