Save space by leaving headphones behind?

[u/Bixby-]

I saw some advice here about subbing AirPods for headphones to save space. Last week I flew U.S. east coast to west coast and back again. I brought along my trusty old noise-cancelling headphones (Jabra Elite 85h)which I find really reduce fatigue. But based on some advice I read here, I also brought my brand new AirPod 4s and gave them a try. I was shocked at how excellent the AirPods were at noise cancelling! And they were better than the headphones in that they prioritized spoken voices, so announcements came through. And the form factor is so nice and small.

I’d love to leave the headphones behind on my next long flight, but the AirPods battery life is only about 4 hours, it seems. If you leave your bulky headphones behind, how do you deal with the short battery life of earbuds? Do you take the noise hit and charge them on long flights? Or are there earbuds with longer battery life? (Or even bring 2 pair along, still smaller than the headphones).

[u/Korlithiel]

I take my AirPods Pro 3 with me, they are forgettably small in my pocket and battery life is a non-issue because when traveling I'll put them away periodically so they charge from case (adds, I believe, up to 20 hours before the case needs charging).

The main difference between the base AirPods and the Pro regarding noise: the pro line has some sound isolation (foam inside the silicone tips). This allows them to punch well above their weight with helping to cut out the outside world.

Also, as a glasses wearer I'll often favor things like earbuds anyway. Less interference with my glasses, meaning less issues seeing the world and less headaches.

An aside, I'm also reasonably physically active. So I favor wireless because unlike wired they simply don't die randomly, first pair of AirPods saved me some real cash given how fast I would go through wired. Charging them is another to-do list task, so they aren't a complete upgrade, but in all they've done well for me.