Getting a quality set of travel headphones can be a really important thing for those planning on taking a long distance trip or those that travel regularly.  The ambient noise in most forms of mass transit (airplane, train, and bus) can be very distracting and mess with the sound quality of the music that you are listening to.  The best way to avoid this is to do one of two thing:

1. Cancel out ambient noise, giving the sound waves unfettered access to your ears
   
2. Get the music into your ear quicker, before it can mess with the groovy tunes in your iPod, movie, or lecture
   

Many of today's headphones already try to do one of these two things, but most of the best travel friendly headphones will do both of them.

These headphones from Shure are a great match for individuals who don't mind having an ear peice that fits directly into the ear. They offer a rich tapestry of sound for your ear to frolic in. They offer a great experience for those watching movies, listening to music, or just trying to hear the audio from a lecture. They work especially well for those rich, digital recordings that can easily be found on most CDs, records, and MP3s.

The Shure SE310 Sound Isolating Earphones are also very durable, which is very nice since these headphones are certainly not cheap.

As you might guess from the name of this product, it tries to isolate the ear from outside noise which is why it is perfect for travel. It does require that the ear piece fits snugly in your ear, which can be a little uncomfortable for some people. The in ear fit also means that you need to keep your ear piece very clean or else you run the risk of introducing nasty bacteria or dirt into a very sensitive part of your body.

These are my top pick for best travel headphones.

If you don't like the in ear headphone experience, then I would recommend the Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones. They fit very comfortably around your ears and the headband is very reasonable. These are a noise canceling headphone, meaning that they try and destroy the outside noise of your plane trip by using the active circuitry of the headphone to "knock out" the noise.  So this headphone is a little different from the Shure SE310 mentioned above in this regard.

This type of headphone used to be very bulky, but the boys (and girls) at Bose have done a great job at reducing their size while still retaining the high level of noise cancellation and sound quality.

The only thing about these headphones is that they do require a battery to work properly.  This means that on especially long trips you can run the risk of running out of power and having to listen to your music or movie over the drone of air plane engines or the din of private conversations had in public spaces. A noise isolating headphone is not going to have this type of problem.

The Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro Earphones are another pair of noise isolation headphones which are going to try and isolate your ear from all outside noise. They offer outstanding sound quality, but lack some of the durability of other earphones, like the Shure SE310. They are particularly fragile where the cord attaches to the ear piece.

Normally they are offered at a price that is significantly less than both the Shure and the Bose headphones, but when these two headphones are reduced in price there is really little reason to the Super.fi 5 Pro.

Again, the sound quality is excellent and they do a great job of isolating your ear from outside noise, but the price and the fragile nature of the ear pieces means that this set is not quite as good as some of the others mentioned.

At nearly $100 cheaper than the Bose QuietComfort 3, the Logitech Noise Canceling Headphones are a solid alternative for those still looking to get a quality noise canceling headphone without having to spend all their money in one place. $100 is a lot of MP3s on iTunes, so those who have a limited budget might want to consider if these would be "good enough" for their listening needs.

The Logitech Noise Canceling Headphones also requires batteries to operate properly, so it suffers from some of the same problems as other headphones of this variety.

Another thing to think about with an ear covering headphone like these is that if you have any adornment on your ears (like earrings or studs) you can increase your risk of experiencing some discomfort.

Getting a good pair of travel headphones is going to make all the difference for those seeking to enjoy their media in the midst of all the noise that exists in our methods of mass transit. I hope that you have like this little look into the world of best travel headphones.