Fancy a mile-high earjob? We've had five!

Sony MDR-1RNCMK2

Sony's MDR-1RNCMK2 ships with not one but three cables, one for USB charging, another for audio and a third packing a microphone and volume control. The company solves the cable mess by including a cylindrical nylon pouch, a clever and well thought-out addition that means the D-shaped case stays nicely neat.

Less clever by far is a very, very, small power switch and indicator light. Those two features are a problem because it's possible to yank out the charging cable for the in-built USB-charged battery without realising the headphones are on. The result was a flat battery when I actually wanted to use the dratted things – something more easily cured with the AAA battery alternatives.

The MDR-1RNCMK2 has hit upon an interesting cable management trick. Each earpiece rests on twin pivots mounted in a Y-shaped yoke. One of the branches of that yoke houses the audio input socket, a nice arrangement that gets the cable a couple of centimetres clear of your head and neck. Also impressive is the case's 6cm depth, as it makes in-flight storage easy.

Sound is nothing to get excited about as cymbals occasionally hissed nastily and the bottom end never felt mellow. In the air the headphones did the job, smearing jet noise out to a detectable-but-bearable background rumble. On the downside, the headphones made my ears a little hot and sweaty.

Hot I can deal with, as one of the reasons I like to wear headphones in the air is to stay warm. Sweaty, however, rather defeats the purpose.

Battery life was decent and handled an eight-hour Sydney-to-Asia hop handily, which isn't surprising given Sony claims a 22-hour endurance for its rechargeable cell.

These are the most expensive units we've tested but aren't obviously worth the extra coin. Sony fans – if there are any left – may appreciate the device's aesthetic and clever design. The rest of us many find our hard-earned is better spent if in-air aural augmentation is the aim.