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Updated: 2026-10-06 · 8 min read · Independent comparison
If you want to turn any old 3.5mm jack into a wireless audio source for your own earbuds or headphones — and you want a travel accessory that also covers the wired audio on an Xbox controller — choose Twelve South AirFly SE; if you need a full set of over-ear headphones with hybrid active noise cancellation and a 50-hour battery, choose Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise.
• Twelve South AirFly SE — biggest strength: it takes any 3.5mm audio jack (airplane seatback screens, gym equipment, gaming devices, hotel TVs, older car stereos) and broadcasts that audio to your own Bluetooth earbuds or headphones, with 20+ hours of battery life and USB-C charging.
• Twelve South AirFly SE — biggest trade-off: it is not a headphone. It makes no sound on its own. If you don't already own Bluetooth headphones or earbuds you like, it does nothing for you by itself.
• Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise — biggest strength: it is the complete listening package — over-ear Bluetooth headphones with hybrid active noise cancellation, dynamic drivers, deep bass, a 50-hour average battery life, and a foldable, lightweight build aimed at travel.
• Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise — biggest trade-off: it's over-ear, so it's bulkier than earbuds, and it only listens to what you send it over Bluetooth or a wired connection — it can't pull audio out of a seatback screen that only has a headphone jack.
• Who each is for: AirFly SE for the traveler or gamer who already owns wireless earbuds and wants to use them everywhere; Pointcinco for the traveler or gamer who wants one self-contained pair of noise-cancelling headphones for the flight and the desk.
The AirFly SE is a tiny plastic transmitter — about 1.25 inches wide and 1.75 inches tall, weighing roughly 13.6 grams, in white. It plugs into a 3.5mm jack and pairs over Bluetooth 5.2 with one pair of headphones or earbuds. That's the whole idea, and it's a good one: audio that is trapped behind a physical headphone jack suddenly becomes wireless.
The place this matters most is travel. In-flight entertainment systems still hand you a jack, and the earbuds you actually like are Bluetooth. The AirFly SE bridges that gap. It also covers gym equipment, hotel TVs, and gaming devices with a 3.5mm output. It supports aptX and SBC, outputs in stereo, and charges over USB-C — and you can use it while it charges, which matters on a long-haul flight where you don't want a dead transmitter three hours in. The 20+ hour battery covers most flights and back-to-back gym sessions.
Controls are touch-based with built-in volume buttons, and pairing is genuinely simple: power it on, it enters pairing mode automatically, put your headphones in pairing mode, and it connects within seconds and reconnects automatically next time. It works with any standard Bluetooth headphones — Sony, Bose, Beats, Samsung Galaxy Buds, AirPods, whatever you own. One caveat worth knowing: hearing aids that rely on Bluetooth Low Energy or a companion app won't work, and because hearing aid Bluetooth varies by brand, Twelve South itself recommends checking with the manufacturer first.
Buy it if you already own wireless earbuds or headphones you love and you're tired of being locked out of seatback screens, gym machines, and older gear. Skip it if you don't own Bluetooth headphones yet, or if you want a single device that both plays audio and cancels noise — that's not this product.
The Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise is the opposite kind of purchase: it's the headphones themselves. Over-ear, black, classic styling, with hybrid active noise cancellation and dynamic drivers tuned for deep bass and HiFi stereo sound. It's a self-contained listening device — Bluetooth 6.0 wireless plus wired connectivity, so you can run it untethered or plug in when the battery runs down or when latency matters.
Battery is the headline number here: a 50-hour average life on a 2.5-hour charge. For travel that's a genuinely useful figure. A round-trip transatlantic itinerary plus airport time plus a few days of hotel listening fits inside one charge, which means one less cable and one less outlet to fight over. The foldable, lightweight design is aimed squarely at packing it in a carry-on, and the over-ear shape is what makes the noise cancellation worth having — the cups physically seal around your ears, and the active cancellation works on top of that.
Over-ear is also the honest trade-off. It's bulkier than earbuds and warmer on your ears during a long flight. The 11.36-ounce weight is reasonable for an over-ear can, but it's never going to disappear in a jacket pocket the way AirFly SE will. And it ships with a cable and a user manual, plus a one-year warranty.
Buy it if you want one pair of headphones that does noise cancelling, long battery, and wireless freedom for flights, home, and the office — and you don't already own something comparable. Skip it if you're happy with your current earbuds and the actual problem you're trying to solve is getting audio out of a wired jack.
• Best for airplane seatback entertainment → Twelve South AirFly SE. It converts the seat's 3.5mm jack into Bluetooth for your own earbuds.
• Best for noise cancellation on a flight → Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise. Hybrid ANC in an over-ear cup is the only one of the two that reduces cabin noise.
• Best for battery life → Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise. 50 hours average versus 20+ hours on the AirFly SE.
• Best for portability → Twelve South AirFly SE. Roughly 13.6 grams and pocket-sized versus an 11.36-ounce over-ear headphone.
• Best if you already own great wireless earbuds → Twelve South AirFly SE. It extends what you already have instead of replacing it.
• Best if you own no wireless headphones at all → Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise. Buying the transmitter first would leave you with nothing to listen on.
• Best for gaming devices with a 3.5mm output → Twelve South AirFly SE. It's explicitly built for gaming devices and other 3.5mm sources, and it pairs with whatever Bluetooth headset or earbuds you already use.
• Best for wired-or-wireless flexibility → Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise. It supports both wired and wireless connection on its own.
In my opinion, the right pick comes down to one question: do you already own Bluetooth earbuds or headphones you like? If yes, buy the Twelve South AirFly SE. It's the cheaper-feeling problem-solver of the two, it's the one that unlocks in-flight screens and gym machines, and it's the one that works with the Xbox controller's 3.5mm jack so you can use your own earbuds for gaming. If you don't own wireless headphones yet, buy the Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise — it's the complete package with ANC, 50 hours, and a foldable travel build. Buy the transmitter to extend gear you own; buy the headphones to own the gear.
There's no single answer, but the data points in one direction: for a flight, you want noise cancellation and long battery. The Pointcinco Hybrid Active Noise offers hybrid ANC, over-ear cups, a foldable design, and 50 hours of average battery life on a 2.5-hour charge — that combination is built for travel. If you already own wireless earbuds and just need to reach a seatback screen, the AirFly SE handles that job for 20+ hours at a time.
Good travel headphones are ones that solve your actual problem. If the problem is cabin noise, you want active noise cancellation and over-ear cups — the Pointcinco fits. If the problem is that the airplane, the treadmill, and the hotel TV only offer a 3.5mm jack, the Twelve South AirFly SE is the accessory that fixes it, because it pairs any standard Bluetooth headphones with those sources.
How to pack headphones for travel?
Don't wrap them around anything tight, and don't coil the cable hard enough to kink it. If you're using the AirFly SE, the thing to protect is the 3.5mm plug and the USB-C port, so keep it in a small pouch rather than loose at the bottom of a bag. For the Pointcinco, fold the earcups as designed and keep the included cable loosely looped rather than wrapped around the headband.
Not necessarily, but they don't overlap. The AirFly SE transmits audio from a 3.5mm jack to Bluetooth headphones; the Pointcinco is a pair of Bluetooth headphones. If you already own wireless earbuds, the AirFly SE is the add-on that makes them work on a plane. If you don't, start with the headphones.
The AirFly SE is the one with an explicit gaming use case, since it's designed to take audio from gaming devices with a 3.5mm output and send it to your own Bluetooth earbuds or headset — useful if you're hunting for the best bluetooth earbuds for xbox or a gaming headset for xbox without buying new hardware. The Pointcinco headphones connect wired or wirelessly, so they work as gaming headphones for xbox too, but they replace your headset rather than adapt the one you own. Check the current price on Amazon for either before you commit.
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