Some of cheapest wired earbuds on amazon that don't suck

[BoredSysAdmin]

After a recent flight on Jetblue, I realized I was awfully unprepared for the onboard entertainment. More specifically the headphones were of this ancient 3.5mm kind which even I a staunch supporter of this format, no longer had 3.5mm wired headphones in my travel electronics baggie, and buying ones sold on board is beyond wasteful, at least in my mind.
So I figured out, for the next flight I shall purchase, as the title says: The cheapest wired earbuds on Amazon that don't suck.

For this test, two pairs were purchased using my funds:
1) Panasonic ErgoFit Wired Earbuds, In-Ear Headphones with Dynamic Crystal-Clear Sound and Ergonomic Custom-Fit Earpieces (S/M/L), 3.5mm Jack for Phones and Laptops, No Mic - RP-HJE120-K (Black) - $8.99 at time of purchase.
2) Moondrop Quarks Earphone Closed Anterior Cavity Micro Dynamic Driver IEM Earphone (Without mic) $12.99 at time of purchase.


Sound: It is similar and surprisingly fairly accurate, with Moondrop being a bit more clinical and Panasonic being more forgiving and touch warmer. Short version - they both don't suck as far as nearly throwaway headphones go. One major benefit to Mooddrop Quarks is a much thicker cable which might survive two or three flights, whereas Panasonic is so thin, that it might break at any moment.

 

[Hobbit]

Kind of a to be expected. If you have BT earbuds/headphones, you need this:

Amazon.com

If you don't have a BT set, I would spend a little more and go with a noise cancelling headphone/earbud. I usually travel with a wired set of Bose. Recently, however, I picked up some relatively inexpensive earbuds to also use:

Amazon.com

They work surprisingly good. On a plane having Noise Cancelling is a godsend. I play the volume much lower, it's clearer, and I feel better upon arrival.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Kind of a to be expected. If you have BT earbuds/headphones, you need this:

Amazon.com

If you don't have a BT set, I would spend a little more and go with a noise cancelling headphone/earbud. I usually travel with a wired set of Bose. Recently, however, I picked up some relatively inexpensive earbuds to also use:

Amazon.com

They work surprisingly good. On a plane having Noise Cancelling is a godsend. I play the volume much lower, it's clearer, and I feel better upon arrival.

As a tech guy, buying a BT transmitter was exactly my first thought, but then I realized I'd need to buy four of these BT adapters and at least some new BT headphones. This method is cheaper. For school, they already have over-the-ear wired phones, which are too bulky and fragile for travel.

PS: As the expected part—this is hard to say—on one hand, we flew United, and they gave free earbuds, not too different from the Panasonic I've mentioned. But then we flew with JetBlue. I could control the screen (very badly) from a smartphone, and in general, it allowed a decent degree of interactivity with lots of content and even a few simple video games, but BT it did not support, honestly surprisingly so.