If you fly frequently, it’s fairly common advice that one of the best things you can do to stay sane is invest in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones. Not only can these keep you entertained, but they can block out the cacophony created by all the other passengers. Of course, they won’t do much good if you forget them.
Harman and Lufthansa have teamed up to ensure that this isn’t a problem for the airline’s passengers. The two companies announced today that they have entered into a deal that will see Harman providing aviation-certified versions of its popular AKG N60 NC headphones.
“Whether enjoying movies, music, games, or any of Lufthansa’s in-flight entertainment offerings, business cabin passengers will enjoy a luxurious and immersive audio experience through Harman’s award-winning AKG headphones,” Harman Lifestyle Audio Division president Michael Mauser said in a statement. “This is the first initiative in what we expect will be a long-term partnership with Lufthansa, to provide future Harman connected technologies to equip the organization and their passengers.”
Harman isn’t simply supplying a pair of headphones and calling it a day. The AKG N60 NC headphones retail for around $250, and while we haven’t tested them ourselves, they seem to be well regarded, and are generally seeing good reviews from customers and critics alike.
The headphones are built using aluminum and leather, with memory foam padding for extra comfort. Aside from adaptive noise cancellation, they offer up a frequency range of 10 Hz to 22 kHz and include a passive mode to ensure they’re still useful even if the battery runs out of power on a long flight.
AKG is far from Harman’s only consumer-focused audio brand, as the firm offers many others, including Harman Kardon, JBL, and more. So far there is no word on whether any of the company’s other brands will see similar deals, but we expect that if this deal is successful, this won’t be the only example of such a pairing.
In addition to supplying the headphones, Harman has also agreed to support them with repair and replacements as needed. The deal is set to run for an initial term of five years, and will begin in January 2017.
