What's the worst that can happen? You have a small piece of plastic jutting out from your phone when you use these headphones, and you can leave said plastic dongle on the fricking wired connector you have to have anyway?
I have a pair of Etymotic Research earbuds that sound great, block almost all exterior noise, cost a little over $100, and take up almost no space when we travel. I cannot hear anything but music whenever we are on an airplane.
People like me have really well sealed ear canals (my nephews both had to have tubes put in theirs to allow drainage when they were newborns). It's very uncomfortable for us to have earbuds plugged in there.
First impressions are very favorable. I can wear these things for hours, they last forever, and the controls from iPad and iPhone are very easy to use, either on device or on the phone itself. The tap on the earcup to pause, slide to fast forward/reverse/change volume seems like a gimmick at first but becomes natural very quickly. The cover to hear real world is pretty damn slick!
I could buy top of the line Sennheiser for half the price. I have alwys purchased all my headphones from the recording section of Guitar Center or Sam Ash. Even entry level AKG smoke most of that mass junk.
Sure, if you discount ANC. Sennheiser is getting better but are still behind both Bose and Sony in that realm per all of the reviews I have read. I've got 3 pairs of great Senns that I hook to a small amp.
For travel and gym, I much prefer Bose QC30 earbud style to over ear full headphones. The over ar are bulky and don't fit in a satchel. The earbud are pocketable. When I'm flying, the goal is to minimize bulk. I don't see myself buying over ear ANC headphones again.