Headsets

[MarcK]

One of the toys that comes along with flying is getting your own headset. When I pitched my flying plan to the trouble and strife the deal isI have to spell out the costs and forecast the expenditure over time one of the joys of having a wife that works in accounting. I made the decision not to buy my own headset until If and when I solo. But I will need make a decision early so the boss can approve the cost. Being a bit of a nerd who like his toys with a massive 1 hour loged towards my certificate I have been looking into what's on the market there is a huge Range and variation in price. I have more questions to ask.

 

1. Are all headsets and intercoms and radios compatible? I don't want to buy something that won't work.
    
    
   
2. Passive or Active noise cancelling ?
    
    
   
3. Is paying top dollar for high end ANC worth it? I got to use a pair of Bose ANC. When I was doing some work with the traffic chopper in Brisbane and they where great but are they worth the $$$$?
    
    
   
4. Do entry level ANC headsets work we'll ? I know that cheaper active noise cancelling headphones don't really seem to cut the mustard
    
    
   
5. What do you all think is the best value headset around based on performance comfort and features
    
    
   

 

 

Thanks

 

Marc

 

 

[503]

I love my a20's even though mostly only flying ppc's now,still great for music and phone calls and so quiet and comfy ,when flying fix wing it good to be able to hear clearly so I'd say spend the $$$ if you can they will be the cheapest part of flying in the long run

 

 

[MarcK]

Another question I should throw out there is what life span do you expect for a headset

 

 

[dazza 38]

I have never had to worry about the good old, I have to runs things pass the wife or partner. I basically do what I want with the money that I earn. If they don't like it, they can take a hike.

 

 

[Hongie]

I personally have never used an ANC aviation headset, but I do have boss qc15 hifi 'phones and they are awesome. They can be adapted to aviation by buying a ugly mike addon, much to Bose' disappointment.

 

My aviation headset of choice is a quiet technologies halo. If you hate the feeling of the vase grip that some headsets put on your head, or you like to wear a hat, check em out.

 

Most aircraft that are available GA or Raaus will use what's called a GA plug, although there are other that have a ships power type plug for use with ANC headsets.

 

One can also get military plugs I think, but I know nothing about them.

 

Hope I got all that right..just finished nightshift

 

 

[mAgNeToDrOp]

I use the old David Clark H10 13.4 (passed down from my old man) and to be honest they are great, more than adequate but I'm also a gadget nerd and I've promised myself a pair of ANR's once I've done my cross country endo. ( figured best put the money towards training at this stage.) I tried the bose a20's, fantastic but I also tried the LightSpeed Zulu 2 ANR and they are much the same in terms of performance as far as I can tell, but way more comfortable than the Bose A20's on my big noggin'. So whatever you do be sure to try before you buy before you lay out that kind of money. Also I think these ANR headsets are handy if you're flying longer legs in a noisy environment (e.g commercial ops) and need to wear them for hours at a time.

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I have a set of David Clarks I used many years ago......about 20 actually and they still work perfect today...I don't use them because they do not filter out all the noise that is in my aircraft. I bought Lightspeed Zulu 2 headsets for pilot and pax...I have to say I am super impressed with them and love to wear them...they cut out all that tiring droning noise. They are expensive but they work and are super light and comfortable...you literally don't know you have them on. That's my opinion but there will be many other different opinions as well....I can tell the difference between the DC and the Zulu for you anyway...the Zulu's win

 

 

[Jabiru Phil]

Go Zulu

 

5 year warranty and has all that you need

 

Have had mine and pax now for 4 years. My DC's are in the cupboard which I lend out occasionally

 

I sent one set back for service last week, turned up yesterday with new ear covers, no charge.

 

Phil.

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

If you use the search capability of this website you'll see that there have been many posts to many questions about headsets and I suspect much of what you asked has been answered previously.

 

That said a few points:-

 

1) ANR is fantastic, if you can get an ANR set

 

2) despite 1) ANR isn't ANR across the whole hearing spectrum, just the lower frequencies.. So what? You need passive noise attenuation capabilities as well and they need to be good enough that in the event of the ANR battery going flat or the system failing (Its electronic therefore infrequently it can fail) the noise levels you are exposed to aren't dangerous.

 

3) In support of 2) a number of manufacturers make good passive headsets and then offer ANR on the same platform...those will pass the sufficient passive noise reduction requirement. Some of the high end and $$$ ANR headsets from the brand names don't fare well when ANR is turned off.....When we can fly for up to 4hrs per leg you don't want poor noise reduction

 

4) Ear seals......get the gel filled ear seals, air filled ones are cheap and the PVC tends to harden over time...Gel is good!

 

5) I myself use Telex Stratus 50D's

 

Andy

 

 

[ayavner]

I have the ones that I bought here on clearprop, for the price they work great and I think they'll last me a good long time before I'll need to consider anything more fancy. that probably speaks to Q5 on your list, though sidesteps the question about noise reduction. I think they're good, and with some foam earplugs in addition I'd be set. If budget were unlimited sure I'd go for the Zulu's or the Bose.

 

+1 on the gel...

 

also, i like the mic boom that is like a flexible gooseneck, as opposed to the ones that are made of articulated wire frames that always seem to come loose.

 

 

[kgwilson]

I have 2 sets of Avcomm 450s & have had them for 20 years. Never missed a beat & with gel seals. I have never had a problem with noise or whatever. I can always hear & transmit perfectly with most traffic & always with ATC. To be honest I don't like the bendy booms. The articulated booms are far more positive & stay where you put them. Mine have never come loose.

 

 

[rankamateur]

I have a set of David Clarks I used many years ago......about 20 actually and they still work perfect today...I don't use them because they do not filter out all the noise that is in my aircraft. I bought Lightspeed Zulu 2 headsets for pilot and pax...I have to say I am super impressed with them and love to wear them...they cut out all that tiring droning noise. They are expensive but they work and are super light and comfortable...you literally don't know you have them on. That's my opinion but there will be many other different opinions as well....I can tell the difference between the DC and the Zulu for you anyway...the Zulu's win

I bought two pairs of ZULU 2s ,as yet unused, because Bill had them in the plane I trained in, I couldn't fault them for comfort. In the excitement of planning and flying my first cross country I did forget to turn the ANR on for about 50 miles and found that they are fairly ordinary in the passive protection department, having made that mistake once I hope not to repeat it. Very comfortable for broard heads and big lugs.

 

 

[Guest Nobody]

Have a good look at the lightspeed sierra. Much the same as the Zulu but without Bluetooth music(but still has phone integration) and slight ANC spec difference but a lot less $$$$.

 

 

[ben87r]

As above, I have these with over 200 hours on them now and i love them! they get used just about everyday for flights 4+ hours. The bluetooth is awesome for checking AWIS and phoning ops when required and i paid $620 i think so a fair bit of saving over the Zulus, in saying that if i bought again i would get the Zulus only because of the amount that i use them i think it would be worth it

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

i paid $620 i think so a fair bit of saving over the Zulus

Am I crazy to think that these things should be only a couple of hundred bucks or so? I mean they are headphones.... sticking with the Rec Flying ones for now.

 

 

[M61A1]

Am I crazy to think that these things should be only a couple of hundred bucks or so? I mean they are headphones.... sticking with the Rec Flying ones for now.

I had 2 headsets I used for years (still have one), made from $18.00 Peltor earmuffs, some Dick Smith speaker and electret microphone, total cost, about $30 each. Each to their own, but I think twice when a headset costs half as much as my aircraft.

 

 

[ben87r]

Worth every cent! black and white difference between the cheaper options

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

The benefit that we have whereby we can fly and not see another aircraft for the entire day is the reason these things cost so much. I guess a big year in headsets in Australia probably see's 10 major retailers vying for a part of total sales of what 1000 sales in total where there is a choice of I guess 30 or so varieties?

 

Doesn't equate to many sales per individual headset. Even in the USA where the selling price per unit are substantially less than here we still have the same issue that these are never going to appear in Wallmart as a broadly available commodity. There probably aren't many smaller markets

 

Andy

 

 

[mAgNeToDrOp]

It also has the word "aviation" tied to it somewhere on it's label, therefore the price will be inflated..... ;)

 

 

[seb7701]

Can the Sierra's be used with an IPod? Fair enough they Bluetooth to a phone, but is there a 3.5mm plug anywhere perhaps?

 

 

[ben87r]

Yep. Bluetooth is only for phone calls

 

 

[IanR]

I have had a set of wireles ANC headsets for about 12 months now - absolutely love them - expensive but worth it to no longer have wires everywhere ! From memory called EQ-1

 

 

[Guest Nobody]

Can the Sierra's be used with an IPod? Fair enough they Bluetooth to a phone, but is there a 3.5mm plug anywhere perhaps?

Can the Sierra's be used with an IPod? Fair enough they Bluetooth to a phone, but is there a 3.5mm plug anywhere perhaps?

Yes. There is a chord that plugs in tot where the batteries go. You can get music over this and I think (not exactly sure)that it will mute the music when there is radio transmission.

 

 

[ben87r]

Yea it does mute, not completely tho but works fine, you can still hear both

 

 

[seb7701]

The sierras sound like the go!