The biggest problem in choosing a headset, ANR or otherwise, is that it’s very difficult to do a comparison test in your aircraft. You’d need the 4 or 5 types you are interested in and go flying, switching them around. I managed to do that once with a friend who has a Sennheiser (good, but I preferred my Bose). Before the crisis hit, there was a great pilot shop at KSMO where you could rent pretty much any headset for a rather nominal charge (refunded if you ended up buying), but as with many small businesses, the financial meltdown (and of course the internet) killed them off :-(
The biggest problem in choosing a headset, ANR or otherwise, is that it’s very difficult to do a comparison test in your aircraft.
I think that is absolutely right. My first experience with ANR headsets was trying a set of the cheapest version sold by Lightspeed in my plane – they were great, much better than my passive David Clarks. I subsequently tried a Bose in a friends exceptionally loud Experimental plane and they were overwhelmed, ANR circuit apparently shutting down as noise level reached some limit, and basically useless in that plane. That very incomplete set of data sent me down the road of buying Lightspeeds when I wanted some nice headsets, and I’ve been using Zulus happily in my planes ever since, currently Zulu 2s which are great. My friend subsequently installed more sound proofing in his plane and says the Boses work OK now so I lost my opportunity for a direct comparison in that very loud environment. I have no idea whether the Lightspeeds would be better or worse.
Another issue is headroom: if you in your plane use almost all of it, a low profile headset may be important. It’s amazing what a difference a few millimeters can make.
If you can arrange it somehow, It’d be a good idea to try the candidate headsets in your plane before buying them.
I have tried Bose and the top end Lightspeed in my aircraft and the Bose are clearly superior.
Before buying I will try to try few most popular headsets in the NOISY C337 ….
THANK YOU ALL
Lightspeed Sierra works for me. Tried both Sierra and Zulu in the shop and the cheaper one fits my head better. Also consider service and repairs – my experience with repair excellent, just mailed the headset in and get it back after two week repaired at no cost.
It is interesting to see Bose and Lightspeed are top of the charts here. I have a Sennheiser pair (cant remember the model number but they were about £400), and although they are nice and comfy, the ANR is pretty poor really. OK, the PA28 will never sounds like a Rolls Royce in a slow cruise down a country lane, but even compared to the good old standard kit DC’s – they offer little noise reduction. I wouldn’t buy them again if I was after serious NR.
Regarding above price point I bought two used panel-powered Bose Xs for a total of USD950.
Having tried a few different models, I finally settled on Flightcom Denali. Noise suppression is subjectively almost the same for most ANR headsets, what I like in the Denali is the feel on the head. It does not clamp your head like DC and the like, and the earcups are very nice.
If cost is an issue and Lightspeeds are of interest, consider scrounging around for junky old headsets to trade in – perhaps the kind nobody would ever use again. As I remember they’ll give you $200 credit for any headset that works, and more for headsets with some market value. I used the trade scheme to save some money on my current Zulu 2s.
Lightspeed seemingly learned from DC that inexpensive, fast warranty and repair service sells headsets, and I think that’s done a lot to build their sales. I’m not sold on any particular headset brand but the reputation for service plus the trade in program is what’s kept me with their stuff.
An outfit called JAA in I believe Florida were offering $400 back on a Bose X in any condition if you bought the A20. This made it a great deal (I bought one of mine from them) but really only if you could get somebody to bring it back to Europe for you. I gave them a really shagged X which came with the TB20 (yes two of them came with the new plane!).
