----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----At 09:26 AM 11/1/2006, DONALD BOWEN wrote:
I like David Clark headsets, and have been using them for many years.
One man's opinion...
Executive summary (;^)
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I've been flying with a stock (no add-on ANR) David Clark H10-13.5 for about fifteen years. In the last two years I had the chance to borrow several different brand-new ANC/ANR headsets for lengthy flights in late-model Mooneys (which are noticeably quieter than the Cessnas and Maules I've mostly flown over the years, for what it's worth). In each case I decided that my old David Clarks compare favorably. And by the way, my hearing still tests out quite good throughout the 20-20KHz frequency spectrum.
Details
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The list of headsets I tried includes Bose, Lightspeed (both full enclosure and the "ear bud" style), Peltor, and Sennheiser. Yes, most of the new models - when they were working - were slightly quieter at some frequencies than the David Clarks, but I wouldn't rate any of them superior overall. And they all sacrifice passive attenuation in the interest of reducing weight, and the more noise they let in the more they have to cancel. Go figure. And frankly I didn't even find any of the ANR sets significantly more comfortable after wearing them for two or three hours. (I updated my H10-13s a while back with the "undercut" seals and the pillow head pad, which made for a noticeable improvement.)
Related to comfort is ease-of-use, and a significant consideration there is the power source: I _loathe_ having a battery pack dangling from the cord, yet if you eliminate that hassle by opting for a headset that's plumbed for "ship power" then you're seriously limited as to where you can use it.
A final factor that few people seem to talk about is the sound quality (what a stereo buff would call fidelity), and in that David Clarks are unsurpassed. More to the point, every ANR headset I've ever tried introduces some "unnatural" sound quality. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I find it mildly distracting nonetheless.
***
But remember...
Your mileage may vary.
Karl SutterfieldN9532V, Mooney M10 Cadet s.n. 700022
kasutt @ blindhog . com (remove spaces to reply)
Box 294150
Kerrville, TX 78029
830-257-5458 home office
830-257-5468 facsimile
830-285-7323 cell
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