I was wondering if anybody had experience with the Sennheiser brand? I was looking at a used pair sold locally that is the HMEC 250 ANR model. The reviews I have seen online seem pretty good but haven't seen anyone mention them here. I have a real old pair of Sigtronics that work ok but are uncomfortable beyond about an hours use. My hearing is going after 30 plus years of working around airplanes and heavy equipment plus riding motorcycles and snowmachines so I'll probably start wearing the foam plugs under the headset. You know, closing the barn door after the horse gets out.

Pierre_R wrote:I have LEMO jacks in both airplanes. No more bulky battery boxes holding dead batteries.

The Sport Cub I fly has LEMO jacks as well, but the inline battery "box" on the Zulu remains as it's also the volume control and ANR/bluetooth switches.

I have Zulu.2's and they are great. My preference would be Lightspeed or DC due to their customer service. With both companies they have been really good about helping customers. I've heard Bose can be difficult to deal with when something inevitably gets damaged.

I've had great after service from Bose. Even a repair done for free.
By the way, don't judge the A20 by the older X model. The difference in performance and weight and quiet is considerable once you use the A20 .

My wife and I have the Lightspeed Sierras and are extremely happy with them. Very comfy, lightweight, nice features for the price. My dad prefers his DC, which is very nice, but a little heavier. Not quite as comfortable as the lightspeeds imo. He swears up and down about the customer service of DC. He sent his in a while ago to get a couple things repaired just do to use(he's had them several years) and they shipped them back to him with more things refurbished than he expected and no charge!

maules.com wrote:I've had great after service from Bose. Even a repair done for free.
By the way, don't judge the A20 by the older X model. The difference in performance and weight and quiet is considerable once you use the A20 .

That is good to hear, thanks. I had heard in the past Bose had a flat rate regardless of what needed repair. Sounds like if you pick what is comfortable you can't go wrong with any of the modern headsets.

Pierre_R wrote:Looks like I'm the only one who likes the in-the-ear Clarity Aloft.

You're not alone, Pierre. I just happened to go with their competitor, QT's Halo...I too prefer the in-ear option, especially on hot sticky days.

I just picked up a used set of Zulus for $300. If you don't mind buying second hand these are incredible value. Night and day difference from my previous el cheapo's.

260Driver wrote:

Pierre_R wrote:Looks like I'm the only one who likes the in-the-ear Clarity Aloft.

You're not alone, Pierre. I just happened to go with their competitor, QT's Halo...I too prefer the in-ear option, especially on hot sticky days.

Bear in mind that a considerable portion of hearing loss comes from noise transmitted through the bone process right behind the ear.

There are LOTS of good reasons why most headsets and hearing protectors for noisy environments involve a sound deadening cup that covers both the ear AND that bone process.

If you fly with one of the "in ear" headsets in a loud GA airplane, you ARE going to lose some hearing every time you fly.

Those things are fine if you are flying a 777, but in my opinion they have no place in a GA cockpit.

But it's your hearing.....

MTV

mtv wrote:

260Driver wrote:

Pierre_R wrote:Looks like I'm the only one who likes the in-the-ear Clarity Aloft.

You're not alone, Pierre. I just happened to go with their competitor, QT's Halo...I too prefer the in-ear option, especially on hot sticky days.

Bear in mind that a considerable portion of hearing loss comes from noise transmitted through the bone process right behind the ear.

There are LOTS of good reasons why most headsets and hearing protectors for noisy environments involve a sound deadening cup that covers both the ear AND that bone process.

If you fly with one of the "in ear" headsets in a loud GA airplane, you ARE going to lose some hearing every time you fly.

Those things are fine if you are flying a 777, but in my opinion they have no place in a GA cockpit.

But it's your hearing.....

MTV

Very interesting. I didn't know that. I had been considering trying the ClarityAloft headsets. I have a friend who flies an extra 300s who swears by them. I have one crappy pair of early lightspeed ANRs that I bought used when I started training (the second time), and I'm not that satisfied with them anymore. I have to borrow some passive David Clark sets for my wife, etc. She really hates them, she calls them head vices. She was really excited about the ClarityAloft because they aren't tall, wouldn't interfere with sunglasses, don't clamp on your head, etc.

mtv wrote:

260Driver wrote:

Pierre_R wrote:Looks like I'm the only one who likes the in-the-ear Clarity Aloft.

You're not alone, Pierre. I just happened to go with their competitor, QT's Halo...I too prefer the in-ear option, especially on hot sticky days.

Bear in mind that a considerable portion of hearing loss comes from noise transmitted through the bone process right behind the ear.

There are LOTS of good reasons why most headsets and hearing protectors for noisy environments involve a sound deadening cup that covers both the ear AND that bone process.

If you fly with one of the "in ear" headsets in a loud GA airplane, you ARE going to lose some hearing every time you fly.

Those things are fine if you are flying a 777, but in my opinion they have no place in a GA cockpit.

But it's your hearing.....

MTV

This exactly. For this same reason I don't think the DCs would suffice in GA either. They clamp on ear and don't look like they protect behind the ear far enough.

Hadn't heard about that. I'll look into it. Interesting that in noisy manufacturing plants (like mine) OSHA-mandated hearing protection is always with cushioned ear plugs. I estimate about 3000 of my GA hours are with the Clarity and so far (knock wood) my hearing checks out fine.

Several friends use the Halos and like them. And they cost less. But that concern about hearing loss occurring from outside the ear definitely warrants deeper investigation.

Pierre

I'd guess all the newer ANRs are good. Get a set that fits you comfortably, all around the ear.

Jeredp wrote:Thanks for all the pireps! I decided to order the anr kit for david clark h10-13.4 If I'm not impressed, I'll pass them on to my wife and save some more for a bose or lightspeed.

I think you'll like the mod. I sure like mine.

Cary

NimpoCub wrote:I'd guess all the newer ANRs are good. Get a set that fits you comfortably, all around the ear.

I fly Zulu, Zulu2 and A20 regularly. All are great headsets. I've heard some people knock Bose service, so let me say that in my experience I've found both companies service to be excellent.

For me Lightspeed has one feature that I didn't expect to care about, but turns out I really do. Bluetooth music. I do enough cross country flying that I like having some tunes and really appreciate not having to find and string a cord to do it. Seems little, but given that otherwise the two lines are practically identically good, it's the feature that is tipping my decision lately.

Note that both will make bluetooth phone calls, which I thought I would need, but turn out to very rarely use. In the US I have used it maybe twice to get a clearance from the ground. In Mexico I've never had occasion to use it.

I'm penny pinching, but I'm also a technical geek. I looked at 3 things when I bought my headsets.

1: Fit
2: Actual performance test data
3: Price

Plane and Pilot had a good comparison in 2014 that quoted manufacturer's performance numbers. The Bose, Lightspeed, and Sennheiser manufacturers declined to provide actual performance data. http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/products/pilot-supplies/headsets-buyers-guide-2014-smaller-lighter-and-more-affordable.html?start=2#.VSvqmod0yM8

For the ones that were left, I wound up buying the PA-1779T ANR headsets from Pilot Communications (PC). These offer 25 dB passive noise reduction and 18 - 22 dB additional noise reduction from the active system. Last year PC had actual test data from their lab that graphically compared the acoustic performance of their headsets to the performance of Bose and Lightspeed. For the sound frequencies that messed with my communications in flight, the PC units were best. Those graphs are gone from their website now, so I don't know what happened. At any rate, the PC headsets I bought for my wife and myself are comfortable (especially for my wife who hated the last headsets we had (older Lightspeed QFRs) and they are certainly priced right. These were less than the $475 list price per unit because I had some even older passive PC headsets to trade in. I'm getting about 40 hours of operation from a 9v battery which seems par for the course. I carry spare 9v batteries in my flight bag, but even when the active NR fails, the passive is still good and the headsets still work. They have Bluetooth connectivity for my phone and my music as well as an additional jack that lets me connect to the mike cord on my action cam. I'm a happy camper with these headsets, especially at the price point they are offered at.

Flyhound wrote:I'm penny pinching, but I'm also a technical geek. I looked at 3 things when I bought my headsets.

1: Fit
2: Actual performance test data
3: Price

Plane and Pilot had a good comparison in 2014 that quoted manufacturer's performance numbers. The Bose, Lightspeed, and Sennheiser manufacturers declined to provide actual performance data.

And, those three may have offered the only truly honest data in that comparison Sound is a very complex phenomenon, and ANR plus passive reduction is really hard to measure, particularly over the range of frequencies present in a cockpit......and that will vary with the cockpit as well. It's pretty hard to define a number of decibels that a headset reduces the noise over a RANGE of frequencies, and quoting one number is pretty misleading, since it really represents only one frequency, more than likely.

MTV

I had the sennheiser skylarkin they had a weird clicking noise when the anr was on, I sent them back and they had them for about 6months I finally had to get aircraft spruce after them to get them back! Then they still did the same thing so aircraft spruce exchanged them for lightspeed PFX. Yay acspruce booo sennheiser! To be fair the sennheiser warranty depo for Canada is in Quebec the US one might b better.

I like the PFX but they are much harder on batteries than the Zulu 2

I recieved my anr kit today, got it installed, and went for a 15 mintue test flight. I was very impressed. The wind noise is gone but you can still hear the engine clearly. Overall, much quiter. I'll wring them out good this weekend. The installation was pretty straight forward. The ear seals that come with the kit, do not fit the DC 13.4. Fortunately I had ordered another set of gel seals, so I installed them. Thanks for everyones input!

Jeredp wrote:I recieved my anr kit today, got it installed, and went for a 15 mintue test flight. I was very impressed. The wind noise is gone but you can still hear the engine clearly. Overall, much quiter. I'll wring them out good this weekend. The installation was pretty straight forward. The ear seals that come with the kit, do not fit the DC 13.4. Fortunately I had ordered another set of gel seals, so I installed them. Thanks for everyones input!

I can't recall if I mentioned this before, but battery life varies a lot, depending on how much the system has to work. If I listen to music pretty much constantly, which I do on long cross countries when I don't need to listen to ATC all that much, battery life is much shorter. If it's just radio traffic, which even in busy areas isn't constant, it is longer. I've had it vary from as little as about 15-16 hours to as much as more than 25. Swapping batteries is relatively easy, but I keep a new battery under the battery case in the battery pouch, which I have Velcroed to the side panel of the airplane.

The other thing I can't recall mentioning, but if it shuts off because the battery is low, flipping the switch off and then back on will give you another 20-25 minutes of ANR. So like if you were in the middle of an approach, VFR or IFR, there would be plenty of time to complete the approach.

Fun keeping track of all those wires, right?

Cary