Best Headset Features

What Feature is most/very important to you in a headset?

  • Overall Comfort

    Votes: 17 34.7%

  • Lightweight

    Votes: 2 4.1%

  • Noise Reduction Rating

    Votes: 10 20.4%

  • Portability

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Sound & Transmission Quality

    Votes: 17 34.7%

  • Additional Inputs (Cell phone/MP3 Player)

    Votes: 1 2.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 2 4.1%
  • Total voters
    49
H

Houstono

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Apr 25, 2011
Messages
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Display name:
HoustonatVT
Hey everyone!

My name is Houston and I am a student at Virginia Tech. I am working on a business consulting project for a company that specializes in aviation headsets. I would just like to know:

What type of headset do you use?

-and-

What is the most important aspect of a headset to you?

I appreciate any and all answers and mods, if this is not in the right section please feel free to move it.

Thanks in advance,

Houston
 
I voted Sound & Transmission Quality simply because if they don't do that well there is no point in the rest of the features. I used to instruct a lot in Aeronca Champs and the biggest problem we had with headset were ones that picked up all the background noise to the point that you could not hear what the person was saying. We used them only for the intercom, we didn't have a radio.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
brcase said:
I voted Sound & Transmission Quality simply because if they don't do that well there is no point in the rest of the features. I used to instruct a lot in Aeronca Champs and the biggest problem we had with headset were ones that picked up all the background noise to the point that you could not hear what the person was saying. We used them only for the intercom, we didn't have a radio.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
Click to expand...

Concur, though it seems like any decent headset is passable. I would say noise reduction is paramount (though my Zulus are great at it) and general comfort (not totally happy with the Zulus) are the most important.
 
Hey Houston, first of all, welcome to POA!

I've been using the Lightspeed Zulus for several years now, and I will swear by them to the end. Incredibly comfortable, even after 7-8 hrs of flying in a day, the sound quality is excellent, and the bluetooth connectivity has made my life easier on several occasions. I've tried the Bose, but I don't like the center spring, or how small the ear cups are...I could never get it to sit on my head right so it always ended up pinching my brain after a long day flying. Also the Bose had little (no) attenuation with the ANR off (aka when the batteries die). The Zulu is, at least, acceptable as a passive only headset. Overall I find it to be a much more comfortable and versatile headset compared to the others in its class.

Good luck with your project.
 
I love fit, reliability, ANR and the BEST customer service that I never have to use!

So pretty much, for me that leave Lightspeed out.Good CS but you have to use far too often.

I want a high quality, bullet proof headset that fits me well and that I have found is David Clark. I have tried many LS headsets but always come back to the DCs.
 
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I started out with DC 13XLs, and then moved up the Lightspeed ANR line, and currently I have 20 3Gs and may upgrade to the Zulus when I get some spare money.

But assuming equivalent noise reduction and sound quality, comfort is next followed by interfacing capabilities (bluetooth, MP3).
 
Wouldn't buy anything but ANR then comfort to make the decision. If you're going to wear for hours at time you want to forget they are there. I would like to try an in-the-ear model like Clarity someday. Folks say they are just as good as ANR.
 
The one thing left out was "reliability." Which is really important.

I own a Lightspeed Zulu, Bose X, and Lightspeed 20xlc. The Lightspeed headsets are by far the best. They're more reliable, more comfortable, quieter, and Lightspeed has the best warranty in the business. With that combination, there's no question whose headsets I will continue to buy.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
The one thing left out was "reliability." Which is really important.

I own a Lightspeed Zulu, Bose X, and Lightspeed 20xlc. The Lightspeed headsets are by far the best. They're more reliable, more comfortable, quieter, and Lightspeed has the best warranty in the business. With that combination, there's no question whose headsets I will continue to buy.
Click to expand...
The ones that need constant replacement and warranty repair? :D
 
ejensen said:
Wouldn't buy anything but ANR then comfort to make the decision. If you're going to wear for hours at time you want to forget they are there. I would like to try an in-the-ear model like Clarity someday. Folks say they are just as good as ANR.
Click to expand...
I have a Clarity Aloft headset but I haven't used it in a piston airplane yet. I think it would work fine, though. It's definitely more comfortable for me than an over-ear model.
 
I've been using the Clarity Aloft Pro model headset exclusively for the last 5 years. It's way WAY better than Bose, Telex 50D, DC ANR, or Zulus in my exceptionally noisy cockpit of the Pitts. I bought them because I wanted feel like I wasn't wearing anything (OK, get your minds outta the gutter), and I've kept them because they offer more noise attenuation passively than the best of the best ANR headsets can offer with all their fluty tootin' electronics.

The only down side to them is that my ear canal starts to hurt if I wear them for more than about 3 hours at a time. In the Piits, I'm out of gas every 2 hours so it's not an issue there.
 
Teller1900 said:
I've been using the Lightspeed Zulus for several years now, and I will swear by them to the end. Incredibly comfortable, even after 7-8 hrs of flying in a day, the sound quality is excellent, and the bluetooth connectivity has made my life easier on several occasions. I've tried the Bose, but I don't like the center spring, or how small the ear cups are...I could never get it to sit on my head right so it always ended up pinching my brain after a long day flying. Also the Bose had little (no) attenuation with the ANR off (aka when the batteries die). The Zulu is, at least, acceptable as a passive only headset. Overall I find it to be a much more comfortable and versatile headset compared to the others in its class
Click to expand...
I can't add anything to this. I weight ANR and Sound/XMission Quality as being equally important the the Zulu's excel at both.

They sound so bloody good sometimes I use them to listen to music.
 
I picked "noise reduction rating" but my most important feature is actually the combination of comfort and quietness in the cockpit. Noise reduction goes a long way toward reducing fatigue but if the headset causes headaches after a couple hours of wearing it, I wouldn't want it.
 
Houstono said:
Hey everyone!

My name is Houston and I am a student at Virginia Tech. I am working on a business consulting project for a company that specializes in aviation headsets. I would just like to know:

What type of headset do you use?

-and-

What is the most important aspect of a headset to you?

I appreciate any and all answers and mods, if this is not in the right section please feel free to move it.

Thanks in advance,

Houston
Click to expand...

Once upon a time, we had a speaker in the overhead that could overcome cabin noise. That was partly due to the audio amps in the navcoms that could power the speakers so we could hear and partly because we didn't buy $1,000 headsets because there weren't any $1,000 headsets we could buy. The only people that used headsets back then were helo jocks.
 
Trapper John said:
Once upon a time, we had a speaker in the overhead that could overcome cabin noise. That was partly due to the audio amps in the navcoms that could power the speakers so we could hear and partly because we didn't buy $1,000 headsets because there weren't any $1,000 headsets we could buy. The only people that used headsets back then were helo jocks.
Click to expand...

ehhh.. what was that.:wink2:
 
Most important: Comfort. After a long day of flying, I'd rather have a more comfortable headset with slightly less noise reduction than an uncomfortable quieter one.

Noise reduction is #2, though...

#3, I like having features like phone and music connectivity - If I'm spending a ton of money on a nice headset, I want to be able to use it outside the plane as well.

I use the Lightspeed Zulus (my secondary headset is a Lightspeed 20-3G). Love 'em. Extremely comfortable, excellent noise reduction, and made by company that supports the aviation industry through the Lightspeed Aviation Foundation and donates a lot of headsets to missionary aviation groups. What's not to love?
 
I have an old David Clark set, updated with the Headsets, Inc. ANR upgrade. I love 'em!
 
Good ol' DC head-clamps here, but tried my wife's new ANRs and was impressed.

Mike from our podcast says heand Elisabeth just did their first flight with the Halo's this last weekend and they're loving them.

http://www.quiettechnologies.com/

Cheaper than the Clarity Aloft's by far, and many people don't use the specialized ear tips with the Clarity's anyway. These use the more typical soft foam earplugs.

Haven't tried 'em yet myself. Tempted.
 
The ability to communicate is first. Noise reduction helps that a lot. I use the Quiet Technologies Halo and would never willing go back to a headset. If I did, it wouldn't be Lightspeed though. My experiences were not good, I got to know their customer service too well.

Ernie
 
I have had a great experience with LightSpeed. I have been using the Mach 1 with custom ear molds for 5 years. I fly an average of 800-900 hours a year and I have had to send them back twice. Both times I sent the headset back I had it back within a week and their customer service was superb. I keep an old Telex for a backup and luckily don't have to use it very often. If I switch to an airplane without an intercom I intend to use a Sennheiser ANR product.

To the OP, I think every one of these items are important and some headset manufacturers have managed to address them all. In the end some people's heads just aren't shaped for certain headset designs and so comfort can be a variable that is tough to target.

HCS
 
Houstono said:
Hey everyone!

My name is Houston and I am a student at Virginia Tech. I am working on a business consulting project for a company that specializes in aviation headsets. I would just like to know:

What type of headset do you use?

-and-

What is the most important aspect of a headset to you?
Click to expand...

See? This is a reasonably designed survey. It explains the objective of the survey before you take it.

My only suggestion would be a ranking of features. I put NR and sound quality at the same level of ranking, altho it can be argued that NR improves sound quality.
 
Very important (in rank order)
Sound & Transmission Quality
Noise Reduction Rating
Overall Comfort
Reliability


Somewhat important:
Lightweight
Portability


Completely useless to me: Additional Inputs (Cell phone/MP3 Player)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Lightspeed has the best warranty in the business.
Click to expand...
Even better than David Clark?

I have never had a problem with my DC's, but one of the things that sold me on them was how many stories I've heard of DC going above and beyond the warranty to refurbish and upgrade folks' headsets.
 
On the subject of MP3 player/accessories, here is a quetion that has been plaguing me - I bought a child headset for my daughter not too long ago and it has an separate input jack in the headset for MP3/DVD players. Whenever I fly with her and her DVD player is plugged in, it seems to spill over into the intercom. Why is that and is there a way to avoid it? I would love to be able to fly and not have to listen to Dora the Explorer the whole flight!
 
Fearless Tower said:
Even better than David Clark?

I have never had a problem with my DC's, but one of the things that sold me on them was how many stories I've heard of DC going above and beyond the warranty to refurbish and upgrade folks' headsets.
Click to expand...

I've heard good things about the DC warranty policy, as well.

I sent in my 20xlc to get repaired after someone sat on it and broke the plastic on top. They repaired it for free, even though I told them what happened. When a dog got tangled up in my Zulu and broke it, they fixed it for free also.

Warranting abuse items is as good as it gets.
 
Thanks to everyone for responses! I got some really great information I can use for my client. Hopefully I can use this market data to help create the best headset.

Thanks again

Houston
 
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