David Clark - something good to say

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Sundancer

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Sent my head-clamp David Clark H10-40 headset back to the factory for rehab - I think I bought it back in the 70's - DC refurbished it for $163.00! Mic, ear seals, comm cord, earphones, filters.

Like an old axe handed down for generations - a few new handles, a few new heads, but the same axe. It may be pushing the half century mark. . .

I know, I know - I used a friend's noise cancelling headset a few times. Not my thing . . . I called DC to order a mic (that's what I guessed my issue was) and they suggested they could do it correctly for less $$$ than me buying parts; they were right. Sweet customer service. The shipment packaging was bullet proof, too. I fear this headset will outlast me by a large margin.

Bravo Zulu, David Clark.
 
I sent in my 2016 One-X for repairs since it wouldn't power up. They repaired it for free, unprompted, since they repaired it back in 2019. They continue to keep me as a customer for life.
 
Damn, forgot to grab my One-X out of my apartment when I was there last weekend to send back in for repairs while I'm overseas.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
I sent in my 2016 One-X for repairs since it wouldn't power up. They repaired it for free, unprompted, since they repaired it back in 2019. They continue to keep me as a customer for life.
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Ain't that a hoot? This was the first real repair mine needed - the mic was going out. I did replace ear seals once or twice, and ScotchBrit'ed the plugs a few times. It's so old I have a portable push-to-talk switch I bought with it since so many club and FBO planes still had hand-held microphones back in the day.
 
Have always been happy with their product support. I recently purchased a One X and am very happy with it,I prefer it to my old Bose.
 
I have two DC headsets I bought back in the late 1980s. For the past 15 years I have used one of them four to five days a week with no problems and no complaints. My wife bought a noise-canceling headset, Flightcom, I think, and Oshkosh one year, but she rarely used it. Now and then I have flown with it, but I am used to hearing the engine noise and just not all that interested in canceling it.

I put cloth covers over the gel earpieces and have replaced them a few times.
 
I dunno, I'm not so impressed with my DCs. I bought them used (so I don't know how old they are) and they mostly sit in the back of my hangared plane, waiting for the occasional passenger to use them. Apparently, that's too harsh an environment for them, because the plastic around the plugs on two of the three headsets became brittle and shattered. Repairs cost $150-ish each. I guess it's nice that I could get them repaired, but I'd have preferred it if the plastic had just endured longer. Every time I go out to the hangar I expect to see the plugs on the third set have turned chalky and fallen apart.
 
In 2010, I sent them the pair I bought during private pilot training in 1990. I don't remember what it cost, but it was reasonable. My son is using them now for his private pilot training.
 

I was a bit surprised that Tom Cruise rocks an old school passive David Clark in his P-51. For the back seat, it looks like he has a military-green cover on a Bose A20, but I am not sure.
 
Some years ago I hit wake turbulence so hard that my head punched a hole in the canopy. My DC headset went out in the slipstream.

I pulled it back in by the cord, One earphone was gone and the rest of it was pretty beat up. I sent it in to David Clark telling them how I broke it.

They sent me a new one at no charge. :)
 
Jim_R said:
I dunno, I'm not so impressed with my DCs. I bought them used (so I don't know how old they are) and they mostly sit in the back of my hangared plane, waiting for the occasional passenger to use them. Apparently, that's too harsh an environment for them, because the plastic around the plugs on two of the three headsets became brittle and shattered. Repairs cost $150-ish each. I guess it's nice that I could get them repaired, but I'd have preferred it if the plastic had just endured longer. Every time I go out to the hangar I expect to see the plugs on the third set have turned chalky and fallen apart.
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Wow, you have no idea how old they are, but they should have lasted longer?

And other people have had them for more than 40 years and they are going strong.
 
pmanton said:
Some years ago I hit wake turbulence so hard that my head punched a hole in the canopy. My DC headset went out in the slipstream.

I pulled it back in by the cord, One earphone was gone and the rest of it was pretty beat up. I sent it in to David Clark telling them how I broke it.

They sent me a new one at no charge. :)
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They should have gotten pictures of that for promotional purposes. That's a hell of a story.

Jim_R said:
the plastic around the plugs on two of the three headsets became brittle and shattered. Repairs cost $150-ish each.
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Mine did this too, just about a week ago. I think they must not have used UV-stable plastic on a batch. But it doesn't affect the usability or performance of the headset. I'm going to repair it myself with some marine adhesive heat shrink tubing.
 
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$163 sounds like a steal! I did the refurb myself on my old ASA headset from 25 years ago and that cost $117. It was new ear seals, new cord, new mic wire, and an Oregon Aero kit....plus six weeks of time waiting for the nickel and dime parts that you forget like the strain relief clips, and the little wire clips, and something else I forgot. Maybe the strain relief for the main cord?

Anyhow...$163 seems pretty good.

--Matt
 
Pinecone said:
Wow, you have no idea how old they are, but they should have lasted longer?
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I've got stuff in my garage, including power cords and plastic housings, that's still in good shape after 45 years, so...yes. I'm pretty sure these DCs are not 40 years old.
Pinecone said:
And other people have had them for more than 40 years and they are going strong.
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That just tells me that my expectations are reasonable. If other people had DCs that lasted 40 years, I'm fully justified in being disappointed that mine did not.
 
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Ed Haywood said:
Mine did this too, just about a week ago. I think they must not have used UV-stable plastic on a batch.
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If they'd been sitting out in the sun, I'd agree UV could be a factor. But these are tucked into the pockets behind the seats and only taken out when used, and even then the sockets are not usually in the sun, so....?

Ed Haywood said:
But it doesn't affect the usability or performance of the headset. I'm going to repair it myself with some marine adhesive heat shrink tubing.
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By the time I realized they were degrading, they were at the point of crumbling, and the wire connections to the plugs became exposed. I imagine they'd have still worked, and I could probably have jury-rigged something, but their durability would have still been compromised and they would have looked awful. I could have bought new plugs and wired them up but I don't want the first thing my passengers touch to look like it was repaired by an amateur and make them wonder what other jake-leg repairs had been made to the plane, so I paid the man to fix 'em right.
 
Jim_R said:
If they'd been sitting out in the sun, I'd agree UV could be a factor. But these are tucked into the pockets behind the seats and only taken out when used, and even then the sockets are not usually in the sun, so....?
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Mebbe it was ozone then. I know that trashes tires.

Here are mine. The outer grips crumbled, but the inner structure is intact. I'll post a picture after I fix 'em.

1745444292179771499404644292576.jpg
 
Ed Haywood said:
Mebbe it was ozone then. I know that trashes tires.

Here are mine. The outer grips crumbled, but the inner structure is intact. I'll post a picture after I fix 'em.

View attachment 140190
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That's a different failure mode than mine. In my case, the thicker part that you grab to insert/remove the plugs (I think that's maybe called the "cable grip"?) disintegrated (circled in red in photo below). The actual cables extending out from those molded parts were still in good shape.
1745444739264.png
 
Jim_R said:
That's a different failure mode than mine. In my case, the thicker part that you grab to insert/remove the plugs (I think that's maybe called the "cable grip"?) disintegrated (circled in red in photo below). The actual cables extending out from those molded parts were still in good shape.
View attachment 140191
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That's the same with mine. The hard plastic cones underneath remained intact.
 
Ed Haywood said:
That's the same with mine. The hard plastic cones underneath remained intact.
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Aha. I guess I didn't remember exactly what it looked like. I seem to remember there being some exposed wiring, but I wonder if I'm misremembering / hallucinating. It was 4-5 years ago.
 
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Jim_R said:
I've got stuff in my garage, including power cords and plastic housings, that's still in good shape after 45 years, so...yes. I'm pretty sure these DCs are not 40 years old.

That just tells me that my expectations are reasonable. If other people had DCs that lasted 40 years, I'm fully justified in being disappointed that mine did not.
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But bottom line is, you DO NOT KNOW HOW OLD THEY ARE. Nor do you know how they were treated/stored before they came into your possession.

And to top it off, did you contact DC about getting them fixed? As this whole thread is about, DC is very responsive and helpful.
 
pmanton said:
Some years ago I hit wake turbulence so hard that my head punched a hole in the canopy. My DC headset went out in the slipstream.

I pulled it back in by the cord, One earphone was gone and the rest of it was pretty beat up. I sent it in to David Clark telling them how I broke it.

They sent me a new one at no charge. :)
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I lost one of mine in a post crash fire. I was calling about fixing another one and asked about that one that was in the fire. They told me if I had any identifiable part of the headset, they would have replaced it.
 
Fixed my plugs today. Rubber electrical tape and marine adhesive heat shrink tube.
PXL_20250508_224947310.jpg
 
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