New Headset -- ANR

T

The Gardener

Terrafirma Phobic
My Softcomm 100's are finally on the fritz. After several trips back to Softcomm for free repairs and many upgrades I'm thinking of trading up for something new. Don't get me wrong, I've loved my headset and Softcomm is great (free out of warranty service!). I mean they are really good. It is just time to move on I'm thinking.

I'm getting the itch to move into something new, and lighter.

I've looked into the Zulu's, Senheizers, and a new company Beyerdynamics, it sounds like a pill or something to me but they are supposed to be good. Who knows.

I know I'm not interested in Bose (common guys, it's been nearly a decade), Pilot's or anything that is the same color as my grandmothers fridge.

I'm way out of the loop on what people are loving right now! I need something quite, comfy, light an durable. My headset goes in and out of the bag 3-5 times a day. It's gotta be tough. I also need music, I can't function without it. I don't care if it works with a cell though (seriously stupid marketing there!) What do you recommend?
 
Codyjp said:
I don't care if it works with a cell though (seriously stupid marketing there!)
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Not if you've ever had to get your IFR release on a cell phone while holding short of the runway with your engine running ;).

Just something to consider...

I had this discussion with a student pilot at one of the places we spent the day in the jet. I told him it all comes down to what feels most comfortable to you. You really need to go to a pilot supply store and try them all on. If that's not possible, call the different companies and see if you can do a 15 day trial or something.
 
TFaudree_ERAU said:
Not if you've ever had to get your IFR release on a cell phone while holding short of the runway with your engine running ;).

Just something to consider...

I had this discussion with a student pilot at one of the places we spent the day in the jet. I told him it all comes down to what feels most comfortable to you. You really need to go to a pilot supply store and try them all on. If that's not possible, call the different companies and see if you can do a 15 day trial or something.
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Hummm... I guess I've never had the need to do that. I usually get a release window before I start burning gas. I Socal it can be 5 minutes or 50. Who knows. Seriously not an issue in my neighborhood.

Regardless it has always been easier for me to put my phone under my headset and get going than futz around looking for my headset cable. I've had a cell phone interface on my headset for 8 years. I've used it once. It's just marketing.
 
I will personally vouch for the Sennheiser (no "z," by the way). Like Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic is a German audio company, and I can only assume that their aviation offerings are excellent as well.

I like the Zulu, but find that it doesn't have quite enough clamp pressure to get a good seal. The BOSE works well with its ANR on, just realize that its design relies almost exclusively on ANR, and thus, without battery power or if it ever suffers and electronic fault, they offer no passive damping.
 
Bose

Boy
Our
Shit's
Expensive

No audio or cell interface. Nothing new for 8 years. They don't hold a candle to the Zulu. I don't get why anybody would still be buying these things.

So far my brain says Zulu but I'm looking for somebody to talk me out of it!
 
Codyjp said:
Bose

Boy
Our
Shit's
Expensive

No audio or cell interface. Nothing new for 8 years. They don't hold a candle to the Zulu. I don't get why anybody would still be buying these things.

So far my brain says Zulu but I'm looking for somebody to talk me out of it!
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well maybe the reason Bose is STILL the # 1 most liked headset is because its the best headset out? I have over 1500 hours using the Bose headsets, as well as a few hundred with the Zulus, and a few hundred with the david clarks. Bose is by far the best headset in my opionion. in fact most the pilots at our charter company is fighting over the Bose. we got one guy who likes the Zulu because of the bluetooth, and hes always on the phone with someone. listen to music with both headsets and you will see Bose instantly outperforms. the Bose has really good bass, whereas the Zulu's its hard to even tell if the bass is in the song. (coming from a guy with xm radio always playing )
 
Fly_Unity said:
well maybe the reason Bose is STILL the # 1 most liked headset is because its the best headset out? I have over 1500 hours using the Bose headsets, as well as a few hundred with the Zulus, and a few hundred with the david clarks. Bose is by far the best headset in my opionion. in fact most the pilots at our charter company is fighting over the Bose. we got one guy who likes the Zulu because of the bluetooth, and hes always on the phone with someone. listen to music with both headsets and you will see Bose instantly outperforms. the Bose has really good bass, whereas the Zulu's its hard to even tell if the bass is in the song. (coming from a guy with xm radio always playing )
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By who? I'm sure they work great in jets, but what about GA?

Enough about the Bose, I want something else.
 
They work great in GA airplanes. That being said, they are not for everbody. They really do have excellent anr, battery life, sound etc. The level of service you get with them is second to none.

At the price point of the Zulus you can get the David clarks, or Bose. Stay away from dc anr, the Zulus are nice and have better passive, but I still felt the Bose anr was better. I know some guys with Zulus in the q400 have had issues with the airplanes anr messing with the Zulu anr when their batteries were low.

Not sure if they still do it, but Bose had a 12 payment no interest plan where they auto debit your cc/debit card. They also had a cfi discount. It would be a shame to discount a phenominal headset because of the name brand. Their audio equipment may not be to par, but the headset is currently the reference to which all others are measured. They also had a 30 day no risk trial period, and you can find them almost new on flea bay for 650.
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
They work great in GA airplanes. That being said, they are not for everbody. They really do have excellent anr, battery life, sound etc. The level of service you get with them is second to none.

At the price point of the Zulus you can get the David clarks, or Bose. Stay away from dc anr, the Zulus are nice and have better passive, but I still felt the Bose anr was better. I know some guys with Zulus in the q400 have had issues with the airplanes anr messing with the Zulu anr when their batteries were low.

Not sure if they still do it, but Bose had a 12 payment no interest plan where they auto debit your cc/debit card. They also had a cfi discount. It would be a shame to discount a phenominal headset because of the name brand. Their audio equipment may not be to par, but the headset is currently the reference to which all others are measured. They also had a 30 day no risk trial period, and you can find them almost new on flea bay for 650.
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Exactly.
 
Codyjp said:
By who? I'm sure they work great in jets, but what about GA?

Enough about the Bose, I want something else.
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They actually don't work all that well in a jet. They are great at canceling out low freq. noises. But don't do all that much for high freq noises (after all, it's the low freq. noises that do the most damage).
 
Codyjp said:
Hummm... I guess I've never had the need to do that. I usually get a release window before I start burning gas. I Socal it can be 5 minutes or 50. Who knows. Seriously not an issue in my neighborhood.
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I was thinking the same thing. Get the release window, and get down to the runway, ready, set GO!
 
TUCKnTRUCK said:
Then get the Zulus, I'm sure you will be happy with them as well.

Kinda curious, but why not the Bose?
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Simple really, but I don't want this to turn into an argument about the Bose.

No music.

No cell interface (again, I don't care about this, but you'd expect that from the most expensive headset on the market by about 18%)

Terrible passive cancellation; nearly useless without batteries.

Terrible active cancellation (for me, I couldn't even use them for an entire flight, all I could hear was the compression stroke and the tires humming.) However, I think I'm probably unique when it comes to this issue.

Way way way way way way over priced for something 9 years old.

Unreliable. I've seen my co workers send more back than keep them. One of my buddies went through 3 of them before one worked. Reportedly terrible customer service.

Did I mention No music input.
 
jhugz said:
A wise man once told me if you know your answer to your question, then why ask it?
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Again Zulus seem logical but I'm hoping somebody on here has experience with any of the German headsets.

I thought I made it reasonable clear in my first post that I wasn't interested in the Bose for the stated reasons. Some people seem to insist though on pushing the issue.

If nobody has experience with anything other that the Z or the X's then I'll either A, play it safe and go with the Z's or get sporty and sink a bunch of coin into the unknown.
 
I've not seen Zulus stand up well. The 2 local pilot shops refuse to sell them anymore, with some of their students waiting months for repairs. That was early run though, so I don't know if they corrected the issues with cold solders in the cups.

Side note, it's actually very, very easy to run music in the Bose. You just have to do a little bit of work. All required connections are on the cup where you don't have the mic attached.

I would be very supprised to see people upset with the aviation division customer service.

Back to point, if your goal is a carrier, many are starting to require tso'd headsets. I don't know if either of the others are, and I would look into that before dumping cash into a headset. If you do go for The beyer's let us know how they are.


I apologize if it seems like I am pushing the Bose, but I've been using mine since 01, in everything from a 152,172,182,206,210,208,be1900,q400. Etc and they have been rock solid for me. Battery life has been great and I've only had them cut off maybe 2x cause I pushed the battery well beyond warning stage.
 
Everyone I know that has had a Zulu has had to send it in for service. Take that for what it's worth.

I think any of the better companies offer excellent warranty service. I actually got my HMEC460 for free when I sent in my HMEC400 under warranty, and was told that the 400 was no longer supported, and they just gave me a 460.

If you are a music guy, I would absolutely pick the Sennheiser, or give the Beyerdynamic a try.
 
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