Headset

saria19

saria19

Well-Known Member
I'm in the market for a new headset and I'm trying to decide between a Bose and Lightspeed. Both have their merits and I was wondering if people with first hand experience with both pieces of equipment would give their thoughts on which is better. I'm not concerned about price right now, just investing in quality.
 
If you ever plan to go to an airline that requires TSO certification on headset then you will run into a problem with the Zulus. That is my only problem with light speed.
 
Not sure of your application but I just bought the Bose/UflyMike combo. Personally I can't tell the difference between it and the Bose A20s and I sure liked the price. Seems really high quality to me. If you need it TSO'd now you can do that, if not you can get it done later if necessary as well. I fly ATRs and it does a very good job cancelling out a good portion of the noise as well as having decent passive protection. As a side note, I used to have Telex 850s which use ship power for ANR and this worked very well for me in jets that weren't particularly loud in the cockpit anyways. That was my favorite headset I've used but it wasn't approved at my current airline.
 
I have Lightspeed Sierras and would recommend spending more for Bose or maybe the Zulus. Sound quality (especially hearing yourself talking) is not impressive, nor is the ANR. If I'd known about the Bose 12month/0% interest I would have bought those in the first place.

Wanna buy some used Sierras in great shape? :p
 
KKochan said:
I have Lightspeed Sierras and would recommend spending more for Bose or maybe the Zulus. Sound quality (especially hearing yourself talking) is not impressive, nor is the ANR. If I'd known about the Bose 12month/0% interest I would have bought those in the first place.

Wanna buy some used Sierras in great shape? :p
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How do they compare to non-ANR David Clarks? Because that's what I'm using now. It's going to be a long time before I can afford a $1000 headset, 0% payment plan or not.
 
I have found the zulus to fit my head better than the bose. There are some airlines that dont require TSO either. If you run into that issue and you have lightspeeds you can sell them for a pretty penny and go after one of those new David Clarks
 
thevideographer said:
How do they compare to non-ANR David Clarks? Because that's what I'm using now. It's going to be a long time before I can afford a $1000 headset, 0% payment plan or not.
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So the headset I had before the Sierras was a DC 13.4X (ANR). Audio quality was much more crisp and clear. The mic activated with ease when you talked into it, but was not sensitive to going off all the time when vent air etc was blown on it. The ANR on them made funky noises sometimes though, looking back that was maybe an issue with that set, not all of them.

And agreed, any ANR is going to have am advantage over passive. Especially in small, loud aircraft. I don't know that the Bose are the best, but obviously a ton of people love them and the financing program is attractive. I've almost thought about looking into the Clarity Aloft type sets.
 
I've heard good things about the Bose QC15 with the uflymike adapter. In fact, I had a student who used one and he had nothing but good things to say. Well...except for one thing. During one hot day this summer, we decided to take the doors off (Remos GX:D) and I guess they were intermittent at best, so if open cockpits are something you frequently do, they may not be ideal.
 
A150K said:
I've heard good things about the Bose QC15 with the uflymike adapter. In fact, I had a student who used one and he had nothing but good things to say. Well...except for one thing. During one hot day this summer, we decided to take the doors off (Remos GX:D) and I guess they were intermittent at best, so if open cockpits are something you frequently do, they may not be ideal.
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I'm using a TSO'd setup of this QC-15 rig in a closed but very noisy (-145) cockpit and it's great. And it only needs one AAA battery in the ear muff, as opposed to a couple of AAs in the cord, etc...
 
Used my Bose A20 in the E145, was very, very quiet. Worked flawlessly with the intercom and radios, even forgot to turn on the ANR for about 1/4 of the flight.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
Or put another way, "What is your hearing worth?"

I bought an ANR headset on the first day of my flight training, and at the time I anticipated not flying for a living. So yeah.
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Ditto. I've used ANR since my first hour in an airplane. You're doing yourself a disservice without it. $800-$1000 is expensive, but it's a very small investment in your long term health. A Bose or lightspeed will EASILY last 5+ years. These are quality products. Divide that by several hundred hours per year, and you'll see that you're getting hearing protection, and comfort for a few cents an hour.
 
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