David Clark DC PRO-X, New Noise-Cancelling Aviation Headset

Yee, they are cheap. And sort of comfy when in an Archer. But in a Metro, my God where was that ANR again?
 
NoJoy said:
ArcherII I thought the headsets weren't going to be released until mid June??? How did you get your hands on one already???
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I don't have them! I was only talking about DCs in general, sorry if I mismanaged the whole thread.... But I wouldn't try them anyways, I'm married to a sexy and delicate A20.
 
I have an old pair of DC h-10-30s. They give me a headache just looking at them. Getting a new Bose after my wedding. Just wondering if they're any deals at Oshkosh or if I'd be better off just buying it now?? Bueller......Bueller?


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Johnny150 said:
So has anyone tried on these new DC's
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Yes. I just bought one. Here's my report:

I had a chance today to fly with my new DCPro X today. The aircraft was a Piper Warrior. Let's just say I'm impressed.

My Telex 50D began failing earlier this year. Interestingly enough, the straw that broke the Camel's back for me was when, trying to get an IFR clearance by phone, I found the phone/audio interface no longer worked. I hadn't used this functionality for more than 5 years but with the move from Colorado to North Carolina, it became important again. I considered having Telex refurb the headset but ultimately decided against it.

The goal today was a simple one. Try out the headset - fit, comfort, noise attenuation, Bluetooth smartphone connectivity (both for calls and music). Compare it to the Telex (which I brought with me), especially with regard to the active noise attenuation.

For those who are familiar with the heavy clamping pressure of David Clark headsets (the reason, despite their reputation, I never flew with one), this, as the saying goes, not your father's Oldsmobile. The headset weighs in at less than 8 ounces and there's no clamping pressure to speak of.

Passive noise attenuation is, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. That was expected since many of the higher end ANR headsets have poor passive noise reduction. On top of that, the DCPro has a "supra-aural" design; it sits on top of the ears rather than cover them. In fact, there's a "passive" version of the DCPro which David Clark specifically warns was made for the commercial/transport jet market and "is not recommended for fixed wing, piston engine aircraft. To balance that, David Clark claims the battery life for the DCPro is up to 50 hours. I'm planning on letting the batteries run down completely the first time to get a sense of how long it continues to work after the switch starts flashing red and a low battery warning.

Active noise reduction ("Electronic Noise Cancellation" - ENC for David Clark) is frankly amazing for a headset this lightweight. The Telex D50 is probably the quietest headset on the market, claiming a 50 dB active noise reduction. Plus the Telex has excellent passive reduction. Nevertheless, switching back and forth between the two headsets, I could barely tell the difference between them with the ANR switched on.

Music and audio. Playing music through the Bluetooth connection to my Android smartphone was crisp and clear. As advertised, audio was muted whenever the COMM was receiving. As far as I could tell, the muting of the audio was immediate, with no cut-off the the earliest part of the transmission. OTOH, when the frequency quieted down, the audio slowly came back. AOPA did a good video review of the DCPro. One of the few knocks was the slow return of audio, especially when using the smartphone as telephone. That's not something I checked for. I don't anticipate using the phone except on the ground so, for me it was a simple matter of using the aircraft audio panel to switch the headset COMM feed off when I made a call. The test call was to my wife while taxiing at the end of the flight. Like the audio, loud and clear and crisp on both ends of the conversation.

One more. One feature of my Telex that never worked was the automatic shut off, so I was curious what the DCPro would do. So after shutdown, I left it on and connected as I pushed the Warrior into its space and cleaned up the cockpit. When I went to get the headset, it was indeed off.

I like it. :)
 
I bought the DC Pro X as well. So far, I have only done done jet flying with them. The ENC does a good job of canceling out the loudish wind noise produced when flying around 300 knots indicated. I am looking forward to flying them in a GA environment soon, but due to pet requiring thousands of dollars in vet bills last week, my GA flying is on hold.

None the less, the ProX is comfortable, and incoming and outgoing communications are clear. My old headset is/was a DC H10-13X...basically David Clamps with ENC. They started to have problems with a loose wire at the mic, so I decided it was time to have a primary as well as a back up headset. I will need to send the old DCs back to the company for repairs.

My main complaint is that the Pro X does not have a clip on the battery pack like the H10-13X does. So the battery pack just flops around on the floor. I think the cord length on the Pro X works well, though; my old DCs had what I always referred to as "ten miles of cord" and the cord was always in a big jumbled knot. The more compact size of the Pro X is nice, too, especially for the working pilot, where free luggage space is a premium.

The price was also attractive, coming in at something like 350/400 dollars less than the Bose A-20s. Also, David Clark treated me well back when I had sent in my old H10-13Xs for repairs before, so I appreciate their customer support.
 
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I'm glad David Clark priced a quality headset with Blue Tooth at a rate that is challenging the market. I picked up a Pilot USA 1779 last winter and I'm totally sold on ANR now (previously I considered it mostly a marketing gimmick). The 1779's are very comfortable and a great value but having BT would be nice. I've used the wired cell phone connector several times and it works but isn't great. Adding the BluLink module to the 1779's would make the price about the same as the DC's.
 
block30 said:
I bought the DC Pro X as well. So far, I have only done done jet flying with them. The ENC does a good job of canceling out the loudish wind noise produced when flying around 300 knots indicated. I am looking forward to flying them in a GA environment soon, but due to pet requiring thousands of dollars in vet bills last week, my GA flying is on hold.

None the less, the ProX is comfortable, and incoming and outgoing communications are clear. My old headset is/was a DC H10-13X...basically David Clamps with ENC. They started to have problems with a loose wire at the mic, so I decided it was time to have a primary as well as a back up headset. I will need to send the old DCs back to the company for repairs.

My main complaint is that the Pro X does not have a clip on the battery pack like the H10-13X does. So the battery pack just flops around on the floor. I think the cord length on the Pro X works well, though; my old DCs had what I always referred to as "ten miles of cord" and the cord was always in a big jumbled knot. The more compact size of the Pro X is nice, too, especially for the working pilot, where free luggage space is a premium.

The price was also attractive, coming in at something like 350/400 dollars less than the Bose A-20s. Also, David Clark treated me well back when I had sent in my old H10-13Xs for repairs before, so I appreciate their customer support.
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What aircraft?
 
mojo6911 said:
I hate on the ear headphones.
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I tried to get DC to send a unit for review on my podcast and never heard anything back. This would be my biggest complaint too. Our company keeps these insanely cheap and crappy Telex over the ear headsets in our aircraft and I hate anything on my ear. I actually like the look of the Pro-X, although I find the signature green, and DC in general to be last century. I think it is crazy when I see anyone in a jet, or modern equipment wearing a DC headset. That being said I would love to try this headset out as I fly a bunch of different stuff. I can already tell it will be horrible for acro, in fact I wouldn't even bring it in the Pitts.
 
I just bought a pair, boarding a CR-200, I do a lot of positioning flights in the back of the bus. Will let you know what I think. I've had the telex 850 for years but it just isn't enough, I fly a C-750 and EMB-505 so I think these are going to be just what the doctor ordered.
 
They are great so far, no head clamping at all. Very light. Bluetooth and audio clarity is amazing. I am coming from a telex 850, which works well, but just doesn't help enough with noise.
 
I've used my 850's in the Citation and Dash 8 with very little issue, except on really long stages where sunglasses and the on ear style began to hurt my ears. But after 7 hours, I doubt anything could be totally comfortable.

But the 850's cannot compare with my Lightspeed Zulu's which I bought for instructing. When I bought the Zulu, Lightspeed was offering a trade up program and I had a pair of 20-3g's that I enjoyed, but had been refurbished once or twice.( Lightspeed's Made in China quality wasn't so good in the early days) So I traded up and never looked back. The only reason I won't use the Zulu's in a crew cockpit is the battery and they don't fit as nicely as the 850's into the kit bag.

What I don't get is the folks that refuse to use anything and/or refuse ANR. At my old 135, there was a guy who'd be flying the Citation for 20+ years with only a single-ear 750. Couldn't hear sheet inside or outside of the cockpit. With my ANR 850's, I could hear the radio coming from his headset.

Midlife brings up an important point for those who might be new to the ANR/ENC game. Most ANR/ENC headsets are just awful with passive noise cancelling and overall performance when the battery dies.
 
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