During my PPL training I got an opportunity to try a couple different headsets owned by the flight school, a Bose A20 and a David Clark set. After I finished my training and started flying on my own I started having problems with my ears ringing so I went to my ENT. Hes a pilot as well, and advised me to go out and get an ANR headset. He said I needed to get this particular set because the ANR was just as good if not better than the Bose, and theres nothing in the more expensive sets that justifies paying upwards of $1,000 or more, and he was right. Ive had this set for 7 years now, bought it used. I did have to replace the microphone, but the fact I could get one straight from Pilot and swap it out in seconds made it no big deal at all. The ANR is better than the A20. The only thing Id change is to put a battery box inline in the cord rather than have to tether the headset to a wall to charge it.

I like the feel and price. I have flown with it, and found it to be effective both active and passive for noise reduction. I do not like the instructions. No where does it say how long to charge the battery, or how long it will last. it would be nice to know that. I would love it if I had a way to use the aircrafts USB power port to charge these, but the charger is a 3.5mm audio plug, that plugs into the external music port (for which they provided a cord). My wife said she could sleep with them...so she approves! LOL Nice case came with them....

Starting with the out of box experience, this is one darn ugly headset, and the POH is rather thin. Getting past the ugly factor, the design philosophy of this headset is to make it field repairable. The cord is detachable and easily replaced, the power switch is a standard plunger on the earcup, the microphone boom has a replaceable cord on the earcup, the charger jack doubles as the boom input and the auxiliary input is also a standard 1/8” jack on the earcup. All of this gives you a handful of jacks and cables on the earcup which looks pretty ugly, but remember, cables are the weak spot on every headset. Even if you take good care of your headset vibration will likely take its toll, so I believe the replaceable cables are a good solution, despite the ug factor. After charging up the headset it was time to give it a test drive. The headset is comfortable, although a little taller. So tall that I was scrapping the headband on the ceiling and had to lower my seat. Even without using ANR the headset is very quiet, and with the ANR running the headset made for a very different flying experience. This is, indeed, one very quiet headset. One reason for the noise reduction is that this headset also limits the frequency response of the microphone, so everyone on the intercom will appreciate hearing less prop wash, but the downside is that voice sounds a little muddier. The music input frequency response is not limited, but keep in mind that this headset is not designed for the recording studio. So it’s ugly, and voice is a little muddy sounding, but the headset is comfortable and very quiet.