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Lots of talk around here for the last couple of weeks about ANR headsets.
I'm a long way from needing any for my project, but thought that while I
was at S'n'F I'd spend an afternoon comparing and testing some of the
available fare to see what I'll have to look forward to when the time to
purchase some finally arrives, and then toss in my 2c here for those of you
who haven't taken the plunge or done the testing on your own.
I probably should have kept some notes about my thoughts, but decided to
let each product speak for itself and see what my overall impressions were
when all was said and done. Frankly, I thought that all of the ANR
headsets worked really well in the display environment, I even asked to
hear some music at each place to compare sound qualities, and they were all
very good. I was somewhat surprised, however, to find that the Lightspeeds
lacked somewhat in their passive noise reduction when compared to most of
the other headsets, although their ANR was about as good or better than
most. At least until I came across the EM-1 headset from Headsets, Inc.,
based in Amarillo, TX. This is the outfit that makes the kits to retro-fit
ANR to David Clarks, and after reading some negative comments about that
here on the list I was expecting to be completely disappointed. That just
was not the case. Their display included a pair of Lightspeed 20's, a Bose
top-o'-the-line unit, one of the new Telex digitals, a pair of converted
DC's, and theirs, and you could jump back and forth between them to compare
different aspects of performance.
I thought that musically (for those of you who care) the Bose were by far
the best headset on the shelf... really crisp highs, excellent midrange,
and the bass was substantial but not gut wrenching (thankfully). The EM-1
came next, only because their bass was a bit thinner than the Bose, then it
was kind of a tossup between the others (although the DC modified headsets
sounded just about identical to theirs, as I expected.) I really expected
the Telex digitals to shine musically but they just didn't, they were
actually kind of tinny, with a thin midrange, but I think that kind of
sound shaping is probably a good thing for understanding speech, and that's
really what all these things are designed for.
For passive NR I thought the Bose and the EM-1 were very similar, and found
most of the other headsets to be a bit noisier. For ANR I thought the Bose
was the best, followed by the EM-1, then the Telex, and then the
Lightspeeds. I would have liked to subject all of them to the DAT-recorded
cockpit sounds offered by the Lightspeed display, unfortunately that wasn't
an option. It would have been interesting, I'm sure.
When I was in the anechoic "egg" at the Lightspeed booth I kept having mike
problems with the pair they had me wearing... there was something about the
way the mike was coexisting with the intercom they had them plugged into
that just didn't want to cooperate with the vox circuit. A different
headset solved the problem, although by that time I was giving the vox a
pre-speech puff to insure that it would switch on. Probably not the
headsets, rather the PS intercom that was a bit flakey.
Anyway, given the relative prices of each of the headsets involved, I
became even more enamored of the Headsets, Inc product, as it tipped the
cost scales at just a bit over $300. As you all know, the Bose are $900+,
the Telex about $675, and the Lightspeeds about $450. The EM-1's look like
a dark green version of the DCs, with a wool soft-top instead of the usual
vinyl/padded headband found on most of the more techy-looking products.
For those of you considering ANR, you might want to look into this product
before plunking down your bux on a better known name... the EM-1's appear
to be an excellent value which perform admirably in a head-to-head
comparison. Frankly, I was pretty amazed at the results.
<Marv>
LML website: http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html
Builders' Bookstore: http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair
Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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