In-ear headsets

[Wings]

A year or so ago I bought audio headphones from Sony (Fontopia) that
impressed me greatly with their small size and audio quality.
Furthermore, they block out most external sound.

So I got to thinking about whether something like this would be a good
alternative to heavy and uncomfortable headsets for flying.

Lo and behold, there are now a few headsets out on the market that are
variations on this theme - extremely light, in-ear. Supposedly as good of
noise reduction, passively, as many ANR headsets.

Yet I can't find any actual reviews of these headsets anywhere.

So for a recent long x-country, I decided to make something of my own,
since I didn't want to spend $500 or so on an unknown headset.

I used an impedance adjusting transformer and a couple of plugs/jacks to
adapt the earphone to a standard stereo audio jack. I then plugged in my
in-ear audio headphones. A short flight with them (using the hand mike)
seemed to indicate that this might be viable.

I then tried to figure out how to get a mike attached so that I could use
the earphones without a hand mike. Although I'm not completely happy with
my solution, I bought a PC headset mike unit and cut off the existing
mike; attached an aircraft mike to the end and wired it up. So I wear the
headset with the one-side earpiece *over* the in-ear earbuds.

I just flew >30 hours with this setup. Findings:

- Overall, much more comfortable than my Telex Echeleon ANR headset
- I can now wear a hat when I fly
- Ear buds sometimes tend to want to fall out. I sometimes had to push
them in a bit more to re-seal for sound blocking. I might need to go from
the medium to the large seals.
- Noise reduction probably slightly less than the Telex, but not bad
- Too many cords with the PC headset, the adaptor, and the earbuds. Need
to tie-wrap.

Overall, this was a good experiment and I really liked the in-ear
approach. Before I spring for $1000 for a Bose, I'd really like to know
how the ~$500 in-ear units work. Anybody have any experiences with one of
these?

Tim

[Ron Garret]

In article >,
Wings > wrote:

> Overall, this was a good experiment and I really liked the in-ear
> approach. Before I spring for $1000 for a Bose, I'd really like to know
> how the ~$500 in-ear units work. Anybody have any experiences with one of
> these?

I have both a Bose X and a Clarity Aloft in-ear headset. I like them
both about the same. They both block out about the same amount of
noise. The CA is slightly less comfortable (I wear glasses, and having
both the glasses and the CA frame hanging off my ears tends to make them
ache after a while) and slightly more annoying to put on (because you
have to wad up the little earpieces and wait for them to expand). But
on the other hand, the CA set costs half what the Bose set costs.

If you take price into account the CA's kick the Bose's butt. The Bose
is pretty nice, but it's nowhere near 2x as nice as the CA's. On the
other hand, the CA's are nowhere near 2.5x as nice as the $200 non-ANR
Peltor headset that I used for ten years before getting the other two.
If money is no object, sure, get the CA's. But IMO the non-ANR Peltors
are hands-down the best value in aviation headsets.

rg

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, Ron Garret > said:
>both the glasses and the CA frame hanging off my ears tends to make them
>ache after a while) and slightly more annoying to put on (because you
>have to wad up the little earpieces and wait for them to expand). But

How often do you have to replace the earpieces? And how much do they
cost?

I had some soft-foam insert iPod earbuds, and the foam only lasted about a
month before it would stop expanding. That's something that scares me
about the in-ear headphones.


--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that
gives everything its value." - Thomas Paine.

[ET]

Ron Garret > wrote in
:

> In article >,
> Wings > wrote:
>
>> Overall, this was a good experiment and I really liked the in-ear
>> approach. Before I spring for $1000 for a Bose, I'd really like to
>> know how the ~$500 in-ear units work. Anybody have any experiences
>> with one of these?
>
> I have both a Bose X and a Clarity Aloft in-ear headset. I like them
> both about the same. They both block out about the same amount of
> noise. The CA is slightly less comfortable (I wear glasses, and
> having both the glasses and the CA frame hanging off my ears tends to
> make them ache after a while) and slightly more annoying to put on
> (because you have to wad up the little earpieces and wait for them to
> expand). But on the other hand, the CA set costs half what the Bose
> set costs.
>
> If you take price into account the CA's kick the Bose's butt. The
> Bose is pretty nice, but it's nowhere near 2x as nice as the CA's. On
> the other hand, the CA's are nowhere near 2.5x as nice as the $200
> non-ANR Peltor headset that I used for ten years before getting the
> other two. If money is no object, sure, get the CA's. But IMO the
> non-ANR Peltors are hands-down the best value in aviation headsets.
>
> rg

Get the "HALO" from http://www.quiettechnologies.com/ $340 bucks & the
best one out there. Tried it at Osh last year, my dad bought one & has
flown about 60 hours with it so far. I'm thinking REAL serious about
putting my 30 3g's on ebay and getting one... VERY comfortable, quieter
than my lightspeeds, no sweaty ears, etc.

--
-- ET >:-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams

[Sylvain]

ET wrote:

> Get the "HALO" from http://www.quiettechnologies.com/ $340 bucks & the
> best one out there.

thanks for the pointer; how confortable are these things when wearing
glasses?

--Sylvain

[rps]

ET wrote:
> Get the "HALO" from http://www.quiettechnologies.com/ $340 bucks & the
> best one out there. Tried it at Osh last year, my dad bought one & has
> flown about 60 hours with it so far. I'm thinking REAL serious about
> putting my 30 3g's on ebay and getting one... VERY comfortable, quieter
> than my lightspeeds, no sweaty ears, etc.

Having recently acquired a 30-3G, I'm disappointed to hear that there's
something lighter, more comfortable, quieter and cheaper. In fact, I
find it difficult to believe that a non-ANR set that looks as light
flimsy as the HALO appears on the web site can do a better job. Is
there a study (by the manufacturer or anyone else) to substantiate your
claim? I'd probably be willing to put up with some additional noise
for the additional comfort, but there's no comparison in terms of noise
between my 30-3G and my prior non-ANR Peltor.

[ET]

"rps" > wrote in news:1151085977.784241.5860
@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com:

> ET wrote:
>> Get the "HALO" from http://www.quiettechnologies.com/ $340 bucks & the
>> best one out there. Tried it at Osh last year, my dad bought one & has
>> flown about 60 hours with it so far. I'm thinking REAL serious about
>> putting my 30 3g's on ebay and getting one... VERY comfortable, quieter
>> than my lightspeeds, no sweaty ears, etc.
>
> Having recently acquired a 30-3G, I'm disappointed to hear that there's
> something lighter, more comfortable, quieter and cheaper. In fact, I
> find it difficult to believe that a non-ANR set that looks as light
> flimsy as the HALO appears on the web site can do a better job. Is
> there a study (by the manufacturer or anyone else) to substantiate your
> claim? I'd probably be willing to put up with some additional noise
> for the additional comfort, but there's no comparison in terms of noise
> between my 30-3G and my prior non-ANR Peltor.
>
>
Well, the guy is an audiologyst, and has some data.. wouldnt call it a
"study" though... He has a 30 day guarantee (as does clarity aloft, not
sure about the lightspeed in ear units) & he's at Oshkosh, and was just at
the SWRFI at Hondo with demo units.

Just go up in your plane once with some decent quality foam ear plugs once
(about $3.00 at wal-mart in the tool or gun section, squeeze the foam
really small, then stick it in your ear as far as you can and let it slowly
expand) and tell me how quiet it is...

it's the same thing, except with hearing aid quality tiny little speakers.
--
-- ET >:-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams

[ET]

Sylvain > wrote in
t:

> ET wrote:
>
>> Get the "HALO" from http://www.quiettechnologies.com/ $340 bucks & the
>> best one out there.
>
> thanks for the pointer; how confortable are these things when wearing
> glasses?
>
> --Sylvain
>

That one of the reasons to get them <grin> my lightspeeds go nuts with the
gap created by my sunglasses.



--
-- ET >:-)

"A common mistake people make when trying to design something
completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete
fools."---- Douglas Adams

[B-Rad]

I'm in the military and we have CEP's which are basically the same
"earplugs" as the Clarity Aloft headsets, which plugs into the back of my
HGU-56 helmet. I have flown over 1000 hours with this set-up so it doesn't
bother me at all. I bought a Clarity Aloft, since I was already familiar
with how it worked, and I was sure of the comfort. I have flown my 172 with
them for around 25 hours now, and I love them. I have not had any issues
wearing sunglasses or a hat with them, and they are extremely light. The
earplugs, if fitted properly (which means basically selecting the right size
from the dozen or so sets they provide) will last a pretty long time if you
take care of them. You can even put them through the washing machine if you
leave them in your pocket. Just let them dry out before you use them. Yeah,
I know...I did it! I just picked up a Bose headset which I can't wait to try
out to compare the 2, but I still can't imagine flying with some huge thing
on the top of my head again...