http://www.lightspeedaviation.com/conte ... mPages/Mac
h-1-Custom-Ear-Mold.htm
Here is lightspeed's "in the ear" headset's sound reduction. I'm not
familiar with the Bose.
One advantage of the over the ear headsets is you can buy a basic one and
(as long as it can output enough sound when the radio is receiving) place a
foam plug into the ear under the headset to get the needed sound reduction
if needed. I did that for years with my passive only LightSpeed and it
worked fine. Not the clarity and quality of the more advanced headsets, but
not awful, either.
For in-the-ear headsets Aviation Consumer recommends the Halo:
Quiet Tech Halo
Quiet Technologies has been at the ITE headset game for a while with several
product variants. Their Halo is the current offering and is the lowest price
of any of the ITE options at $349. Replacement eartips are $1.50 a pair. We
also found it to be the most comfortable with three options for wearing:
over the head like a headband, behind the head and over the ears (like
glasses worn backwards) and loosely resting on the shoulders behind the
neck.
Headband and behind the head were equally comfortable and worked well with
glasses and hats. The metal band is wrapped in a soft plastic sleeve. The
band can be shaped to fit the head better and offers a tighter or looser
fit. It was easy to get enough pressure to keep the boom mic in place but
keep it light enough to forget we were wearing it. The over-the-shoulder
orientation would be fine for a passenger who was just listening, but the
mic doesn't move with the head, so it's not for someone regularly talking.
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The Halo had excellent clarity of sound, especially for voice. ATC
transmissions sounded more like live speech than radio when tried
side-by-side with other ITEs in the same aircraft. We kept turning the
volume down as the foam further expanded and sealed. Music, while still
quite pleasant, seemed a bit clipped at the high and bass ends of the
spectrum unless we adjusted the input to boost those. Music is only through
the intercom as the Halo has no integral music input.
The sound tubes on the Halo are long and easy to get caught under the
headband or snag on a seatbelt. We learned to insert the eartips such that
the tubes curled and lay close to the head to prevent this. Phil McCandless
of Quiet Tech says these tubes can be shortened an inch with minimal audio
effect (in fact, it boosts the treble a bit).
The Halo was the most critical ITE in getting the earseal complete. Having a
tube pulled out of even one ear made the radio unintelligible. Attaching
fresh eartips is also a more delicate maneuver with the Halo than the
competition. While not fragile, it's clear a Halo wouldn't hold up to the
abuse you could level on something like a David Clark. That said, Quiet Tech
is a small company with excellent support and the Halo has a two-year
warranty.
Lightspeed Mach 1
The Mach 1 is the most feature-rich offering, with a jack for music or cell
phone connectivity (no Bluetooth, sorry), auto muting of music and intercom
isolation. Isolation is for a passenger using the Mach 1 who doesn't his
phone call shared with the entire cabin. The Mach 1 also has no headband. It
fits over the left ear
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like a cell phone headset. That alone is a big selling point for some.
Unlike the Halo or Clarity Aloft, which use tubes to carry the sound partway
to the ear, the Mach 1 has speakers directly at the eartips. This gave the
Mach 1 excellent sound overall and the best sound for music. It also had the
best sounding mic-as good as any headset we've tried, in fact. The volume
controller is about the size of a deck of cards and has a jack for
connecting a music player or a cell phone (cables included), but these
functions (and only these functions) require an internal battery. Lightspeed
says the round CR2032 battery lasts 100 hours.
Lightspeed touts their no-roll foam that makes donning the headset simpler.
While true, we felt this was a distinction without a difference once we got
the knack of the other headsets. What we didn't like about the Mach 1 was
that it was hard to get the earpiece to stay put on some heads. It would
move just enough to put the mic too far away to pick up speech. Working with
an instrument student with a head swiveling between aircraft traffic and
watching their scan was the worst. No amount of repositioning the earpiece
or the clip to hold the wire running to the controller would fix the
problem.
For pilots who don't have this problem, the Mach 1 is probably the best ITE
not requiring custom earmolds (see sidebar). But for those who do, the Mach
1 is a non-starter. The problem might be fixed by ordering custom ear molds,
but that adds about $300 ($100 for the trip to the audiologist and $200 for
the installation from Lightspeed.) for the to the Mach 1's $450 price.
Replacement foam eartips
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Lightspeed's Mach 1 fits over the ear on the left and is just a wire to an
earplug/speaker on the right. Some testers found the mic boom would swing
away from the mouth with too much head motion. The controller is the big,
but its aux jack accepts both music and cell inputs.
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are $15 for six.
Clarity Aloft
There are two versions of the Clarity Aloft ITE. We tried their $525
standard version, which differs only from the Pro version in the material
for the headband, the fact that the Pro is TSO'd and that the Pro costs
$695. But if your cockpit requires a TSO'd headset, the Pro is your only
choice. Eartips for either are $25 for a pack of 12.
The Clarity Aloft headband is worn behind the head and over the ears only.
You can bend the frame as needed to better fit your head, and there is an
optional adjustment band that can put some clamping pressure on the band if
you want it, or it can be slid forward to better grip the back of a smaller
head. The eartips screw on to short tubes that don't snag or tangle easily.
Overall the unit feels robust. Clarity Aloft must agree as they have a
three-year warranty.
There is a music input on the volume controller, but it doesn't auto mute.
Instead, it's set so music input is always at a fraction of the radio
intercom volume. This worked OK in practice, but it limits the
volume-setting flexibility. Sound quality was good, but we think the Halo
has clearer voice and the Mach 1 richer music.
Some testers reported the over-the-ear portion of the Clarity Aloft was
uncomfortable or "heavy-feeling." One had to remove it after two hours as it
was too uncomfortable. We asked Clarity Aloft about this and they agreed
some users experienced this, and a few had fashioned their own sleeves for
the headband to
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fix it. Jo Abbott of Clarity Aloft pointed out their 30-day money-back
guaranty that allowed people to test this for
Worth a Try
Actually, all three of these manufacturers offer 30-day trials, which is a
real plus as ITEs are a different paradigm and take some getting used to.
(You can keep the used eartips; no charge.) We think the perfect ITE
candidate is someone who flies long legs where clamping pressure is an issue
and ease of donning isn't-and who don't require the all-encompassing quiet
and clarity of a Bose A20 or a Lightspeed Zulu. The ITEs still aren't quite
there, but they offer equal or better noise reduction than the most
mid-level or lower ANR headsets.
A passenger who just doesn't like headsets is another candidate, so long as
they understand how to put the eartips in. Children, who don't fit well in
traditional headsets, are a third. The author's eight- and ten-year-olds
strongly favored the Halo using the included small/pediatric eartips. Too
bad he can't keep the test units.
For sometime passengers or kids, the Halo is squarely our top pick for an
ITE headset. For pilots, or a passenger who must have private music or
phone, we'd lean to the Mach 1-if that person can get a good fit on the left
earpiece. But even as a primary headset for pilots, we still think the Halo
is a great value.
