Bose X Headset Caveats - FYI

[FearlessFreep]

Hail All!

Let us all genuflect to the great god of aviation - avbug! Point of contact for all knowledge in the universe!

Seriously,

There are so many factors involved with all the issues that you mention here. It is a personal thing. In a very basic sense ANR works on the principal of nodes and anti-nodes of intersecting sound waves - by generating sound waves that cancel out the noise frequencies. How effective is this? I have no idea, I am not an engineer that specializes in this area. I do know that it appears to work, and the resultant effect is that most people find a reduction in fatigue from utilizing this technology. There are a number of articles that address this issue and the whole technology. One is even posted on the ALPA site.

Here are a few links to some information:

http://cf.alpa.org/national/departments/eas/comms/hft/anr-reportprject.htm
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rmnelson2/index.html

The best way to save your hearing is to live in an environment where there are no loud sounds, while your at it make it dark and you can save yourself from the wrinkles that we get over time. This is not an option for most unless your highest desire in life is to become a troglodyte.

As far as sitting around on the ramp at KFAT, every time those F-16's fire up I am either jamming earplugs, fingers, or covering my ears with my hands. I find the sound pressure to actually hurt. Your measurement of sound levels there does not seem to be highly scientific. Your placement of the sound meter, isolation from vibration sources, and distance from the source are all contributing factors. I would think that you would have taken this into consideration.

Can we prevent the march down the path of age? Certainly not, but you can take action to hedge the effects to the best of your ability.

For those few extra pounds that creep on over the years - there is a cure, it's called a diet and exercise. Stay away from the Krispie Kremes my friend!

Good Luck To Us All!

 

[Wang Chung]

I've become a Bose X lover, too.

The company I currently fly for (GA aircraft, nothing too noisy) issues Bose X's to all crewmembers. With many thousands of hours of time logged on about 10 pairs of these things (including some LONG demanding days of flying), I think we're pretty pleased with the reliability. Never heard about the earpad thing, either.

Wang

 

[avbug]

Stay away from the Krispie Kremes my friend!

Anyone who has been on this site for long is well aware that I am staunch in the admonition that the Donut That Shall Not Be Named (kk) is the work of the Devil, the Adversary, Satan, the Prince of Darkness, the fallen one, the father of all lies.

Without question, the humble cake donut is the work of God, who delivered it as Manna to the Israelites in the wilderness.

It was a kk donut that Eve in her beguilement gave to Adam, initiating mankind's reach into the world from captivity in the Garden of Eden.

There IS a difference.

Your placement of the sound meter, isolation from vibration sources, and distance from the source are all contributing factors. I would think that you would have taken this into consideration.

I did.

 

[ProLine4]

Had mine now for 7+ months of hard use. No complaints or earpad problems so far. I will probably get the AA battery mod once Bose figures out how to catch up with their production delays. By far the best headset I've used. Lightspeed is plastic crap that's designed for light and occasional use (had 2 pairs with problems) the Telex Stratus is good but huge and relatively heavy, and well, friends don't let friends blindly buy David Clamps. They still offer the payment plan....$150 or so for first payment, then $82 after that. Ah yes, yet another thing in my life to finance 12 months at a time...

 

[FurloughedAgain]

I have a Bose X that i'm using in a Lear 31A cockpit. Aside from the obvious hazard of hitting my head on the side-windscreen with the earcups, I have been having two problems with it.

#1. It is intermittently creating a lot of static through the aircraft intercom. The only way to stop the static is to unplug my mic jack. Obviously thats no good.

#2. If I even so much as TAP that battery pack, the ANR circuitry turns off and will not turn on again unless I remove and reinsert the batteries. (AA)

I called Bose tech support this morning and they told me to send them back. I have a few days off at the end of the week so I'm going to ship it to them on Friday.

I'll let you know what happens.

 

[172driver]

I never had a problem with the Bose ANR kicking off in flight until I used it in the CRJ. My theory is that the cockpit is quiet enough that the ANR goes into auto shut off, as it would on the ground. There are switches inside the battery pack to disable the auto shut off function. No problems at all since.

 

[fokkers&beer]

Another vote for the Bose. Over 3000 hours on mine in over 3 1/2 years. Finally got around to changing the ear seals last fall.

It is an outstanding headset for a turboprop.

 

[Moonfly201]

Bose X. Best headset ever.

I have big ears, and the Clarks used to kill me. Four years and over 1000 hours on the Bose X, and no problems. Mine are hardwired into the panel, so I can't comment on the battery models.

 

[FurloughedAgain]

Got an email from Bose stating that the headsets should be arriving back home today. Total time they were gone has been eight days.

In the email the problem was described to me: "It appears that one of the internal wires had become loose or broken. The only thing I can suggest would be to prevent the down cable from being pulled on either side of the controller, also prevent the cable from crimping."

um...ok, i'll work on that. In the meantime hopefully this repair will have solved all of the problems that had suddenly popped up.

Regardless i'll be happy to put the Bose back on after a week of flying with a set of clamps.

 

[fly4ever]

FurloughedAgain,

I had a similar problem. If I didn't have any ongoing communications for a short period of time the headset would get real quiet and the mic wouldn't open up again without unplugging and re-plugging into the jacks. I had to send it in a few times before their "senior" tech finally decided it was the down cable electronics. I had bought the upgraded cable and installed it Dec. 03. Apparently they had some quality control issues with the new cables. I haven't had the problem since they put a new cable on it last Nov.

The good news it's fixed for now and Bose stood behind their product. I just hope it doesn't show up again.

Fly