David Clark H20-10XL or the H10-13XL?

[DAS at 10/250]

Crizz,

That is interesting. I have not experienced your problems in several different DC ANC headsets. By your profile I assume you are instructing and will further assume you have experienced the same problem in different A/C. Have you tried checking the Mic/Phone plugs in the A/C? A lot of times in trainers they will work loose and need to be tightened on the back side. A loose connector will sometimes cause what you are describing. Other than that you may just have a bad set.

 

[squale]

are the H20-10XL and the H10-13XL headsets the same exact weight?

what weight is considered "heavy" and what is considered "light" ?

 

[Airpiraterob]

well the H10-13.4's are light....

i'm trying to find an ANR for high freq's instead of low freq noise. everything out there is for the props. but what about the high wind noise jets? the 145 generates its own white noise at 320kts. and its a bit loud. nothing compared to props but its still loud.

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

David Clarks have a (well deserved) reputation for being heavier than other headsets. They use alot of metal and heavier materials in their over other brands (thus the durability). Some people feel that they are annoying after a long flight (3+ hrs).

 

[Airpiraterob]

thaqt is true and why i use the telex 100. it may not be the lightest and the mic may be horribly loud but after 3 hours, i'm not hurting. it dosent squeeze. and its comfortable to wear and does a good job cancelling the noise. folds up nice and for $140, you cant beat it. on its 2nd year and hitting about 1000+ hours now on it with no problems.

still looking for that better headset that does what i want it to do.

 

[puddlejumper]

Headsets

I loved my DC 10-13xl. The quality is excellent and I didn't notice a difference in comfort over the non-ANR 10-13.4s. With the noise canceling, however, I always felt better after a long day of flying. It definitely cut out the low frequency droning noise that would always give me a headache after a few hours. I truly believe ANR reduces fatigue considerably.

10-13xl complaints: After about 4 or 5 hours, I found myself adjusting and re-adjusting the fit, because my head would start getting sore. (Probably could be remedied with one of those snazzy sheepskin headpads) The battery pack in the 13xl was bulky and heavy. That thing would use 6 AA batteries and my old model didn't have auto-shutoff. I would get about 75 hours out of them if I remembered to turn it off. Passive noise canceling was good.

I wound up going for the Bose X just recently. They are so light, I can wear them all day and never even think about them. The new battery pack is pretty slick. It uses 2 AA, lasts about 40 hrs and has auto-shutoff. The passive noise reduction, however, sucks. With the ANR off, I think it's noisier than with no headset at all.

In the older Cheyenne I fly, I pick up occasional popping and clicking with the Bose. Other aircraft, there is no background noise at all. The David Clarks had no noise in the Cheyenne until the batteries started to die. I couldn't even hear the ignitors going off with the DCs. It's very loud with the Bose. I think the DCs are less suseptible to static. Again, the Bose only act up in this old plane.

I've never had any experience with the 20-10s. I'm 6'4" though, so I wouldn't be able to deal with the height of them. I would think the higher CG would add to neck pain over the long run too.

Definitely go for ANR, if you can afford it. I got mine new in the box from a guy in Florida off the AOPA classifeds. Wound up being $290 back in '96 after I finangled a rebate out of DC. I sent them in in 2000 for some ANR clicky issues, they sent me a new pair with new batteries and everything, no questions asked!

-pj