Headset Competition S1 VS Zulu PFX VS AV100 VS A20

[Dasein]

Hi~ I am a student pilot who is planning to stay in aviation industry in the future.
My instructor told me it is always good to own a private headset for better hearing protection, hearing quality and effective communication.
I have gone though lots of online materials, and I have decided to buy one approximately $1000 headset for better protection, because no one has second chance in hearing loss.
Although I am not 100% sure, it seems that S1, Zulu PFX, AV 100 and bose A20 are the best in the market (Over-ear imply better PNR, ANR, DNR.....). I would like to ask for some 1st hand experience, so that I can see if they are as good as they said.
PS: I personally love S1, this graph looks great to me!

[MIQ]

Good on you for deciding to get a proper headset. Not a lot of students understand the necessity of spending $1000 on a headset. But it really makes sense. I personally have owned a Bose A20 for 2 years now and never looked back. One of the best aviation related investments that I've done in the recent past. I've also worn Zulus and the Zulu PFX before. The PFX is certainly also a great headset however I personally found myself preferring the A20. The only drawback of the A20 is that music streaming does not work via bluetooth, you'll have to use the provided AUX cable for that.
Unfortunately I've never tried the S1 so I can't say anything about it. But from my own experience, you can't go wrong with the Bose. You should see if you get the opportunity to try them before you buy (maybe from another instructor or student at the school). At the end of the day you need to be comfortable with them. I've worn the Bose as much as 10 hours on one day and didn't have any issues in terms of discomfort.

[Chris M]

I love my A20 as well. As a note, if you wear glasses, either prescription or sunglasses, try to find a set that fits your head as snugly as possible. Anything that breaks the seal between the earcup and your head has a pretty dramatic effect on the ANR.

[Jungle Jim]

I have the SI digital and it is great! The only issue I have is that for me, in my Thorp T18, the cord is a bit long. The bluetooth works well, it is very comfortable and performs as advertised.

Jim

[Cap'n Tripps]

If you could get ahold of a Zulu 2, I would recommend that. While the PFX is a great headset, so is the Zulu 2. It's a bit less expensive by a couple of hundread bucks, has almost the same performance, and most of the same features. The control box is about half the size and takes half the number of batteries. Also, the batteries seem to last at least twice as long. I upgraded from a 2 and would go back in a heartbeat.

[tired of the ground]

I agree that protecting your hearing is super important. I however disagree with spending $1000 on a headset for your training.

Training aircraft just aren't that loud. Get a DC 13.4 and do your training. Once you know what it's like to be in an airplane (and the features that will matter to you), and are flying something loud, then go looking for a long term headset.

When was the last time you had a beat to hell piece of consumer electronics that lasted forever? When your headset breaks, and it will, your trusty passive set comes out of the closet while your nice headset goes in for repair.

Give it a year or two and then fill your boots.

[LLB]

Hi Dasein,
I own a S1 and I do love the headset for its comfort and sound quality. The bluetooth works well for listening to music and phone calls. The battery life isn't great, far below what you can expect from the A20, but I have overcome this by using rechargeable batteries (not an option with the A20) and I use a good charger that allows me to completely discharge the batteries before recharging (very important!)
This said, I wouldn't buy the headset again. I have owned the headset for 1.5 years and I have had to send it back for warranty repair twice. It has been the same problem both times, the cable breaks internally. The warranty on this headset is two years and so based on that I will probably have to replace it soon. I hear from other pilots that sennheiser repairs are costly. I'll buy a new headset with a fresh warranty.
I borrowed an A20 the last time I sent my S1 for repairs and liked it. The ANR is slightly better than the S1. I found that electrical noises from the flight deck were picked up by the headset and that was annoying. Battery life is amazing. Warranty is longer than S1 I think (look it up for yourself) and it is TSO'd which the S1 is not (could matter somewhere).
One more little gripe with the S1. They advertise this amazing feature where you press this little button on the side of the LH earcup and the headset adjust the ANR to provide optimal noise cancellation. The problem is that it should do this automatically and at a time when I should be focusing on the task at hand, like a departure, I'm distracted by this silly button. Pressing it does improve the ANR considerably although sometimes I have to press it two or three times before it gets it right.
I hope this helps, I did my research too and thought I was buying the best headset. I have been disappointed mostly by the reliability issues, so for the price get the one with the best warranty.
All the best with your flight training
LLB

[Tailwind W10]

Last time I was at Oshkosh (2012) I tried on all the top end brands. Bottom line you'll be pleased with each one, not a bad performer in the bunch. I ruled out the Senheiser as the sales guy speaking with me was a complete asshole. I eventually went with the Beyerdynamic HS 800 because they were the most comfortable and wrapped around my eyeglass arms really well. As it turns out the software in these don't cope well with the loud cockpit of the Citabria I rent. My buddy with the same set finds they work well in his Grumman Traveler.

I've since got a set of Bose A20 and like others I'm tremendously pleased with them. BTW Bose now have a bluetooth model and a retrofit option for existing sets.

Gerry

[5x5]

I personally couldn't disagree more with the idea of renting/buying a passive headset for your training and then getting a good headset later. And it has nothing to do with hearing protection. It's all about the much better reception clarity of the ANR headset. As a student, one of the struggles is managing radio communication and it's so much easier when you hear everything clearly.

Back in the day, the DC 13.4 was pretty much the best there was. And it certainly was tough and provided fairly good performance. But I could not believe the increased clarity for incoming communication provided by ANR - in my case the Zulu.

In the training environment you will almost never miss calls or have to ask for repeated calls because you couldn't make out what was said. (It may not help your understanding, but it will hugely improve the clarity of reception.) And that is much more important now than when you get to be more experienced.

And there's nothing about headsets you'll understand better two years from now than you do already. They aren't complicated devices. All they have to do is fit your head and be comfortable. And if you can, borrow a set from others at your school and give them a try to help you decide which one you like more. Likely other students there will have different ones so you can compare them in use.

[7ECA]

If you are serious about not only completing your training, but going forward from there, then you should invest in a really good headset - and not just an ASA unit.

But, if you are unsure it might be a better idea to find a cheaper alternative and use that until you are ready to go "all in".

As for suggestions on which of the high end units is the best, that is up to you to decide. Personally I looked at the numbers and they are all more or less identical performance wise, so I tried them all on (back when Aviation World YVR actually had any stock - so that was a while ago), and picked the one that that the most comfortable. For me that was the Zulu.2, and it performs quite well for all flying that I do, from the Wilga on floats, to a Citabria, to Senecas, etc.

[ahramin]

Telex Stratus 50D. Best headset out there for loud planes.

http://www.telex.com/us/aviation/produc ... gital/1080

[Rowdy]

They are all extremely close in performance.. I found the biggest issue for me was my giant head, to which the bose squishes and the light speed is perfect for. Have to store all that hot air somewhere Pick the one that best fits your dome..

[dazednconfused]

Has anyone used the new Flightcom Denali D90 ANR? I have the original model that came out about 14 years ago... and I love it. Still use it without a problem. Passive noise reduction is excellent (as good as the Telex 50D imo), along with the light weight and comfort.

[MUSKEG]

Huh. What's was that you said? Speak up please. Ah never mind. Wish I had gone noise cancelling way early but there were seemingly far more important things to buy. Like diapers and such. Using A20 now. Best money I ever spent.

[Cessna 180]

I own the Zulu PFX. Extremely satisfied. Batteries last about 8 hrs which is the only downside, but for the noise reduction they provide, it's worth it.

[upintheair_]

Although I can't compare, I'm very happy with my Zulu 2s which I've owned since my PPL level. The ability to call and listen to music is awesome. They are super comfy, and great on battery life. I get upwards of 25 hours on one set of two AAs.

PFX on the other hand, owners are reporting 8-10 hours on four AAs. While it may have superior ANR, the Zulu 2s are still the winner in my book if you are going to use them for commercial flying.

[ogc]

I use an S1, I got it on sale over a year ago. Ive had no issues with reliability and it works well i probably have over 1000 hrs on it now.

The only issue as another said is battery life isnt as great as the bose or lightspeed. I also bought some rechargeable batteries though and ive had no problems at all.

[Meatservo]

My $400 H10-30 has served me well since I bought it in 1995. I bought it because the carbon mic was recommended for open-cockpit flying, which sounded romantic to me even though I was flying a 185.

[TG]

Lightspeed Zulu for the past few years.
No issues, just had to change ear's cups once.

--->Batteries will last 20 to 30hrs if you switch its Bluetooth off. Otherwise they are short lived.

[C-GKNT]

An ANR headset is certainly more expensive but protecting your hearing is worth it. Being able to hear ATC and your instructors well makes for better flights.

If you are on a budget, and even if you aren't, I recommend these...

https://www.quiettechnologies.com/

Less expensive and more comfortable (my opinion) than an ANR headset but good protection as well. The downside, no fancy Bluetooth interface.

I will add that you really need to try headsets out in what you fly. The Halo's are GREAT in my Mooney and once I got them, I rarely wore anything else. However, I don't like them in my Aerostar (with the props just behind my head), I prefer an ANR headset. The frequencies of the noise is just...different.

Glenn

[Broken Slinky]

I have a set of Bose A20 and X and a pair of AKG AV100s. I wear glasses and contacts with sunglasses from time to time. Between the AV100s and A20s, I noticed the AV100s allowed the most "noise" in, especially more treble. The more bassy sounds are filtered out. The A20s seem to be the opposite allowing more of the bass sounds in. The fit around the ears was better with the AV100s with sunglasses or glasses. They are a bit more fussy to get properly adjusted to my head though. The A20s are slower to connect to bluetooth than the AV100s. The AV100s also have a sexy girl talking to you when the battery gets low or you're connecting to bluetooth. She keeps me company and I like that so I just keep popping the batteries in and out. The LED lights on the AV100s are nice if you forget a light but I find that I'd prefer if it was a red light instead of the bluish/white colour. Also with smartphone apps, I'm never really without a decent light so...
Just bought the new patch cable for bluetooth music for the A20s so I'll report back once I have a chance to test it. See if there's any improvements there.
All in all, I'd say I prefer the A20s over the AV100s whereas my wife is the opposite. If you're on a budget, you can get lots of Xs for under $500 and the parts are cheap too. Mics with cables for the Xs are well under $100 and replacement foam ears are less than $25.

[looproll]

Telex got it right with the 50D. I've used it in many loud turbine and piston aircraft. It has been exceptional. I tried a Lightspeed Zulu in my Pitts, and it couldn't keep up with the noise.

[looproll]

Telex Stratus 50D

[LLB]

I have to make a correction to my post above.

S1 Digital warranty is 5 years.

[cgzro]

Telex got it right with the 50D. I've used it in many loud turbine and piston aircraft. It has been exceptional. I tried a Lightspeed Zulu in my Pitts, and it couldn't keep up with the noise.

+1

Yup, only headset that I can use in everything. Extremely comfortable even with glasses, passive and active are superb in even the noisiest planes. I now own two sets. First set lasted 12 years before needing a repair.