Clarity Aloft headset has a lightweight headband with Comply foam eartips.

by Lionel Lavenue

As an alternative to noggin-crushing conventional headsets, so-called in-the-ear designs offer blessed relief. They’re light, cool in hot weather and the audio performance is excellent. After a so-so market response, interest in these products has picked up since we last reported on them in the February 2003 issue.

Since then, we’ve continued to flight test revisions and improvements of these products, including entries from Quiet Technologies, LightSPEED and a new company called Aloft Technologies. Here’s a brief update on what we’ve learned. …