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Budget ANR Headsets

You don't have to spend a grand for active noise cancelling. For under $500, our top picks are LightSPEED and Headsets, Inc.

Aviation Consumer Staff
Verified
by Coy JacobHas it really been more than a decade since active noise canceling headsets first hit the market? Longer, actually. We were first wowed by the Bose Series I ANR headset in 1989. Since then, the market for ANR headsets has practically exploded, with more players and more models than ever.

Although Bose shocked the aviation world with a $1000 price tag for a headset, the market has since become much more price stratified. Where it took a grand to play ANR a decade ago, you can now buy a decent-actually impressive-noise canceling headset for a third of that. In this article, we’ll report on our flight trials with what can best be described as five budget ANR headsets. In a subsequent report, we’ll examine mid- and higher-priced ANRs.

Aviation Consumer Staff