With the exception of GPS, hardly any segment of the GA gadget and accessories market lacks for competition. Thats especially true of headsets, where there are dozens of models to pick from in both active and passive noise reduction designs. There are so many, in fact, that its impractical to test them all. So for this article, we picked seven popular passive headsets and wrung them out, both in the audio laboratory and in an impartial, focus-group aircraft test. Interestingly, our lab findings and inflight results diverged dramatically on some of the headsets. It turns out that just because a headset has good lab numbers doesnt mean its a go-to model in the airplane. Comfort and perceived audio quality can and should rule the decision. As we did for our extensive ANR headset tests reported in the May 2007 issue, we subjected each headset to a battery of sophisticated audio testing. We were able to use the engineering facilities of Plantronics, Inc., a worldwide leader in telecommunications headsets. To design and perform these tests, we worked with senior product engineer Nirmala Ganapathy, technical associates Dan Sellings and Robert Cuneo and senior technician Tom Trumbell. We were assured impartiality by our own participation in the testing. Plus, although Plantronics does make aviation headsets, they don’t make any of the type tested here. Gulf Coast Avionics (http://www.gulfcoastavionics.com/) loaned us one each of the headsets and, at our request, participated in the focus-group testing. Prices given here are GCAs discounted prices, which are similar to other mail order houses.
How We Tested
Each headset was tested across a range of qualities summarized on page 16. For the earphone tests, each ear was tested separately and the results were averaged