I had been flying a Telex Stratus passive headset for about 18 years, top of the line at the time. I had an old DC for pax. It was well past time to get a new set this year. The Aviation Consumer tests of the new ones this year are all pretty good reviews. I flew the latest Zulu 2 for a while in the Tcraft, but not the new PFX Light Speeds and tried the new Bose, LS-PFX and AKG V100’s at Oshkosh this year.
I bought a pair of AKG’s and will give them my highest recommendation, they are excellent! Overall comfort and better fit around ears than others, audio is as Av Consumer reports, better than the others. And I think better ANR than the LightSpeeds and very good battery life with auto shut off. The AKG techs say they have an analog only ANR vs. the digital conversion the Bose and LS have. It seems smoother and bit faster.
In a noisy Tcraft cabin they are incredibly quiet vs. the Telex and better than the Zulu 2’s and work well with a Sigtronics intercom. They are unaffected when you pop open the side window in cruise. They all cost about the same (painful) but what’s your hearing worth? Great comfort and very pleasing intercom use which makes for better flying. The OSK show deal was $200 off for two plus a nice JBL speaker.
Bluetooth and phone connectivity is great and the map light feature is useful. Also comes with both power cord styles which the others don’t have, really nice when in different airplanes. A pair weights about the same as the Telex. The mic cover is an actual cap that can be snapped off and cleaned. I also agree with Av Consumer you do have to get the proper thickness on the head band pad. So far very durable, you can twist them around in a fashion I would hesitate to do with Bose or LS with very small/light headset cases. My wife is also very happy, the upgrade over the David Clark is like being in a different galaxy. Clamping force vs. all of them is lower because of the better over ear fit.
I bought a pair of AKG’s and will give them my highest recommendation, they are excellent! Overall comfort and better fit around ears than others, audio is as Av Consumer reports, better than the others. And I think better ANR than the LightSpeeds and very good battery life with auto shut off. The AKG techs say they have an analog only ANR vs. the digital conversion the Bose and LS have. It seems smoother and bit faster.
In a noisy Tcraft cabin they are incredibly quiet vs. the Telex and better than the Zulu 2’s and work well with a Sigtronics intercom. They are unaffected when you pop open the side window in cruise. They all cost about the same (painful) but what’s your hearing worth? Great comfort and very pleasing intercom use which makes for better flying. The OSK show deal was $200 off for two plus a nice JBL speaker.
Bluetooth and phone connectivity is great and the map light feature is useful. Also comes with both power cord styles which the others don’t have, really nice when in different airplanes. A pair weights about the same as the Telex. The mic cover is an actual cap that can be snapped off and cleaned. I also agree with Av Consumer you do have to get the proper thickness on the head band pad. So far very durable, you can twist them around in a fashion I would hesitate to do with Bose or LS with very small/light headset cases. My wife is also very happy, the upgrade over the David Clark is like being in a different galaxy. Clamping force vs. all of them is lower because of the better over ear fit.
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