ANR headsets with small earcups

rangerz

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rangerz
Any advice for a quality ANR headset with smaller ear cups? My wife is only 5' 1" and often has to revert to youth size stuff. She just went for her first PA-24-250 ride and main complaint was the headset was much too big on her ears. I'd still like decent passive attenuation since it's somewhat loud behind the O-540 no matter what but the more ANR the better.

Thanks!
 
UFQ, saw some one using them the other day. These use inserts.

Used to have them. Incredibly quiet but they didn’t fit my ears. Something about the shape of the earpieces.

For @rangerz, any good in-ear, even without ANR will match the quiet of an over the ear with ANR. @Martin Pauly can tell you about how quiet the Axis is. Clarity Aloft is very popular in this genre, and there are a few other good ones. The catch is whether your wife likes the feel. if she doesn’t like earbuds, she is not likely to like any of these (and liking earbuds is no guarantee; the good aviation ones generally use eartips that are more deeply Inserted deeper into the ear canal, like the ones used for hearing tests.
 
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I find that the Bose A20/ A30 have smaller cups that DC One-X’s and the Lightspeed Delta Zulu larger than either. This may give you some idea on relative sizes. You can find some pretty good prices on used A20’s since the A30 has hit the market.
 
My wife may reach 5’ on the tiptoes and Zulu 2s work fine for her. She used DCs and Sennheisers prior to these. Daughter never had any trouble with adult headsets as she grew up. I’ve never heard anyone complain about ear cups being too big.
 
Thanks for all the ideas. Good reason to make a trip to Sun & Fun with her so she can try in person.
 
I am personally a big fan of the in-ear headsets (I use the CQ1 from Card Machine Works Headsets from Card Machine Works). I was an old-school David Clark kind of guy, but purchased a CQ1 for my wife so her hair didn't get messed up. I now have one for myself. They offer different tip sizes so anyone should be able to get a good fit...

Having said that, for a smaller ANR set, I would consider "home" ANR headsets like the Bose A20 with the UFlyMike microphone adapter. I have these in the back of the plane for occasional passengers
 
Some people have recommended I get Lightspeed Sierras for my kids. Maybe that could work.
 
I am personally a big fan of the in-ear headsets (I use the CQ1 from Card Machine Works Headsets from Card Machine Works). I was an old-school David Clark kind of guy, but purchased a CQ1 for my wife so her hair didn't get messed up. I now have one for myself. They offer different tip sizes so anyone should be able to get a good fit...

Having said that, for a smaller ANR set, I would consider "home" ANR headsets like the Bose A20 with the UFlyMike microphone adapter. I have these in the back of the plane for occasional passengers

I agree. I have the in-ear CQ1 with custom molded ear pieces and they are my favorite. I prefer them even over my Bose A20. Some additional benefit is hair and hats and glasses or sunglasses aren't any problem.
I have a comfortable Sony noise cancelling headset and I have thought about the UFlyMike adapter for passengers.
 
I used the David Clark DC Pro X for awhile and it has the smaller over the ear cup and is ANR. Not as much noise reduction as the large cups of something like the Lightspeed that I've been using since, but still comfortable. I know its not as advanced as the newer ANRs available, but its less expensive and might be an option.
 
Put a big headset cushion under the top of the headband. they are avaiable from multiple vendors.
I also do have a pair of Telex ANR 500 over the ear cup headsets- which she never uses.
....Works for my 4'11" spouse....
 
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