David Clark H10-13.4 ANR

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Revtach

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Revtach
Hello,

I would like to improve upon my headset. I've been using a DC H10-13.4 for about 10 years. It works perfectly fine but I am flying regularly now and needing something a little better than passive noise reduction.

I can buy an ANR conversion kit sold by Active Headsets Inc for $250.

Or, I can sell my headset and buy a used H10-13X, which is the same headset just with an ANR kit installed from the factory.

The pricing for either option is almost a wash. Wanted to ask if anyone has tried both and if one option is better than the other.

Thanks.
 
i used a 10-60 with the headsets inc conversion for years, worked great. it got stolen and i replaced it with a 13x which i love.
 
Revtach said:
Hello,

I would like to improve upon my headset. I've been using a DC H10-13.4 for about 10 years. It works perfectly fine but I am flying regularly now and needing something a little better than passive noise reduction.

I can buy an ANR conversion kit sold by Active Headsets Inc for $250.

Or, I can sell my headset and buy a used H10-13X, which is the same headset just with an ANR kit installed from the factory.

The pricing for either option is almost a wash. Wanted to ask if anyone has tried both and if one option is better than the other.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Sell your 13.4 for $200, add in the $250 you would have spent on the conversion and buy a used Lightspeed Sierra. Or factor in the time and effort needed for the conversion and buy a used DC One X or Lightspeed Zulu 3.

Of course, some of this depends on what airplanes you are flying.
 
unsafervguy said:
i used a 10-60 with the headsets inc conversion for years, worked great. it got stolen and i replaced it with a 13x which i love.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear that.

Any differences between the two?
 
asicer said:
Sell your 13.4 for $200, add in the $250 you would have spent on the conversion and buy a used Lightspeed Sierra. Or factor in the time and effort needed for the conversion and buy a used DC One X or Lightspeed Zulu 3.

Of course, some of this depends on what airplanes you are flying.
Click to expand...
Good points. The appeal of the 13X is that if the batteries die you still have 23 DB of passive noise reduction. I looked up the Sierra's and couldn't find any specs on PNR.

Not the most important thing obviously, you can carry extra batteries, but the redundancy is nice.
 
i have the conversion kit in my Dave Clark and it has been constantly problematic. Sent it to headsets twice for repair, it still doesn't work right.
 
My first ANR was a H10-30 with a conversion kit; it was hardly any better than one with out a conversion. Now I fly with a Lightspeed. Do your ears a favor and get a good ANR.
 
I've owned a David Clark H 10, and I now own a LightSpeed (Zulu). The LightSpeed has so much better hearing protection and audio performance that it makes flying significantly more enjoyable. Try on a pair of LightSpeeds, Bose, or DC One X, see which one fits better, and then buy it.
 
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I started with a H10-13X. Nice headset, but the 9Vs were a pain, rechargeable 9Vs even more so, so I got a used Bose X.

The Bose X was a nice headset too. It annoyed me that I had to eat a $200 refurb fee to replace a broken plastic part (now, replacement 3d printed parts are available), so I moved up to a used Zulu 2.

The Zulu 2 was even nicer, as it had adjustable mic gain. I had it upgraded to a Zulu 3, and picked up another set of Zulu 3's for my son.
 
Revtach said:
Sorry to hear that.

Any differences between the two?
Click to expand...
in the audio, not really. the battery case from dave clark is a nicer unit and you can get the panel power mount for the 13x now. battery life is about the same.
 
I have the Active Headsets conversion for a very old set of DC’s. It works great, I have a few years and 60-ish hours on them.

I also upgraded the headset ear gaskets to gel, got a new mic, and added a foam pad to the top of the head set.

Maybe there are more efficient options, but I’ve been happy with my setup.
 
I've been using the Active Headsets conversion kit in a David Clark for a couple years. Switched to the gel ear pads at that time. Pluses: lower cost than the 'big name' head sets. Not hard to install (if you're handy with a soldering iron & wires). Good clarity of sound, excellent noise reduction (makes hearing ATC much easier). Minuses: Seems heavy - had to get a better pad for the top of the headset. The separate battery box 'in the pocket' seemed like a nuisance, so I 'macgyverized' a battery holder & switch onto the headband (further increasing the weight). On longer flights - (2+ hours) I have had issues with the ear seal (maybe when sweaty?) - that seemed to lead to a high-pitched squealing feedback. Re-adjusting the headset would stop the feedback, but any mouth movement seemed to start the squeal back up. An e-mail to Active Headsets r/e the problem has not (so far) raised any response.
 
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