New headset offering from DC

I'm a weirdo. I'll probably order these.

My old DC 10-13s still get the nod from time to time over my Lightspeed Sierras, and those were a serious mistake. I told the Lightspeed rep so at OSH too. They were broken literally right out of the box, and the top logo plate pops off all the time. The mic windscreen also is built to fall off. Nice folks, they have a good repair system, but I don't want to send anything for repairs, ever. Two pair of 10-13s have never been to DC, and the pair I have away nor the one I kept probably ever will.

Sure, should'a bought the Zulu perhaps. But their earcup a don't play nice with my ears and glasses bows anyway, I've noticed. I get a raw spot where the glasses rub near my temples.

I also truly hate the recordings of my audio from LiveATC with the Sierra's mic also. It sounds like crap over the air. Even on the intercom it's not a good quality mic. I have no indication the Zulu uses a different mic. Granted, most folks don't care about this at all, as long as others understand them. I play with much higher quality mics and I know what my voice should sound like. I also know it is a challenge to get my particular voice audio right in a noisy environment. The DC 10-13 mic sounds like a company that has at least one old analog audio engineer on staff somewhere who knows how to get lows out of a small microphone. And cancel wind noise. I can open the window in cruise and still not have the blast open the intercom squelch. Not so with the Sierra. The new mic may have followed Lightspeed down the suckage path. No one is ever going to do a review of the mics not graph they're spectral responses, so this one is mostly a "I hope DC continued to do it right" more than an "I know they did".

Considering they still sell more non-Aviation communications headsets than aviation ones, I suspect the chances are good of excellent mic quality.

Now, I know there's people who hate their "headclamps" and love their newer gadgetry. This headset (to me) at least looks like it mixes the desirables I want.

Over the ear for the glasses, ANR (pretty much mandatory for over the ear), and a real headband (granted the Zulu kicks the Sierra's butt in that regard). The cable looks better. The box looks decent too.

If they can take the abuse my 10-13s do, I'm probably sold. And while the Halo and Clarity Aloft style look comfy, I'd shred those little wires in a year.

Looks like they're taking reservations but I haven't seen pricing. Anyone seen that yet? (Disregard: $637 in the web store.)

If they're still made here, that's a nice secondary bonus. Looks like they are from the website.

Only other thing I would be curious about is if they can power the Bluetooth from the AA source. On the Sierra's, it's powered from the mic bias voltage meaning you kill the avionics master or want to make a phone call prior to start-up, you're screwed. I may call them and ask. It's the only question I can't find in their spec sheet, otherwise I'd just hit the order button and wait to give a PIREP.

I have another pet peeve. Why can't any of these companies with left/right volume controls build a way to simply lock them together? I get really annoyed when the mechanical sliders get out of line with each other and left/right aren't balanced. Better yet, let me unbalance them and then lock them and they move in tandem even if not equal. But I'd settle for tandem lock at the same level and either up/down button changes both sides.

Ooh. Found the BT question. The auto-shutoff switch keeps the headset actively on if it's in a Bluetooth call. That bodes well for power source not being the mic bias from the intercom.

I think I'm ordering. I'll sleep on it.
 
@denverpilot:

If you're going to OSH this year the DC PRO-X will be available for demo and sale if you want to check it out in person before you buy.

The mic is tailored for voice communication, meaning 300-4KHz but still has a good response even below 200Hz. Remember too that in some cases your intercom/audio panel/radio may be limiting mic response as well.

Also, the Bluetooth (phone or music) can be used regardless of whether you are connected to an intercom. You'll want to turn off the "Auto shut off" feature otherwise the headset will turn off after 5 min to save the batteries.
 
Silvaire said:
Really? You wouldn't be making that up or exaggerating for effect would you? Eight years with my Bose X and they have been back for repair once when I stepped out of the plane with the chord wrapped around my foot. The repair was free and they even put on new ear cushions for me.
Click to expand...

Nope, no exaggeration. The battery box on his has failed twice that I know of, and one of his connectors was badly attached and came off in flight one day.
His back-up set had a problem with the mic boom.
To their credit, Bose fixed every issue for free, even sending him spare parts to carry with him if it should fail in flight again.
 
radio said:
@denverpilot:

If you're going to OSH this year the DC PRO-X will be available for demo and sale if you want to check it out in person before you buy.

The mic is tailored for voice communication, meaning 300-4KHz but still has a good response even below 200Hz. Remember too that in some cases your intercom/audio panel/radio may be limiting mic response as well.

Also, the Bluetooth (phone or music) can be used regardless of whether you are connected to an intercom. You'll want to turn off the "Auto shut off" feature otherwise the headset will turn off after 5 min to save the batteries.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the confirmation. Ordering.

(In the case of audio response, since the DC 10-13 and Lightspeed Sierra sound different through the same PS Engineering panel, it's the mics...)

No need to wait for OSH since I'm probably not going this year.
 
AOPA Live had a nice review of the new headset. They rave about it except for the laggy bluetooth. Would be good for folks to check it out.

David
 
I'll let y'all know. I'm not a nice person when it comes to electronics reviews. ;) ;) ;)

I always start off *wanting* to like the toys, but I can find amazing ways to break things. :)
 
denverpilot said:
I'll let y'all know. I'm not a nice person when it comes to electronics reviews. ;) ;) ;)

I always start off *wanting* to like the toys, but I can find amazing ways to break things. :)
Click to expand...

Will you be loaning out your "test pair" for others to evaluate? Please put me first on the list. :D

This is strictly for validation of your results of course.

David
 
Went with the lightspeed sierra... Nice getting a $150 trade credit (on a 4 year old $150 headset).

Looks like an improvement and nice that the bluetooth works on the ground with intercom off too.

I wonder if DC would ever try to compete with a trade in program.
 
flhrci said:
Will you be loaning out your "test pair" for others to evaluate? Please put me first on the list. :D

This is strictly for validation of your results of course.
Click to expand...

Heh. If I like it, no. If not... We'll chat. ;)
 
denverpilot said:
I have another pet peeve. Why can't any of these companies with left/right volume controls build a way to simply lock them together? I get really annoyed when the mechanical sliders get out of line with each other and left/right aren't balanced. Better yet, let me unbalance them and then lock them and they move in tandem even if not equal. But I'd settle for tandem lock at the same level and either up/down button changes both sides.
Click to expand...

The volume controls on the PRO-X are digital, that is to say they just push buttons. You could easily press both the left and right volume controls at the same time to get your desired "locked" operation. There are 7 distinct volume steps that are scrolled through via the push button interface.
 
Technologically advanced and intellectually designed AND a Piper Traumahawk as the backdrop? This screams quality.
 

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PA-11 said:
Technologically advanced and intellectually designed AND a Piper Traumahawk as the backdrop? This screams quality.
Click to expand...

Probably the cheapest stock photo they could find that didn't carry a threat of intellectual property rights lawsuits. LOL!
 
Got my DC Pro X's in about an hour ago. Unfortunately, I was at home for lunch and only got to play with them for about 10 minutes. This is my first ANR headset, I only have experience with my current DC's (older model I bought used). There's already goods and bads with this new set and I haven't even gotten in the airplane yet.

1. VERY well made! They feel sturdy and due to their very low weight, I feel like you'd really have to try to damage them. They are very adjustable too. Each earpiece extends outward from the center of the headband to give you plenty of adjustment. Also the ear cups themselves rotate maybe 30 degrees forward and backward to ensure they fit a wide variety of head/ear types.

2. They are extremely light! Sitting on your head, yes it's apparent that you're wearing them, but the weight is really negligible. You won't get fatigued supporting them up there.

3. Clamping force is amazing! When placed on my ears, they don't even squeeze hard enough to mash my ears flat to my head. I'm doubtful there's enough pressure to ensure a good seal...I'll have to make that determination in the aircraft. As of now, I'm highly skeptical. The issue I see (besides making a good seal) (and that I had never considered with a low clamping force) is keeping it on your head. Maybe there's a trick I don't know, but I feel that turbulence, acro, even nodding your head too aggressively, will easily shake them off. This, so far and without experience in the airplane with them, is by far the biggest negative with them.

4. The cord from ear cup to volume/BT control is long (good) but there's no shirt clip to support it (bad). It's long enough to fit in your lap, but if it falls to the floor, the headset is going with it (light clamping force). The length from the control to the plugs appears long enough to not be an issue, but I could see it being a problem and requiring some creative looping/tying in order to secure it if your plugs are a bit farther away than your standard -172 or Cherokee.

5. The carry bag is really nice and sturdy. Due to how the headset folds up, it's also very small.

6. 2 x AA batteries for the control and it works in passive mode (per the literature) if the batteries die. This may be standard in all ANRs as far as I know.

Overall, this is a high-quality headset. It feels (and looks) well-built/sturdy and the leather earcups/headband appear very well constructed. My biggest concern at this point is whether or not they will stay on my head in-flight. Having them fall off my head while flying IFR in the goo would be a huge safety issue in my mind (think vertigo induced by putting your head between your knees while fishing the headset off the floor...obviously worst case, but possible). Granted, I'm a Marine with hair less than a quarter inch in length, so there's not much there for the head band to "bite" and I also never had issues with my older passive DC's regarding clamping force. If they won't fall off and the clamping force is enough to form an adequate seal, I'm certain I'll love them.

I'm sure we'd all appreciate anyone else's perception wrt this headset and I'll be sure to post more after I get to fly with them.
 
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I am still slightly interested in trying this headset in the Lear ONLY for the fact that has a slimmer profile than the A20.
 
Flew with it today. Worked great! I wear a ball cap when I fly, so keeping it on my head was a non-issue. Cord length was fine as well (-172) and the BT/volume controller sat between my legs just fine. Volume was a little low for my liking (I'm losing my hearing after flying jets for the last 10 years), but every time I would crank the volume up on the radio the CFI would turn it back down ( I was getting checked out at a new [to me] FBO). Very nice headset and I look forward to logging a longer flight in a week or two.
 
Ordered it July 3rd from Pilotshop. They initially said they wouldn't be getting their first batch in until 1 Aug, however mine actually shipped on the 23rd. I can't wait to fly with them again! Good news is the BT connected to iTunes works great sitting on the couch. As does the ANR. I can turn a box fan on, then turn on the headset and it filters the fan noise out completely! The first time I did it, I though the fan had actually quit working! Lol

I also ordered the Stratus 2 at the same time. I've had it for several weeks and still haven't had a chance to see what it's capable of (no ADSB on the ground in my area).
 
On a mostly unrelated note, I tried a set of A20s yesterday in the Bose booth. I WAS happy with my DC H10-13X ENC headset, now, not so much LOL. I also wanted to test the new Lightspeed headset but there were a gazillion people in the tent.
 
Can anyone confirm the laggy Bluetooth transmissions when on a cell phone call, as reported in the AOPA video review?
 
fiveoboy01 said:
On a mostly unrelated note, I tried a set of A20s yesterday in the Bose booth. I WAS happy with my DC H10-13X ENC headset, now, not so much LOL. I also wanted to test the new Lightspeed headset but there were a gazillion people in the tent.
Click to expand...

Pretty typical reaction. Using the A20s over any old DC offering (cannot comment on the Pro-X) can be an eye opening experience. I am working on getting the new Lightspeed offering to test and will report back. The Zulu.2 and A20 are almost perfectly matched together, with a few subtle differences.
 
Yeah, if you could give a review on the new PFX in comparison to the A20, that would be pretty cool. I wish I'd have known how much better the Bose offering was(comfort AND noise reduction) over the DC headset I have. It would have made the price difference irrelevant. ANR is obviously not the same between headsets, but the DC unit was about $700, I figured the difference would be negligible. I'm already leaning towards selling my headset(of course, at a loss) to offset the cost of an A20.
 
tptolton said:
Can anyone confirm the laggy Bluetooth transmissions when on a cell phone call, as reported in the AOPA video review?
Click to expand...

The DC PRO-X has been updated since that review. Originally the cell phone audio would mute upon reception from the aircraft intercom. The issue was that your own voice (coming back as sidetone) would cause the phone audio to mute and make it difficult to have a conversation on the cell phone when also connected to the intercom. The headset no longer mutes when on a bluetooth cell phone call. Bluetooth music will still mute however.
 
I remember one of those multiple choice questions on my high school entrance exam back in 1974 when I was in 8th grade:

Headsets are to David Clark as avionics are to:
a. Collins
b. Narco
c. Sperry

And this is different 40 years later how? B)
 
radio said:
The DC PRO-X has been updated since that review. Originally the cell phone audio would mute upon reception from the aircraft intercom. The issue was that your own voice (coming back as sidetone) would cause the phone audio to mute and make it difficult to have a conversation on the cell phone when also connected to the intercom. The headset no longer mutes when on a bluetooth cell phone call. Bluetooth music will still mute however.
Click to expand...

I ended up calling DC before I saw this response and they forwarded me to speak with an engineer, who discussed the same with me. They indeed have made these changes.

It was pretty cool to have a chance to speak directly with an engineer about something like this, as opposed to a customer service agent just answering the question. He took a few more minutes asking me about the kind of flying I do and described what others are experiencing in the cockpit.

He also said that he was at Oshkosh last week and that most of the dealers on site sold all of their inventory. He suggested that I confirm that the dealer I was ordering from still had stock on hand given the amount of demand right now.

I'm looking forward to my new headset arriving on Monday.

Tory
 
tptolton said:
I ended up calling DC before I saw this response and they forwarded me to speak with an engineer, who discussed the same with me. They indeed have made these changes.

It was pretty cool to have a chance to speak directly with an engineer about something like this, as opposed to a customer service agent just answering the question. He took a few more minutes asking me about the kind of flying I do and described what others are experiencing in the cockpit.

He also said that he was at Oshkosh last week and that most of the dealers on site sold all of their inventory. He suggested that I confirm that the dealer I was ordering from still had stock on hand given the amount of demand right now.

I'm looking forward to my new headset arriving on Monday.

Tory
Click to expand...

Would you mind sharing what the engineer had to say? I've only got 1 hour on mine and it was during an a/c checkout so I had very little time to focus on the headset. There's little in the way of reviews and what I have found, opinions are mixed (echoing what you said "depending on what you are flying").
 
Put another hour on my headset today. I was getting checked out in a local 2001 -172SP, so it was hard to fiddle with it and I have no idea what the cockpit noise on the aircraft is really like. However, a couple things I did notice that bothered me a little bit.
1. They allowed a little more noise in than my DC H10-20's. Not so much to be bothersome, but I did notice it.
2. I could hear the instructor over the ICS just fine. However, I could just barely hear local traffic broadcasting. I turned up the volume on the radio twice, but the instructor kept turning it back down. He later told me his cheapo headset adjuster was turned all the way down and I was turning it up too loud for him. Not sure why neither of us thought to turn up the audio on my side of the audio panel. Granted, I am a little hard of hearing...it's a byproduct from flying jets for the last 10 or so years. Eventually i got used to it being so low, but it was bothersome.

I was almost convinced that I should send them back after the flight though. They feel great on my head....clamping force is very low, they are sooo light, and they're very small. Pondering all of this on the way home, it finally dawned on me: I FORGOT TO TURN THE ANR ON!! 1.1 on the Hobbes and I never even thought to turn my friggin headset on, lol. So, I inadvertently tested the passive mode instead. If I had done that intentionally, I would have switched back and forth to see how effective the ANR was and payed better attention overall. Oh well, looks like I'll have to fiddle with them more on the next flight.

Still haven't tried out my stratus 2.
 
Really? You forgot to turn the ANR on and didn't notice?

I tried on these headsets at Oshkosh and I believed that the on-ear design basically offers zero passive noise protection...
 
Too busy to notice and having to turn on my headset is outside of my habit pattern. GPS, Autopilot, plane, area....too much new stuff going on. It definitely cut noise in passive mode, as I had enough sense to try and readjust them to see if it would help at all and when breaking the seal, the engine noise got MUCH louder. Although, I don't think they cut as much as my old over the ear set. I'd have to take both sets and swap in flight to really compare them though. Unfortunately, i don't get to fly as much as I would like.
 
Bump.

Any other pireps on these headsets?
 
ssonixx said:
Bump.

Any other pireps on these headsets?
Click to expand...

I posted this on another forum recently.

I had a chance today to fly with my new DCPro X today. The aircraft was a Piper Warrior. Let's just say I'm impressed.

My Telex 50D began failing earlier this year. Interestingly enough, the straw that broke the Camel's back for me was when, trying to get an IFR clearance by phone, I found the phone/audio interface no longer worked. I hadn't used this functionality for more than 5 years but with the move from Colorado to North Carolina, it became important again. I considered having Telex refurb the headset but ultimately decided against it.

The goal today was a simple one. Try out the headset - fit, comfort, noise attenuation, Bluetooth smartphone connectivity (both for calls and music). Compare it to the Telex (which I brought with me), especially with regard to the active noise attenuation.

For those who are familiar with the heavy clamping pressure of David Clark headsets (the reason, despite their reputation, I never flew with one), this, as the saying goes, not your father's Oldsmobile. The headset weighs in at less than 8 ounces and there's no clamping pressure to speak of.

Passive noise attenuation is, for all intents and purposes, non-existent. That was expected since many of the higher end ANR headsets have poor passive noise reduction. On top of that, the DCPro has a "supra-aural" design; it sits on top of the ears rather than cover them. In fact, there's a "passive" version of the DCPro which David Clark specifically warns was made for the commercial/transport jet market and "is not recommended for fixed wing, piston engine aircraft." To balance that, David Clark claims the battery life for the DCPro is up to 50 hours. I'm planning on letting the batteries run down completely the first time to get a sense of how long it continues to work after the switch starts flashing red and a low battery warning.

Active noise reduction ("Electronic Noise Cancellation" - ENC for David Clark) is frankly amazing for a headset this lightweight. The Telex D50 is probably the quietest headset on the market, claiming a 50 dB active noise reduction. Plus the Telex has excellent passive reduction. Nevertheless, switching back and forth between the two headsets, I could barely tell the difference between them with the ANR switched on. A difference was there but it was inconsequential to me.

Music and audio. Playing music through the Bluetooth connection to my Android smartphone was crisp and clear. As advertised, audio was muted whenever the COMM was receiving. As far as I could tell, the muting of the audio was immediate, with no cut-off the the earliest part of the transmission. OTOH, when the frequency quieted down, the audio slowly came back. AOPA did a good video review of the DCPro. One of the few knocks was the slow return of audio, especially when using the smartphone as telephone. That's not something I checked for. I don't anticipate using the phone except on the ground so, for me it was a simple matter of using the aircraft audio panel to switch the headset COMM feed off when I made a call. The test call was to my wife while taxiing at the end of the flight. Like the audio, loud and clear and crisp on both ends of the conversation.

One more. One feature of my Telex that never worked was the automatic shut off, so I was curious what the DCPro would do. So after shutdown, I left it on and connected as I pushed the Warrior into its space and cleaned up the cockpit. When I went to get the headset, it was indeed off.

I like it. :)
 
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Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off the automatic music muting function?

I tried on a pair of these today, very comfortable and impressive build quality
 
Groundpounder said:
Does anyone know if there is a way to turn off the automatic music muting function?

I tried on a pair of these today, very comfortable and impressive build quality
Click to expand...

The latest revision of product leaving David Clark has this functionality. You can now briefly press the Bluetooth button to toggle the mute/unmute function while listening to music. Note that during a phone call the audio will always go to an unmuted state automatically and will return to the previously set state after you hang up.

If you need this functionality on a headset you currently own, you can send your headset in for an upgrade. If you are looking to get a new headset with this feature your best bet at this time would be to order directly from David Clark and make sure you get in touch with someone in customer service to verify the version of your headset.
 
Propaganda said:
The latest revision of product leaving David Clark has this functionality. You can now briefly press the Bluetooth button to toggle the mute/unmute function while listening to music. Note that during a phone call the audio will always go to an unmuted state automatically and will return to the previously set state after you hang up.

If you need this functionality on a headset you currently own, you can send your headset in for an upgrade. If you are looking to get a new headset with this feature your best bet at this time would be to order directly from David Clark and make sure you get in touch with someone in customer service to verify the version of your headset.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info
 
I purchased the DC-X Pro, and so far, I am very impressed. This is not your father's David Clark headset, to steal a phrase. It is very light, well made, and the noise reduction works very well in the noisy Hawker 700 cockpit that I fly in. The bluetooth works well, pairs quickly with my Android phone and tablet.
 
Groundpounder said:
Thanks for the info
Click to expand...
I contacted David Clark to ask about this and whether whether there were any other updates since my purchase.

The rep indicated that this was the only one and they would do the update free.

I decided not to at this point; the ability to avoid muting music isn't a big enough deal for me to pay for the shipping. But I did make the suggestion that, if this is merely a software/firmware update, it wold be nice if we could do it ourselves.
 
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