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from sitting for so long — depend- ing on my head position — I would experience a noticeable decrease in the ANR functionality and different sound intrusions.
This ANR experience became very distracting during my last flight with the Delta Zulu in our Turbo 206. Somehow the flight deck noise and how the ANR reacted to it produced loud wah-wah-wahs in my ears. Combined with my already sensitive eardrums due to the drum
quality of the audio recordings was very impressive and true-to-source and seemed better than what we cap- tured with our inline headphone jacks.
Controls for recording, waveform monitoring, and the app’s propensity to continue recording even when the headset is powered off were frustrat- ing. Thankfully, the app doesn’t re- quire FAA oversight, so their bug fixes and update timing should be faster than a UAC plug conversion. And I have heard of an upcoming drawing pad feature I’m itching to use.
But How Do They Feel?
Ah, the fit! I feel for any product manufacturer attempting to make a one-size-suits-all headset. Pilots’ heads, jowls, mustachioed parts, and ear bits are all shaped differently. The Delta Zulu felt good on me and my slightly smaller head and narrow- er skull. The clamping force was simi- lar to Bose A20s but more than the new A30s. I’m not a fan of the head- band spring providing the clamping force. We own an old Lightspeed Zulu 2, and that headband has given up the ghost and won’t clamp securely. Com- pare that with the spring-controlled clamp of the A20/A30s. The Bose products don’t change in clamping force over many years.
The boom mic is fixed to one side (the left) and isn’t swappable like Bose’s headsets. The boom is also shorter. The mic picks up audio well, given that it’s not centered in front
of my mouth, but I prefer the Bose boom length.
The ear cups feel fine, but the drum-like design was a big issue for me. Both Rich and I noticed that any tap or strong cord tug produced an irritating vibration on our eardrums.
It’s hard to describe in words, but imagine putting a cup over your ear and tap- ping the bottom of it. Your eardrum will receive those vibrations. Maybe we’re su- per sensitive with our hearing (don’t confirm that with our wives), but I did the same taps and cord taps/tugs with my A20, and the effect was not as irritating or painful as in the Delta Zulu.
ANR and Sidetone
The critical component justifying the high cost of any aviation headset these days is ANR/ANC and Blue- tooth functionality. The latter was excellent. Bluetooth powers on im- mediately when you turn on the unit, pairing was smooth, and the audio quality was excellent.
However, the ANR was not an en- joyable experience. What I found for myself (note: my head and experience may differ from yours) was a var- ied noise reduction experience. As I moved my head to look for traffic, talk to others, or adjusted my aching body
effect, I removed the headset for the remainder of the flight and put on my trusted A20s.
Lightspeed’s customer support replied that it may have been an ear cup fit issue, but I tried the same movements with the A20 headset, and while variations were pres- ent, they were not as distracting or irritating as they were with the Delta Zulu.
Lastly, the sidetone (the way you hear yourself while talking into the mic) had a slight yet perceptible delay and a distorted sound to it that both
June 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 7