I’ve used a Clarity Aloft in the Pitts for 11 years. It is comfortable and very light-weight. Great for acro. Not very robust though. I am on my 2nd set and it is at the factory to have an earbud replaced. The best feature is no charging/batteries.
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Ten years ago when I bought my DCs the pick was the Bose A20 (not sure if that’s the right name, but the active noise cancelling Bose in any case).
Since then I’ve done a bit on LSAs (RA Aus) as well and the DCs do seem to struggle in that environment (different noise profile and worse amplifiers in the plane) whereas people using the modern Bose headsets seem to have no problems.
To be clear, I’m still using the DCs when I can get it together to fly, but if I had it over again I’d rather have saved more for the Bose…
So expensive though. North of $2,000 AUD. There are options much cheaper that seem to have solid ratings, like Stealth FAH200H and Rugged Air RA200 that are like one-tenth the price.
Wondering should I go budget initially (and use as a passenger headset) and buy the expensive gear later (after going solo I can expect many months before fully PPL’d)?
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It’s your choice, but I chose to go a secondhand older high-quality headset (the David Clark) which I’m still using to this day, that’s actually going on fifteen years now!
Look on ebay or Facebook. Millions of sets of bose and davids, people buy them brand new, have one lesson and then flog them for half price.
Iitespeeds are another excellent choice
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Thanks! Hadn’t even thought of secondhand!
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Sydney - doing my PPL at Bankstown
I have no dog in this noise-canceling hunt. Better to listen to the pros here. But I will say that the pair of David Clark H10-40s that I bought 40 years ago this February are still going strong. The pots don’t even crackle in the slightest. They aren’t the most comfortable, stylish, or technically advanced, but you sure as hell can’t kill these some beaches with normal use. There is no doubt that they will outlive me.
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Totally agree. I have H10-40’s with a Headset Inc. ANR mod that I carried out in 2000.
They served me so well for approx 2000 hrs in a C206 over 3 years. Quality of life through and through
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Yes! DC H10 (I forgot that was even the model 
) fan here too.
I keep thinking “I need to replace those gel pads before they burst”… probably been saying that for five years now
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I got in a hot King Air once in 100F+, put on my (the company) headset and felt the gel pad rupture and gloop all down my face and shirt. 
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I may be on the track of some secondhand DC H10-30s thanks to this forum. Will update next week.
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