My wallet is a lot lighter

Well I finally took the plunge. I purchased a new aviation headset. And thanks to my good fortune in poker last month, I was able to go for the top of the line. Nothing beats a BOSE!

I actually had to call up my credit card company first and get them to raise my limit (I had recently switched my credit card over [to a Starbucks Duetto Visa] and therefore the limit was set quite low to start). So once that was taken care of, it was off to the pilot supply store which is right around the corner from our new hangar facilities here in Calgary.

This headset is freaking unbelievable. There are a couple of different headset choices one has. You can either go with a headset that only offers passive noise reduction (which is what my last headset was). The passive means just that, it takes no extra measures other than the fact that you are wearing a heavy, clamping device on your head to help keep the sounds of the aircraft out. The other option today and which is becoming very popular is Active Noise Reduction. These headsets typically have good passive noise reduction and then have the added bonus of electronics within the headset to further reduce noise by using all sorts of fancy microphones and speakers within the ear cups that work together to emit sound waves to cancel out a lot of the noises of the aircraft. Have I lost you? :)

The difference between my headset and your everyday good Active Noise Reduction headset is that BOSE went to considerable trouble to perfect the technology in such a way that it relies on almost NO passive reduction to achieve the same quietness as it's competitors. So essentially it's just all electronics. This makes the headset very light and with little clamping force on your head (just enough to keep it from falling off). When the electronics are turned on you hear white noise and it's like you're in heaven. I was amazed. Can't wait to try it out in the plane, so far it looks like I'll have to wait nearly a week! Ahh the torture! Haha.

Here are some pics I snapped while opening the sucker up, I felt like a kid on Christmas... a kid missing a very large sum of money from his bank account... :)







The controller that's attached to the wires turns the electronics off and on and has volume controls and a few other gizmos that allow you to tweak the headset to just how you want it.

Here is a link to the BOSE website which I've put on here before, but it goes further into the technology behind the active noise reduction.

Now, back to the poker tables to rejuvenate my bank account! :)