Does Bose Make the Best Aviation Headset?

!±8± Does Bose Make the Best Aviation Headset?

Bose has been a strong contender in the aviation headset community ever since the release of the Bose X, or "ten" series headset. Known for their excellent noise cancelling technology and user comfort, they have captured a large share of the aviation headset market. With the release of the new Bose A20 headset with bluetooth, could Bose be the best in the industry?

Before the series X headset, Bose started out with the Series 1 back in 1989. Unique to the headset were see-through ear-cups, making the noise cancelling circuitry visible. Some may have thought this was weird or tacky, but it made ANC, or Active Noise Cancelling distinctly visible to other pilots. This made it somewhat of a marketing technique to help propel the ANC headset industry. Also unique to the Series 1 were the comfort gel ear-seals which provided added noise attenuation over the common foam materials. In 1996 Bose release the Series 2 headset, similar to the Series 1 they used the same frame and ear-seals, but gone were the see-through ear-cups.

At the 1998 EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, Bose unveiled the Bose Aviation Headset X to much fanfare. After quite a long shipping delay, the headsets finally started flowing from the factory in December of that year. With a MSRP of 5, the X is a premium level headset, sitting at a level with just a handful of competitors such as the offerings from LightSpeed and David Clark. The X quickly became regarded as "the best" headset by many, who fell in love with the superb ANC and comfort the resulted from their very low weight, and soft cushioned ear-seals.

Jump ten years forward to present-day, late 2010, and Bose has just released the successor to the X. The new offering is called the A20. The Bose A20 is not a huge re-design from the X in terms of external build, but internally there are some nice improvements. The ear-cups have a larger internal cavity to give more room for your ears. Electronics wise, Bose claims to have improved the noise cancelling performance across a wider frequency range. The system now uses microphones both outside, and in the ear-cups. For some, the most exciting additional feature to the A20 is Bluetooth! Bluetooth can be quite handy in an aviation headset, allowing a pilot to pair the headset with a cellphone. This makes obtaining an ATC clearance via telephone, with an engine running, effortless. This is one feature that the X lacked against the more recently released LightSpeed Zulu headset.

So, does Bose make the best aviation headset? That is a tough call to make. The competition from the LightSpeed Zulu headset is formidable, both in terms of performance and price. Feature-wise they are essentially identical now that Bose has a Bluetooth enabled aviation headset. Price-wise, however, the Bose A20 has an MSRP of 95, while the LightSpeed Zulu is only 0. In the end, the headset for you is going to depend on the particular fit of these headsets, and the comfort they provide you with. So yes, Bose does make the best aviation headset... for many, but not for all.