What is the best aviation headset?

A key piece of gear for any pilot will be an aviation headset. After all, you will need to be able to clearly hear ATC instructions as well as protect your hearing over the long term.

Hence Mark, a reader of the Ask a Flight Instructor Website, recently posted the following question on the site:

Do any of you who wear headsets all day, have input on David Clark H10-13s VS H10-13.4 VS Telex echelon 25xt VS David Clark H20-10

or any other light comfortable passive headset to buy

Maggot/CFII responded by suggesting to look at a “D. Clark 10-60, shop “ebay”, and look at the mike to make sure headset offered is not ancient.” Apparently, she got a very good deal on a new one well below retail price.

Kent Shook then noted that a headset buyer should always go for active noise reduction as they will not only protect your hearing, they are much more comfortable to wear. In fact, he had used a passive headset during primary instruction in order to save money but then he ended up buying an ANR headset later on anyway because “the passive headset’s clamping force would cause a headache after about 1.5 hours of flight.” He also suggested a particular headset from Gulf Coast Avionics or Pacific Coast Avionics that is essentially a Lightspeed QFR Solo with ANR for US$249.00.

Meanwhile Shannon Coleman posted that she used the DC H10-13.4S for years and wore them for several hours a day while towing banners and instructing. And while she also wrote that they aren’t bad, they do tend to get tight by the end of the day. She later upgraded her DC’s with Headset Inc’s ANR kit and loved the results.

Finally, Micah posted that he has used DC H20s 8+ for years and that they are excellent but he also added:

The problem with headsets, it seems, is that there are few good ways to try one out.  Unless you can borrow a set to test, you’re going to test it after you buy it.

Hence, we want to ask you our readers: What type of aviation headset do you own or recommend owning? Moreover, where did you purchase your favorite pair of headsets?