Use of personal earphones on Flight Deck

[Mister Geezer]

Hi all

I fly a Boeing and in the cruise I have occasionally taken my own personal set of Sennheiser earphones and plugged them into the headset jack for ATC comms, with the help of a 3.5mm to 6.5mm adaptor.

The quality of the audio is excellent and it helps avoid having the speaker on too loud which in itself can be a source of harmful sound on ones hearing. The only problem is that I can only get audio in one ear.

Any ideas as to how one can get audio in both ears with the above situation?

Thanks

[Ihadadream]

purchase a 6.5 mono to 3.5 stereo plug???
You probably have a 6.5 - 3.5 stereo plug which is why you only hear one ear..

[mothergoose1]

dear sir , i am getting my transition from atr 42-500s to a320s and am using telex 750, i am wanting to buy a20s bose but dont know which ones with the connector plugs are needed, with the telex there wasnt any batteries needed so i went online and saw the panel powered option with the a20s ,any help guys??:ugh:i dont want to make an investment of 995 and get the wrong plug.

[MatrixMan]

Your trying to connect a stereo set of earphones to a mono source. Unless you have a mono to stereo adapter. Or. If they are headphones with the over head band. some have a mono stereo switch fitted. Flick this to mono and both sides should work :):ok:

[Metro man]

Check with the engineering department before using personal headsets, the manufacturer has an approved list and their can be problems with non approved equipment.

[Manicured garden]

Hey Mr. Geezer and all concerning headsets,

I'm flying w/737 for almost 4 years and I've bought a new headset and took my 1 month to decide what to buy. So I can help you all guys who are planning to buy a professional headset.

First of all, need to decide what kind of headset to buy. I highly recommend ANR (active-noise reduction) headset. And these are all around 1000 USD.
And the very popular and mostly used one is definetly BOSE A20. I was gonna buy that one but after a long investigation, I ve ended up with AKG AV100. And other than these, I read about Sannheiser and Lightspeed.

To tell you guys briefly the difference; BOSE A20 is a good one but if you are flying long flights as well and want to listen music quietly with iPad on flight deck, with A20, it's really hard because A20 offers you only Cable connected bluetooth connection which sucks. You pay 1000 USd and you can not connect your iPad/iphone (whatever) and listen your music on long-boring flights. And ANR function, believe me within 4 big-brand headsets, there are slight differences that you can not understand the difference. All headsets use almost same technology and so no difference.

Other issue; AKG is new in aviation but it's Harman sub-brand, so it's like Bose, a sound system brand and between 4 of the big ones, the most comfortable is AKG.

Well, I can write a lot here but instead of that, if you guys any specific questions about headsets, write here and I ll reply.

Conclusion; do not buy any without taking a look at AKG-AV100

[Skyjob]

dear sir , i am getting my transition from atr 42-500s to a320s and am using telex 750, i am wanting to buy a20s bose but dont know which ones with the connector plugs are needed, with the telex there wasnt any batteries needed so i went online and saw the panel powered option with the a20s ,any help guys??i dont want to make an investment of 995 and get the wrong plug.

Boeing sockets are not standard fitted with electrical supply, hence batteries are needed.
Airbus sockets are standard fitted with electrical supply in its sockets.

[Stone_cold]

Hey Skyjob , you would be surprised at what is standard ! Take nothing for granted , "standard" is for the operator to determine . The LoCo add a new dimension . It's not powered in the Airbus' I currently operate .

Manicured garden , maybe you didn't take note of Mr. G's post . He asked about a headset for , surprise , surprise ..ATC comms , not for the use of your ubiquitous Ipad/Pod/Phone for music . If your flights are so boring , may I suggest base jumping or cliff climbing where you are only responsible for yourself .
Maybe you could also suggest to your regulatory body/Flt Ops Management the annoyance that a good headset may interfere with your ability to listen to your music !

[Jwscud]

There are plenty of headsets on the market with bluetooth connections which offer features allowing you to pair your phone/music player of choice, and which will automatically mute the external audio if an ATC call comes in.

[mothergoose1]

@ozymandias@skyjob.@all ,thanks for the quick reply ,yeah i am going to get the a20 since my telex 750 are dying on me with the xl5 adaptor,plus sometimes during atc clearances i have to be all ears open and really sharp to hear what the controller is actually saying especially when the clearances are fast.though as ive flown there before i know what sids and routing to expect.Ive heard you also get alot more clarity with the a20s since they are rated the best aviation headsets around though its still personal preference