for no, or only marginally better noise attenuation than the other very good headsets on the market
That's actually not the case. Go to a headset shop, set up a noise source, and try them all.
I did this in 2001. The Bose X beat the lot by a huge margin. All the non-ANR headsets were good for the dustbin after that test and only a masochist would buy one. The D-C 10-13X (IIRC) at £650 came close but with a much higher pressure on the head.
And most of the headset market has not changed since 2001.
The Lightspeed Zulu is close to the Bose X. Close enough to make it quite a subjective decision.
But the A20 beats the X by a big margin.
You are right about the cost; I manufacture in electronics and clearly Bose are absolutely minting it. But the thing which truly amazes me is why they have not had any competition for ~ 10 years. It can't be just patents. I think it is because in aviation nobody wants to bomb the market pricing. A Garmin 430 costs about £300 to make and put on the shelf in the factory. Go figure... as they say.
your brand new Ferrari and jump into a new TB850
Tell you wot.... if you bought a TBM850 you would not be driving a Ferrari for very long afterwards (once the warranty runs out on the TBM)
I found a exact copy of the A20 in China. Its "Boss" not bose unfortunately. They have the boeing and airbus adapters which u can buy separately.It cost only USD60 with adapters after the conversion.
It is probably a very poor copy, at 60 bucks retail. Did you fly with it? FWIW, I have tried various Far Eastern ANR headsets (non-aviation) and all were crap.
But if selling in a market where there is no copyright/patent enforcement (ostensibly there is but in China you pay off people) you could sell an A20 for perhaps $200 retail. Interesting
