On the other hand however, for flights up to a couple of hours in a not-too noisy light aeroplane, and especially if I'm flight testing and I want to pick up on any funny noises - I still swear by an elderly pair of HM40s - which are currently £77 a pair on Harry Mendelsson's website.
Interesting point "Genghis the engineer" made about using the non-ANR headset.
I've just guiltily purchased a Lightspeed Zulu headset for Christmas (it was the magnesium that did it....). One thing that concerns me about ANR is that it will make it a lot harder to hear "grinding metal" noises? Guess time will tell.
Yes, headsets seem so very expensive for what you are getting, though 30 years ago I did purchase a lovely set of headphones for listening to music. They were several hundred AUS$'s back then, I shudder to think what they would cost now.
Likely the law of diminishing returns certainly applies "spending twice as much won't get you something that's twice as good". (except if it has magnesium...)
Regards,
Steven in Winnipeg.