Help with ENC, David Clark headset

[Pannam]

I recently purchased a David Clark headset H10-13X, it came with Electronic noise cancellation. It has two buttons ON and OFF, Every time it's in the ON position I get a unpleasant buzz on the left side of the ear. When the ENC is off everything works fine. What could be the issue? Is it normal?

[Pilot DAR]

I had something like that too, with an early generation DC END headset. I never really did get it working the way I thought it should. I took it to the avionics shop, and they said it was working properly. It hangs on my wall to this day. I did buy a later model DC OneX headset, and it was vastly improved, I really liked that one! Unfortunately it's at the bottom of a lake now :(

For the ENC headset you have, try moving it around on your head, and switching sides on it, that may help.

[Uplinker]

Am not an expert on DC products, but a buzz is not normal on any ANR headset.

It sounds faulty. Send it back and get a replacement asap.

PS, I am assuming you are using it in a normal configuration - plugged into a standard aircraft intercom, for which the headset is listed as compatible with? The intercom you are using it with could possibly be faulty, so check it with another ANR headset.

[B2N2]

Is there a mono-stereo switch?
You may have it set on stereo with a mono airplane system.

[Jhieminga]

On my H10-13X there is a mono/stereo switch hidden in the battery box below the battery. Mine has never produced any particular buzzing noise, but the ENC system does produce 'anti-noise' that can be perceived as very light 'white noise' depending on how good your hearing is. This should only be noticable if you're in a very quiet environment. If you're using it in an aircraft with the engine running, you should get a very noticable drop in low frequency noise when you switch the ENC on. It should not produce any additional noises.

[A16X100]

I have the same issue. As soon as I switch it on the cup that doesn’t have the picture gives off a constant static/cracklings noise. I tried to change the batteries and the mono/stereo switch on the wire and no change. Did anyone find a solution to this?

[Jhieminga]

To me that sounds like a headset with a technical problem. Probably best to contact a repair shop about this, see here: https://www.davidclarkcompany.com/customerservice.php

[Pannam]

I use it on ATR 42 and 72. We have 17 of them so the issue lies with the headset for sure. Unfortunately I can't sent it to repair as we r in Asia.
the only cheap fix so far...turn off noise cancellation and use it over airpods pro with noise canceling activated.
much better.

[Jhieminga]

Are you the user or the owner of the headset? If it's a company owned headset, try to get another one from the company. Unfortunately there is no easy way to deal with this yourself, AFAIK.

[First_Principal]

It's not clear to me if either Pannam or A16X100 have new or second-hand headsets, however the issues do appear a little different to me.

I wouldn't classify 'static/crackling' as a 'buzz' but I'd suggest the former could simply be a result of a bad connection somewhere whereas the latter may be an issue with the electronics - albeit low voltage might also cause something like this.

FWIW I claim no particular experience with DC headsets and cannot comment on whether these are common issues with this model, but I would be inclined to thoroughly check any battery connections, and that the battery voltage is up to spec. Given the way NC typically works I'd also check that no ancillary mic passageways are blocked - note this is not necessarily the primary speech mic.

Obviously if these are new units they should be returned for warranty repair, however I'd like to think it possible to check these few things first without doing anything intrusive that would affect a warranty, particularly if it's difficult to access a repair centre wherever you are. Should you come across anything simple that fixes the problem it might be useful to others if you posted back on that.

FP.