Headset Services at Shoreham airport should be able to let you test their stock, with a suitable noise source in the background.

I warn you however - when you have done this there is only one headset which you will walk out with: the Bose X.

Still, in flying there isn't a lot of stuff to buy. You need a decent headset (£800), a decent GPS (say £1100 for the Avmap EKP IV) and that's about it, and provided you don't lend it out it will last you many years. All the junk used in training can go on Ebay.

I agree with IO540 that the Bose-X is the one you should buy.

I used the DC13.4s for years until I thought better of it and bought the Bose-X -- there's no point waiting until you're old or your hearing has started to go before buying something that will protect it; and GA is noisy.

If you're going to spend a few quid on a noise-cancelling headset (which I would, on balance, recommend) then you should wait a couple of weeks and take a look at the David Clark X11 when it comes out. The Bose is overpriced for what it does and has little passive ability, the Sennheiser HMEC 400/450 is good but may be a bit tight for some; this X11 looks the biz: http://www.davidclark.com/X11/index.html .
If you're looking for good non-ANR gear I would look at the Sennheiser HME100, possibly the Special Edition, or for a bit more dosh DC13.4s.

Really!
I admit the BOSE is a nice headset, but it is nothing special and as for it's price tag.....
It's not worth spending any more than £300 on a headset, in my opinion. The BOSE is a gimmick for people with too much money to spend. Put the money towards a trip into France and go for a robust DC. Speak to everyone at your flying club and try their headsets out, especially if there is a BOSE there to play with, then compare it to a DC....you decide if the extra £450 plus is worth it. (if the guy drives a Porshe and minces around the airfield, don't believe him. His ears could bleed at 6000', but if he looks cool, he's happy):D

Rustle agrees with me! Must be my birthday... actually my birthday was last week, so something else must be going on here :confused:

There is an absolutely vast range of headsets. Crudely speaking, and ignoring pricing, they fall into two categories:

1. Those that clamp your head pretty firmly, and after a few hours you really feel it, and some of them, like the top-end D-C models and some others, are very good

2. The Bose X, which can be worn for (in my experience) over 6 hours without the slightest discomfort. It's passive attenuation is not that bad; it's about comparable to the usual !!!!!ty flying school headset. It is certainly usable with a duff battery, but anybody used to it will notice the huge difference instantly.

Whether 1. matters is a matter of budget. A lot of people say they can't fly for more than an hour or two because of fuel or bladder limitations, but the latter is easily taken care of with a little plastic bottle (with some additional considerations for the gurls :) ) and that transforms the sort of trips one can do, and one's enjoyment of flying. So I wouldn't skimp on the headset for flight duration reasons alone.

The point about hearing damage is a very good one too. The stuff about the man with a Porsche is bo11ocks. This is your hearing. Look at the average old airline pilot: deaf as a wooden post. And a decent D-C is priced pretty close to a Bose anyway.

This is may be a stupid question, but does an ANR (with batteries, not powered by the aircraft) headset work ok with a normal ("passive" is it?) headset over the intercom? I don't want to spend a great deal on a headset and am happy with the club supplied ones just now, but it's something I need to think about at some point - and I want to protect my hearing!