Flight Sound X Dual Aviation headset adapter

[Vincent Meier]

I have recently purchased the Flight Sound X Dual aviation headset adapter.
I am writing here because I have not seen a written review on this piece of hardware yet.
I must say after plugging this unit in(one USB cable required and is included), it was a painless endeavour to
get it up and running with PilotEdge.
It works from Windows XP to Windows 8 and is Mac capable.
The biggest feature about the Dual is that you can set up 2 aviation headsets on the same unit.
You can converse with your co-pilot as you would in a R/W aircraft and still have the functionality to PTT for the ATC.
Although I do not have a co-pilot, I am hoping to entice some of my friends to sit with me during some flights and be able to listen to what I am hearing and saying to ATC.
There is a separate on/off switch on the box along with transmit lights for each channel.
There is also individual volume and squelch controls for each channel.
I must mention that using the PTT button on my PFC yoke for ATC means that you have to set up the Dual to ignore the remote PTT function(cables and PTT buttons not included). This is easily done with a flip of the switch at the back of the unit but leaves the LED lights of the Transmit indicators always on.
As for the clarity of sound, it is outstanding -from listening to myself talk thru the headset and listening back to myself on the audio recordings.
This is a far better system that I had previously.
I was running a David Clark HC13(I think that is the model) plugged into a BS-12 headset adapter and that was plugged into a GF-ATC(because I wanted to have squelch) and then finally to the computer itself.
I am now running just the Flight Sound X Dual along with a Bose Aviation X headset.
I tried the Bose headset on the old system and had the same audio quality as the David Clark's. Which was OK, but still was not clear enough for me.

I know that some people are looking to have that real aviation sound that is a little more garbled. Then this is not for you.
But if you like to listen to good clear quality sound- you might want to check this out.
Here is the link to the website if anyone is interested: https://www.flightsounds.com/fsx-dual

I am in no way affilated with this company and just wanted to throw in my two cents on this product.

[Keith Smith]

Thanks for posting it, that's a good review.

At less than half the price is an actual aviation intercom, though, with aux in/out.

This is the intercom that we recommend for TouchTrainers and is also what Precision Flight Controls uses: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/a ... kkey=37386

The difference here is that you must use the analogue audio in/out on your PC. However, you could purchase a $5 USB sound card if you wanted to have it as a separate device. One more benefit is that it can be expanded to up to 4 places.

[dental1]

Hi
Can you recommend a good real aviation headset. I will just be using it for simming.
Thx Lee

[Keith Smith]

Having flown many hours with aviation headsets and just regular USB headsets, my vote would be to simply use a USB headset unless you have an intercom requirement (ie, you need multiple parties to be able to transmit from your end).

Aviation headsets are built to operate in very noisy cockpit environments. The reality is that ambient noise in most sim environments is practically nill, and you already have complete control over all the volumes in the sim.

So, just as corporate jet pilots and airline pilots don't wear large, bulky aviation headsets (because the ambient noise in the flight deck is much less than, say, a Cessna 172), there really isn't a need to do it in the sim (IMHO). To make it 'realistic', you'd have to crank the ambient noise in the sim to a level that more or less matches what you would experience in the plane you're flying, which is unreasonably loud (ie, loud enough that you couldn't really have a conversation with the person sitting next to you).

It won't make you a better pilot, it won't have any training value and for the money you'd spend on a headset and the intercom, you could buy one or two high end video cards, or several years of PE service. Just a thought!

[dental1]

Thanks Kieth
I will take your advise
Lee

[stevekirks]

It won't make you a better pilot, it won't have any training value and for the money you'd spend on a headset and the intercom, you could buy one or two high end video cards, or several years of PE service. Just a thought!

This is too often forgotten. If you're trying to replicate the feeling of real aircraft, then imagine the money you would spend. I keep wanting to add on to my sim PC or instrument gear. Then I remember that for what I might spend on PC gear, I could buy an hour of time in a real plane with an instructor next to me. Or the PE subscription....