cool find Flight Sound X Adapter

[Chalenge]

I don't think that . . .

It makes a difference. Most a/c headphones are using balanced setups, rather than being fully-balanced stereo gear. They can still be used for stereo audio, because they are designed with crosstalk elimination in mind. This and the damping factor combined help to reduce total harmonic distortion. It's THD that makes you tired of using a headset after awhile, or that's my belief. Cheaper headphones will effect you at an increased rate because their dynamic range is so narrow. When I use aviation headsets I don't get tired of using them as quickly as I do the consumer level PC headsets. You could actually pay to have your headphones reworked as a fully-balanced setup, but with cost and THD in mind you would probably be better off just buying better headphones intended for professional work. That's basically what I did, except what I consider bare minimum headphones are the Sony professional phones that I use to monitor field recordings, or the Beyer premium phones for mixing. If I do anything with music I have to switch over to the high-end AKGs. Price is not a good measure of quality (as proven by the cost of 5.1/7.1 headphones), but you can use DF, THD and time as an estimate.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

It makes a difference. Most a/c headphones are using balanced setups, rather than being fully-balanced stereo gear. They can still be used for stereo audio, because they are designed with crosstalk elimination in mind. This and the damping factor combined help to reduce total harmonic distortion. It's THD that makes you tired of using a headset after awhile, or that's my belief. Cheaper headphones will effect you at an increased rate because their dynamic range is so narrow. When I use aviation headsets I don't get tired of using them as quickly as I do the consumer level PC headsets. You could actually pay to have your headphones reworked as a fully-balanced setup, but with cost and THD in mind you would probably be better off just buying better headphones intended for professional work. That's basically what I did, except what I consider bare minimum headphones are the Sony professional phones that I use to monitor field recordings, or the Beyer premium phones for mixing. If I do anything with music I have to switch over to the high-end AKGs. Price is not a good measure of quality (as proven by the cost of 5.1/7.1 headphones), but you can use DF, THD and time as an estimate.

To me it would seem counter intuitive that flight headsets would have a linear frequency response like hi-fi headsets need to have. In fact a flight headset may serve the best if it's artificially boosted to amplify the frequencies most commonly found in human speech. I've never heard anyone even semi-seriously recommend flight headsets for music listening, which would be the case if they would really be competitive for the job.

Balancing again is just a technique used to reduce interference, a balanced signal uses higher voltage and is actively grounded unlike a regular banana jack. This makes a balanced signal cable much less prone to picking up interference from magnetos etc. sources of noise. To sound quality per se they do nothing. This is the reason why PA speakers and microphones use balanced connectors, they're a must when you have to pull long cable pulls that would otherwise be susceptible to all sorts of induced noise.

[Chalenge]

Having a balanced setup doesn't protect them anymore than an unbalanced setup does. The voltages aren't a sure thing, either. I have two mics that can use phantom power, but neither one has to have it over the TOSLINK input. So, I use them cold.

I see your point about the voice range being preferred, but I don't think that enters into the discussion. If someone wants to use their aviation phones it's because they want to and not the audio range. While I myself prefer to hear all the game sounds there may be other people for which the most important aspect is human interactions and the voice range is all they care about. And there are certainly full-range headphones in the aviation world.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Having a balanced setup doesn't protect them anymore than an unbalanced setup does.

This is where you're wrong. Balancing is used specifically to counter interference from long cable pulls and noisy concert setups where a lot of audio and other stage gear are in close proximity. The dual twisted nature of the balanced line automatically cancels any interference picked up on the way: http://www.portlandmusiccompany.com/balanced_unbalanced.php

Or are we talking about balancing as noun or balancing as a technical term?

[Chalenge]

That's the theory, but in practice running cables in parallel will still cause interference. Noise, especially, is reduced, but interference can still develop. It's reduced, but not eliminated. If it were, we wouldn't have rockers like Ted Nugent.

EDIT: Groove on the Country/Western speaker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uKzkArP3hA

[MrRiplEy[H]]

That's the theory, but in practice running cables in parallel will still cause interference. Noise, especially, is reduced, but interference can still develop. It's reduced, but not eliminated. If it were, we wouldn't have rockers like Ted Nugent.

EDIT: Groove on the Country/Western speaker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uKzkArP3hA

I think you're confusing the intentional guitar distortion to signal cabling. Even when a musician plays the electric guitar, he doesn't want the interconnect to pick up any extra feedback on the way

[BuckShot]

I'm not quite sure what kind of plugs aviation headsets use, but the upper one in the picture below is stereo and the lower one is mono.

(Image removed from quote.)

My general aviation Sigtronics headset has a mono plug. That stinks, they are super rugged and comfortable.

This thing would have been perfect.

Is it possible to wire the leads from each speaker to a stereo plug, and separate the speakers into stereo?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

My general aviation Sigtronics headset has a mono plug. That stinks, they are super rugged and comfortable.

This thing would have been perfect.

Is it possible to wire the leads from each speaker to a stereo plug, and separate the speakers into stereo?

Of course it is. You can even grow your own sheep and use their hide to make new ear cushions to the headphones. Just a matter of determination

[Bizman]

My general aviation Sigtronics headset has a mono plug. That stinks, they are super rugged and comfortable.

This thing would have been perfect.

Is it possible to wire the leads from each speaker to a stereo plug, and separate the speakers into stereo?

It is, and it should be easier than growing your own sheep.

The procedure might be relatively easy or not so easy but doable.

The easy one: Unscrew the plug. If there's two different colour wires going to the tip and one (ground, and there may be two of them as well) to the sleeve, then simply get a stereo plug, solder the left channel to the tip and the right to the ring, and of course the ground wire to the sleeve.

The not so easy one: Find the point where the left and right earphone's cables get united and continue as above. The joint would probably be inside the earphone the cable runs from.

Simply put, both earphones have one live and one ground output. For a mono reproduction the live wires have to be spliced together and connected to the tip of the plug. Of course the ground wires must also be coupled, but one grounding point, the sleeve, can serve both channels.

[BuckShot]

Thanks Bizman. They look like they join up before the plug cord for exits the cup. I'm going to give it a go. I even have a squiggly stereo cord I can use if I find each wire.