New A30 Builds on Decades of Success with Lighter, Comfier, Quieter Headset

An all-new update to the long-lived A20 Bose surprised crowds at the Sun 'n Fun Aeronautical Expo, bringing new life to the Bose lineup with the all-new A30.

After 13 years on the market, the A20 could have been long in the tooth, but a well thought out, comfortable design and competent noise cancellation mitigated the chances of such a stigma. Bose admits that improving on the successful recipe wasn't easy.

"Nearly 13 years in the market, improving upon the A20 was no small feat," said global aviation & military sales manager Hratch Astarjian. Once they did, however, the path to success was quickly clear: Make it comfy.

“When we asked pilots what improvement was most important to them, their overwhelming response was comfort,” said Matt Ruwe, a pilot and senior product manager for Bose. “We took that seriously and developed a new balance in the A30 with noticeably more comfort while maintaining and enhancing headset performance. The changes amplify the experience for our core A20 users while appealing to a broader range of pilots.”

The A30 sports 20% reduced clamping force compared to its A20 counterpart, always helpful for those wearing glasses on the flight deck. Ruwe said that other brands opt for increased clamp tension in a bid to limit sound intrusion and leakage - a problem his department overcame with considerable digital processing. Comfort on the head will be better than before, with attention paid to the wearability of the A30 for long stretches at a time. A revision to the center of gravity and layout of its components mean the A30 should keep pilots fresher, longer.

Bose went above and beyond in order to exceed their prior record with the A20, building in a new digital active noise reduction system with selectable cancellation modes. The new system allows pilots and passengers to change their cancellation profile to suit the environment.

FMI: www.bose.com