Hello guys, thought I'd pop in and chat with you all personally. I'm the guy that posted the Liberator HP thread over on AR15.com.
Let's address something first: to OldRunner - I have no affiliation with Peltor, MSA, or Safariland. All gear I buy is paid for out of my own pocket, no one gives me this stuff for free, I am not paid to write positively and/or bash anyone. I'm just some schmuck, no one is paying
me to do anything. Don't take this as some sort of confrontation, it's not. You implied I and other members of AR15.com have some ulterior motive and that is not the case. I have nothing personal against you and this is in no way intended as an insult to you or anyone else here, just wanted to clear the air.
Anyone that read my thread will know my set did not ship ready to use CR123A batteries so that was a mark against Safariland right out of the box, then came the revelation after speaking with a TCI rep that the NFC feature is not ready for use. I'll admit I was a bit terse/crude in my initial postings but I wasn't exactly thrilled to learn my $223 (got it during the March sale) headset was missing critical features that were meant to make it revolutionary in the electronic earpro market. I have yet to receive the CR123A battery tray.
On top of all that the sound quality is objectively worse than both my Sordins and Peltor ComTacs. How anyone can claim otherwise, unless I just got a lemon, is beyond me. I'd love to record the sound quality of each headset and post up a recording on YouTube but to do so properly would probably require something like a binaural microphone which given their cost is out of the question for me. The sound is flat, lacking in tonal depth, and puts wind/unwanted background noise right up front. The claims of superior sound localization fall totally flat, the HP is no better than the Sordins or ComTacs in this regard, and those headsets aren't great at sound localization to begin with.
Depending on what exactly the NFC feature allows you to do, the sound quality could likely be improved. Actually, I know it can because strangely the headset actually sounds ok on "dual mode", with the standard impulse noise blocking and ANC on. However, in impulse only mode is where the sound quality falls apart.
I understand a lot of police/Mil. users are excited about the HP as a comms headset, but as a casual/sport/whatever-you-want-to-call-it shooter sound quality is most relevant to me next to noise protection. I don't run or even posses any sort of comm equipment beyond bubble pack radios so the headsets potential as a comms unit is 100% irrelevant to me and will be for most shooters.
Stacked up on top of all that we have the extremely poor manual (happy to post pics if you want to see what I mean) and lack of transparency on the part of Safariland in regards to several pieces of critical info like environmental resistance (waterproofing for example). The headset is supposedly waterproofed to 15 feet but the manual and product page still fail to make any mention of this, that was only seen in an early promo release about the Liberator IV/V.
To hopefully answer Jim Watsons question, the ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) feature produces audible "bumps" of counter noise to combat steady-state sound. I'll admit to not having tested the headset in an appropriate environment to really test the ANC feature. How this feature helps with impulse noise like gunfire I don't know, I'm not a sound engineer. I'm guessing it it would help defeat other sound frequencies not combated effectively by more standard methods, theoretically aiding in upping the NRR for impulse noise. That's my guess anyway, wouldn't take it as gospel.
If you guys have any questions about Sordins, ComTacs, or the Liberator HPs ask away. Happy to help and answer any questions I can. Feel free to request pics or any odd thing you might want to know about any of them.