# helmet audio



## XR4Ti (Dec 12, 2009)

This may be useful for those looking for helmet audio ideas.

I rode in the past with ear buds but didn't like the pressure of the helmet ear pads pushing them into the ear.

I picked up a Smith Maze which has zippered ear pads for speakers and wiring between them. There is a little, round removable piece of padding in the earpads if you want to put in speakers (or you don't need to remove it if you want extra warmth; I've run speakers w/ and w/o the extra ear padding).

You can buy a speaker kit (~$35) but being cheap, I was looking for other ideas & less wires. I also need to be able to take calls on the hill/mountain so I was also looking at mics and maybe handheld radio integration.

Here's a few ideas I experimented with.

ear buds
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You can probably remove the foam insert and stick earbuds into the helmet ear pads and away you go, but I couldn't see the audio quality being any good so if you're really cheap and want crappy sound you can try that. I didn't bother.

speaker kit
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You can buy a speaker kit made by Skullcandy for Smith audio and just put it in. But that's expensive and too easy.

You can find RED ear pads with integrated audio pretty cheap. On the Maze you can pull out the ear pads and clip these in but the fit isn't the best (there's a youtube video on it) and the pads aren't as nice as what is on the Maze.

You can also pick up for less (paid ~$9) the RED ear pads in an XS (that's why it's cheap) and pull out the audio. They are held in with some adhesive but come out pretty easy. With the kit I picked up, it has a mute button and an inline volume control.

See pic at the bottom, 12 o'clock.

I put them into the Maze pads and they worked fine, but the drivers are pretty small and cheap. I am no audio expert so I'll just say they sounded fine but felt I could do better. The speaker setup is probably the same for all sizes (the wires are long).

They have a female 2.5mm jack which you line up with a wire hole in the Smith earpad for this purpose. It came with a cable w/ volume control (2.5 on one end, 3.5 on the other). Or use an adapter and run a 3.5mm cable from your audio source up to your helmet. You can buy cables with a mic so you can get your phone calls going.

I wanted to explore wireless though since I didn't want the mess of routing wires up to my helmet and them getting in the way when taking my helmet on/off. Stealth is cool. So here's a few BT options:

Bluetooth
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The original (old) grey Logitech BT audio headset. Some of you may have these kicking around, most likely broken since they would crack right at the midpoint of the headband and break the wires. Nice unit, with large drivers and comes with a little BT transmitter for hooking up to any audio source with a 3.5mm jack.

All the circuitry is in one earpiece and just the battery and driver in the other earpiece, so 4 wires running through the headband.

Cut off the headband at the drivers (hey, they were broken anyways - now you can use them again). With basic soldering skills you can run 4 wires. I chose indoor telephone wire -- it has 4 wires in the casing and each wire is multistranded & ~22 ga which makes it nice and flexible. Don't use solid core wire as you need some flexibility. It's about 10.5" exposed, driver to driver.

See pic, 3 o'clock, white earpieces.

I like this setup. The sound is way better (wider freq response) than the RED speaker kit -- not surprising since the drivers are larger, better quality, and have their own power source.

Audio hookup: I have paired this headset with an old Samsung phone, old Moto phone, and my PC, but it will not pair with an iPhone 3GS. But to me this isn't a big deal since BT drains the phone battery big time, at least on mine. So I used the BT transmitter that came with the headset instead and just plug it into the analog output jack on the phone. Small enough that it's no big deal.

But I didn't want that jack dangling off the phone so I just used a small mp3 player and the transmitter and put it in a little pocket I have on my jacket sleeve near my wrist. What I like about this setup is the headset and transmitter have their own power sources so it will last all day w/o any big drain on your mp3 player or phone.

You can easily control the volume buttons on the earpiece when wearing your helmet with your gloves on just by touching your earpad. If you're paired with a BT audio source, you can also use the track up/down buttons.

For phone calls, if you're hooked up to your phone you get the audio but no mic so you either pull out your phone or have a separate mic. If you aren't paired to your phone then you can use a little adapter that splits audio and mic from a single 3.5mm jack to two -- one for your BT transmitter and one for your mic. It works.

See pic, 10 o'clock, white.

2nd gen Logitech BT headset
======================
If you're like me and your 1st gen Logitech broke while under warranty, Logitech probably sent you the 2nd gen as a replacement.

See pic, 3 o'clock, black earpieces.

This works the same way and with the more flexible headband, is a direct insert into the earpads after you pull off the ear loops and foam.

This setup is it is more compact and takes up less room in the earpad than the 1st gen. Sound quality is about the same as the other Logitech setup. Also, this one will BT pair with an iPhone. The downside is the controls are harder to work through the earpad and the on/off/pair button is on the top of the earpiece and not on the front as in the first gen design, so it is harder to access.

other BT headsets
==============
The problem with my Logitechs is that they were audio only and to me the ideal setup was with an unobtrusive mic. So I went looking for something cheap with a mic and found this one for ~$23. What I like about this unit is it has a mic, a micro SD card slot, and even an FM radio.

See pic, 6 o'clock.

This one fit right into the Maze, no problem.

Sound quality was just fine. I just loaded up an SD card and let it play all day on the hill. Lasted for about 8h (no BT connection). It's a little harder to use the buttons as they load up a lot of features onto them but once I got the hang of it, I could easily vol +/- and track +/- with my gloves. I like the FM feature too.

It pairs to anything. But the mic sounds muffled. This is a consequence of the build quality and having the mic near your ear I guess. Surprisingly, people on calls didn't notice much of a difference with audio quality with it in or out of the helmet. But the muffled sound was enough to discourage me from using it as the main mic source for calls. For personal calls it would probably be ok but I wanted something for work calls and so want better quality (no one needs to know I am out riding).

If you have any other BT solutions, share them. I know there's others out there but are $$$ and not stealth.

mic options
========
From above, you can see my main problem has been what to do for a mic. Here are a few things I considered/tried (though not on the hill yet -- I do try to minimize calls when I'm out riding).

wired headset
===========
If you go the wired headset route and use your phone as your audio player, then you can get a cable from your phone to your helmet with an integrated mic, like these ($8):

See pic, 7 o'clock.

Keep it hidden and pull it out when you need to. 3.5mm on both ends. You might need a 2.5mm adapter depending on your speakers.

If you're using BT speaker-only, or want to split speaker and mic, you can try a mic only setup like this (~$2):

See pic, centre.

The mic works fine but I am not that crazy about having to run the wire and clip it on to something. There is probably something out there like a sound tube or boom that could work but to me that's overkill - you'd look like a doofus and then ram it up your nose when you crash.

handheld radios (walkie-talkies)
=======================
I've used them before when out with family and keeping tabs on other parties on mountains. Nice where there is no cell coverage. I'm mixed on their use. Either you can't get the signal because you're on the other side of the mountain or you can't hear it over riding noise. But they have come in handy when trying to round everyone up.

Skullcandy had a 2-input setup for their headset kits that I have heard being used with a radio (one plugged in to music, the other to a radio). I got one for free so I've been playing with it a bit but found the music audio would get picked up by the radio and broadcast to all the other radios. I think that was just the voice sensing on the radio that I could shut off. But this is a low priority for me so I haven't played around with this setup enough to see if there is some that works well.

what I did
========
I like the wireless setup, but I don't like the BT drain on the phone, so my preference is either use the Logitechs with the transmitter or the headset with the SD card. The SD card/FM radio setup is nice in that it is the smallest/less obtrusive setup (no tx needed) but with the Logitech one, I can plug it into to my phone if I feel I need to hear every email/text/phone ring.

That said, I pretty much concluded I don't need to be wired for a mic for immediate access when on the hill -- I can wait for the lodge or chairlift or top/bottom of a run to whip out the phone if it's important enough. My callers can wait a few min. I figure this is better than running a cable just for a mic.

X


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## RockSteady (Jan 14, 2013)

HOLY CRAP MAN, NICE POST!!!!!!! 
I just forked out the cash and got the skull candy drop in's but I love all the ideas. And I definitely hate ear buds.


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## bseracka (Nov 14, 2011)

Nice write-up

I'm using the motorola S805 bt setup from a few years ago and love them. I have been able to modify my ear pads on current helments to continue using them, since they're no longer supported. The downside to them is that they are bulky. The plus side and this is huge over the current SC bt setups is ease of use. There is a large dial on both speakers that is easily manipulated to adjust volume and track. Each speaker only has one button which means you're not mashing them like on the SC setups. I'll get some pics posted up later.


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## XR4Ti (Dec 12, 2009)

Thanks - just trying to give back to the forum I've taken so much from.


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## RockSteady (Jan 14, 2013)

XR4Ti said:


> Thanks - just trying to give back to the forum I've taken so much from.


So Stellar


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## LuckyRVA (Jan 18, 2011)

RockSteady said:


> HOLY CRAP MAN, NICE POST!!!!!!!
> I just forked out the cash and got the skull candy drop in's but I love all the ideas. And I definitely hate ear buds.


Have you used the skull candy audio yet? I was going to get it for my Smith Holt but all of the reviews scared me away (bad quality wiring, etc). 

I just ordered a set of Koss over the ear headphones which I'll rig up myself and stuff inside the ear pads.


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## RockSteady (Jan 14, 2013)

LuckyRVA said:


> Have you used the skull candy audio yet? I was going to get it for my Smith Holt but all of the reviews scared me away (bad quality wiring, etc)..




Yeah, I saw all the review too and it's too bad they don't have more quality options and it's kind of weird that they dont since everyone wants good music built into their helmet. I' m too lazy to rig shit up so I just bought the drop ins. I bought them from REI, (life time warranty). After reading all the reviews I almost bought 2 so I'd have a spare while one was sent in getting fixed, lol. Mine have worked so far, there easy to install and not as bad of a setup as people make them out to be. That being said, I did have the left ear speaker tweak in and out on me a little bit for a minute, I'm keeping my fingers crossed they stay working for now. So I can already see what all the complaints are about....the sound is ample and decent for sure though.


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## racer357 (Feb 3, 2011)

poc helmets has there ear roll with Beats audio in them now.


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## Consonantal (Dec 12, 2012)

Kind of related, are there any devices that can control your music wirelessly via bluetooth but can attach to something so it's easy to access?

I don't mind wearing earbuds connected to my phone but it's a pain to take out my phone if I ever want to pause or skip songs. 

I've found this Newegg.ca - Jabra CLIPPER Black Stereo Bluetooth Headset Multiuse/DSP Technology (100-96800000-02) but I'm not sure of it's compatibility with android. I was thinking I could clip it onto the cuff of my glove and just pull up my sleeve whenever I wanted to change songs.


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## XR4Ti (Dec 12, 2009)

Depends on what you want to control, but if you're after track up/down, volume up/down, and (IIRC) ffwd/rew, pretty much any BT headset if paired to your phone/media player, including the ones I mentioned, have controls for that. I could access them just by pressing on the outside of the earpad, even with gloves on.

EDIT: Oh I get it, you wanted to use it like a remote control - cool. Looks like the mic is built-in. It will pair with an Android phone (they do that on a vid on the jabra site) so I'm willing to bet you'd get full functionality. Only downside is you still need to run a wire to your head. Nice device though.

EDIT 2: Pretty good FAQ on the jabra site. Your phone needs to have both the A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth Stereo profiles.


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## TheTurk (Jan 13, 2013)

I just got the holt, gut out my sony headset and placed it in the helmet it was almost perfect fit , great sound ... i too though was looking at that cheap BT headset (meritline i think) having no wires and mic. option are just too tempting even tho sound is gonna be terrible compare to what i have now ... anyways question is they did look little fat on the website (even with gutted out speakers i had struggled placing them into the earpads)
did you have to do any modding fitting them in your maze? does maze have the same earpads as holt?


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## XR4Ti (Dec 12, 2009)

Not sure if the pads are the same b/w the Maze and Holt but just from looking at pics on the Smith website, it looks like they mess around with at least the fabrics on the earpads, even in the same model line (or they're just regurgitating old pics), but I figure they're close to being the same -- basically the two earpads connected with a channel to hold the wires and give a big of rear neck padding/warmth.

I looked at a handful of cheap BT headsets but I did see some fat (at the earpiece) ones out there. So I looked for thin. With mine there was no problem at all. Once you pull the foam ear pads off the headset, they're quite thin. Mine are a cheap ebay Chinese unit and pretty small but I'm happy with the sound. All it says on the instruction sheet is "S900". No other ID markings on the unit or manual.

As for the helmet earpads, my grey Logitech earpieces are much bigger than the cheap BT ones and I just put them in w/o any problem -- maybe just a little tighter when doing up the chinstrap. But then I later noticed there's a removable disc of foam in the helmet earpad that is about 1.5" in dia and 1/2" thick. I pulled that out and there's been plenty of room with every headset I tried so far.

So check yours to see if you have a little foam disc that you can pull out if you need more room. It has holes in it so it looks like it's designed to sit in the earpads even with speakers. It's either for some extra warmth on the cold days or the holes are there to equalize air pressure on your ears when you're really launching...


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## TheTurk (Jan 13, 2013)

yes looking at the pictures they look pretty similar (earpads) besides the material and mine have those "O" shaped foams in them also but mines are glued to the earpads and i didnt wanna rip them out , my gutted speaker went right in that empty spot in the foam...

thats the one i was looking at more or less looks like same as yours


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## XR4Ti (Dec 12, 2009)

Heh, yeah that's pretty much the same but if anyone goes that route, look for the one with FM and the micro SD card slot.

Interesting that yours were glued in. Mine pulled right out (no glue & obviously cut to come out).


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## Consonantal (Dec 12, 2012)

XR4Ti said:


> Depends on what you want to control, but if you're after track up/down, volume up/down, and (IIRC) ffwd/rew, pretty much any BT headset if paired to your phone/media player, including the ones I mentioned, have controls for that. I could access them just by pressing on the outside of the earpad, even with gloves on.
> 
> EDIT: Oh I get it, you wanted to use it like a remote control - cool. Looks like the mic is built-in. It will pair with an Android phone (they do that on a vid on the jabra site) so I'm willing to bet you'd get full functionality. Only downside is you still need to run a wire to your head. Nice device though.
> 
> EDIT 2: Pretty good FAQ on the jabra site. Your phone needs to have both the A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth Stereo profiles.


I see, thanks for the info. Guess I should've checked out the official site first. I'm wear my earbuds under a toque, which headsets were the easiest to control even with gloves on?

I can't seem to find the logitech ones you were talking about though :/


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## XR4Ti (Dec 12, 2009)

Consonantal said:


> I see, thanks for the info. Guess I should've checked out the official site first. I'm wear my earbuds under a toque, which headsets were the easiest to control even with gloves on?
> 
> I can't seem to find the logitech ones you were talking about though :/


Actually, what's not clear for the Jabra device -- considering a different setup -- is it says you can connect two devices -- I think it's two masters as opposed to one master (phone) and one slave (BT headset). There's a slim chance it could act like a BT "repeater" and give you music controls for a wireless headset (with it sitting inbetween the headset and phone) but I don't think it will do that. Anyway... interesting model, especially since it's on sale. You got me looking into it...

About the Logitechs, I had to trim down my original post so what I failed to mention is my Logitech headsets are old school as far as this technology goes -- it's mid-2000s stuff. I think the grey Logitechs that I cut up were the first real affordable consumer BT stereo headset around.

For completion, here's links to them on their support website:

grey ones (Logitech Wireless Headphones for iPod):
http://www.logitech.com/en-ca/support/239?crid=407&osid=14&bit=64

and the 2nd gen (Logitech Freepulse):
Support + Downloads: FreePulse Wireless Headphones - Logitech

I guess it's pretty pointless as they're N/A. But if you know someone that has some to get rid of, they work great.

Main point is, that style of BT headset works well in the earpads. So anything similar, like the $20 Chinese ones will do. The oldest Logitechs were also the biggest, which meant the buttons were easiest to use, but of the ones I tried out, all were workable and I wouldn't hesitate taking any of them out for a ride.


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## Consonantal (Dec 12, 2012)

Yeah if they're N/A then not much point in me looking at it. The biggest issue with the BT headsets is that the buttons are hard to work with. 

I've seen skullcandy headphones that have buttons on the earpiece, I might look into that as well; the Jabra clipper is a bit pricy.


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## RockyMTNsteeze (Oct 21, 2012)

I duct taped broken Skull Candies to my helmet. It looked hilarious.

I recently did something more permanent with the broken skull candies. It still involves duct tape, but is less hilarious and more functional. I will post pictures of my cheap upgrade to my helmet, but not now cause it's in my truck.


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## pdxrealtor (Jan 23, 2012)

Skull candy has an updated version for 2012, bluetooth with controls on the helmet pod. I've used it 3 days now and I can say its very consistent . 

Before I was using a ear bud deal with monster remote on my wrist. Worked but was sketchy. 

I'd link to the newest one but I'm on iPad and its not coming up for some reason. I got mine at REI for 200 bucks.


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## XR4Ti (Dec 12, 2009)

This looks like it here. Nice looking controls on the ear pad.

Smith Products | SmithOptics.com


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## pdxrealtor (Jan 23, 2012)

Ya that's it. Was out for the 4 th day Saturday and everytime I hit pause or play it does it. No pushing the button 2x to get shit to work. Also got a chance to test out the audio on a phone call, but it was in the parking lot with no wind. Did great however. 

The audio quality is good. I mean for me I'm not looking for much while being out on the hill. It's almost too deafening where the earbuds let in more sound these don't. Part of it is the fact that inserting the speakers into the ear pieces fattens them up putting more pressure against your ear. 

I like to turn off at the lift line and on right after I strap in. I also like to skip songs sometimes depending on the run I'm about to take and the song that's on. Again, this audio sets input buttons never miss. 

It is expensive but for me it was worth it.


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## duck007 (Nov 5, 2019)

I know its a bit on the expensive side. But unit 1 has come up with a quite ingenious way to combine helmets and headphones. With the headphones being removable and usable all day. 
I think they are definitely worth a look. igg.me/at/UNIT1/x/16588939#/


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