Review on Arcshell Acoustic Tube Earpiece Pack by Colton Scheehl

I used 10 of these at an event with Arcshell 5 radios. The result was disappointing. The sound was muffled and "empty". Most of us found it difficult to understand what others were saying. We experimented with mic placement and it sounded better further away than up close, but only marginally. The microphone isn't the whole problem. I listened to people talking through the headset while using the radio's speaker. The sound is not very good, but much better than through the "tube". Then I turned it on and started listening on the "tube" to see if anyone was speaking into the radio's built-in microphone. It also sounded a little better. So the combination of a headset mic and "tube" headphones was killer. I then tried using Sony headphones, which sound pretty good when I'm listening to my phone (phone calls, music). When connected to an Arcshell radio, the audio was still marginal when someone was speaking with a headset on another Arcshell. Dirty and "deaf" sound. Switch to the internal Arcshell mic and it's better. good enough to hear all speech but not as clear as Arcshell's internal speaker. I can't explain why these radios don't work well with headphones, but I've seen it on a few other radios - the Motorola FRS and the TYT ham radio. Everything sounds a little muffled in any headphones (and especially bad in "FBI" headphones. I see some reviews saying things sound great. If they aren't "blank" reviews, I can Don't explain it. But remember it's very cheap "Real" headsets should cost well over $100 I wish I could afford this quality for my band.