DetectorPro Grey Ghost Headphones for XP Deus - My Review, page 2
Field-Testing Grey Ghost Headphones Resulted in Total Disappointment
(...CONTINUED from Previous Page)
It took me some time to attach the Deus headphone/control module to a Grey Ghost headphone, and I had to push the module hard to get it into a right position indicated by a click. When I was walking through thick bushes to a clear spot at the hunt site, the Grey Ghost headphones began catching shrub stems, and one thick stem actually did displace the headphones off my ears.
If I did not pay attention to shrubs and all overhanging branches, just like when one constantly looks at the ground while metal detecting, I would have the Grey Ghost headphones snatched off my head a few times. And this was annoying to me, especially considering a fact that I had never had such a problem with the XP WS4 ear-clip headset under similar conditions because the WS4 does not protrude so far from one's ears like the full ear-cup headphones usually do. So this was a big con.
After I switched the Deus module on and put the Grey Ghost headset on, I began moving a search coil in my usual manner - slowly and overlapping each coil swing, over the ground infested with nails... Right away, as I expected, I started receiving a zillion of low tone (200 kHz) signals - responses to nails, but... it was hard to "separate" signals from one another as they all sounded "smeared"! All I heard was a continuous "boooom" with a lot of bass to it!.. "What the ....?!" I was standing dumbfounded by such dreadful audio.
I thought that maybe I should increase the low-tone audio frequencies a bit in the Tonal Discrimination's 5-tone mode that I usually use for detecting around cellar holes. I assumed that this would help me to minimize the bass. But it did not work, and I still could not "separate" tiny non-ferrous signals from the booming iron responses. A response to a flattened aluminum beer can was the only high-tone signal without iron buzz I could hear and isolate from the low-tone iron signals.
Every time I came across a tiny high-tone squeak that could be an indication of a non-ferrous target that was partially masked by iron junk, I could not get a short but clear high-tone response to it, no matter in what direction I wiggled the coil. I heard the squeak, but, because of the booming audio, I could not hear whether or not the iron buzz (controlled by the Iron Volume setting) was accompanying it. So I just marked one such a target spot to examine it with my XP WS4 headset later. The problem was that, besides the excessive bass in sounds, the Grey Ghost headphones were making an effect of a permanent echo - it felt like being inside a steel barrel!
With such distractive and overwhelming audio, one may forget about "fishing" the tiny high-tone signals emitted by partially masked coins and other non-ferrous valuables out of a "pool" of the iron nails! Forget about utilizing a "Wiggling Search Coil" technique that is essential for metal detecting with the Deus! Forget about using the Tonal Discrimination (described below) that allows for greater detection depth! Forget about using the Iron Volume feature as an accessory to target ID! With such terrible audio that the Grey Ghost headphones produce, one would not be able to accomplish any of the above. Overall, one may as well just forget about using the Deus as a TONAL metal detector!
When I switched for the XP WS4 ear-clip headset and tried swinging the coil over the target spot I previously marked, I easily separated the short high-pitched tone signal from the iron buzz. The target turned out to be a Hessian pewter cuff button.
This Small Pewter Button Would Be Missed
If I Used Grey Ghost Headphones with My Deus
I tried everything I could think of to improve the audio of the Grey Ghost headphones to no avail. In fact, they sounded worse than the old Garrett headphones I used back in the 1990s. Then it hit me - these wireless Gray Ghost headphones were not designed for the XP Deus! They were designed just like the wired Grey Ghost models used for non-wireless metal detectors (and detectorists praise them), but with two exceptions: a coiled wire was eliminated, and the Deus module connector was screwed onto the ear cup's side.
During my test, I continued using the 5-tone mode of Tonal Discrimination, the most efficient mode for detecting in trashy areas, but could not "fish out" the tiny high-tone signals emitted by small non-ferrous targets from under the iron-nail blanket. Besides responses to aluminum beer cans, the only "well-pronounced" high-tone signals I was getting were the Deus' responses to large pieces of iron junk. Thus, my "Coin Shooting Around Cellar Hole" search program was "disabled" by the Grey Ghost headphones, and my coin shooting turned into "large iron junk" hunting.
Grey Ghost Headphones and Iron Junk I Found Using Them
I guess that, while designing the wireless Grey Ghost headphones for the Deus, the DetectorPro engineers forgot to include one Deus' important feature into their considerations, which, among other Deus' key features, makes the Deus superior over the reputed metal detectors of a "wire" era. And this feature is Tonal Discrimination which is based on a simple concept: absence of bass in audio responses to targets provides best comprehension of signals to a detectorist. That is why a Deus user can get decent audio target ID while using the cheapest set of headphones of the ear-clip type, and without getting overwhelmed with responses to iron! More information and details are given in my article on XP Deus Tonal Discrimination. What was I testing? To say it politely, a pair of the basso, "muffled" headphones suitable for listening to reggae music under the influence.
After having formed my harsh judgment of the Grey Ghosts, I still thought that maybe it was just my personal taste reflecting on my disliking the heavy bass audio in headphones used for metal detecting. So I decided to let my metal detecting buddies - all XP Deus users, try the wireless Grey Ghost headphones with their machines and express their opinions. Well, their reactions were... (CONTINUED on Next Page...)
