GMA 340 / 345 sidetone quality

[PT20J]

I’m planning a panel upgrade including a GMA 345, GTN 650Xi, and GNC 255.

I recently flew an airplane with the same GPS and Nav/Com but a GMA 340 audio panel. I noticed poor quality of sidetone and it was the same when transmitting on either radio. Specifically, the background noise level was high and the pilot audio sounded distant and slightly muffled. I believe the sidetone is generated in the audio panel. I was using a Zulu 3 headset.

Has anyone else noticed this with a GMA 340?

Is the GMA 345 better?

Skip

[LANCECASPER]

22 hours ago, PT20J said:

I’m planning a panel upgrade including a GMA 345, GTN 650Xi, and GNC 255.

I recently flew an airplane with the same GPS and Nav/Com but a GMA 340 audio panel. I noticed poor quality of sidetone and it was the same when transmitting on either radio. Specifically, the background noise level was high and the pilot audio sounded distant and slightly muffled. I believe the sidetone is generated in the audio panel. I was using a Zulu 3 headset.

Has anyone else noticed this with a GMA 340?

Is the GMA 345 better?

Skip

Since you're going all Garmin why not go with the 350 and get 3-D Audio and Telligence? Labor is going to be the same, for a couple hundred dollars difference those would be nice features.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/64297

If Telligence isn't important to you, the PS Engineering 450B is the gold standard in audio quality and has their version of 3-D audio also.

https://www.ps-engineering.com/PMA450B.html