Since I bought the Cherokee and we have been planning some 500 mile cross country trips, I have wanted to add the ability to play music through our headsets.  The Cherokee has a PS-Engineering PM501 intercom installed.  This is your basic entry level monaural intercom.  It works great as an intercom, but the previous owner did not have it wired for an external audio input.  It does have the ability to take an an audio input as long as it is a "line level" input.  So if you are thinking you can plug the iPod's headphone jack directly into the intercom, you would be mistaken.  You could take the headphone level output of the iPod and use that, but another box was going to need to be installed to convert that output to a line level signal.  Anyway, can you tell that this is getting complicated???  Not only that, but the music would still be mono.  I could have upgraded to a stereo intercom, but that option was looking close to $800 installed.  I would just as soon wait and put that kind of money into the RV.

Tami and I are using BOSE ANR headsets which have wonderful sound capabilities with the right input.  Then again, they should for what they cost...

Sporty's had just come out with an audio accessory that plugs in between the intercom and your headphones.  This seemed like a simple solution to get audio into the cockpit for our trips.  I liked this media adapter because it also had a provision to plug in a cell phone and talk through your aviation headsets.  Here are my observations of this device after a few cross country flights:

POSITIVES:

• It is the cheaper of the two devices (street price of $99)
• It will play music and you can send and receive calls through your aviation headsets.  It comes with two separate patch cords.  1- for your audio player and 1- for your cell phone.
• It is cheaper than PS-Engineering's Muse.
• It is portable.

NEGATIVES:

• It doesn't mute when traffic comes over the radio or intercom.
• It attenuates the signal coming from the radio and intercom.  You will have to turn your radio and intercom up to hear them as loudly as when the media adapter is not installed.
• it is not a stereo device and the sound quality is what I would call "telephone quality".
• It is advertised as amplified, but even with my iPod turned all the way up, the music is not very loud.
• When using this device, plugging in the headset to the unit keys the mic on the radio.  Without pushing the PTT button, Tami has talked to Center thinking that she is only talking over the intercom.  This is not a good situation.
• Plugging in the cell phone to make a phone call is shaky at best.  Every time I use it, whoever I call, complains that they can't hear me.  If you think that you can make a quick call while in-flight, forget it.  My experience has been that you cannot get very good cell signals when above 2000' agl.  Combine that with the difficulty of the person to hear you, and making a cell phone call is a "why bother".

• We needed to make a quick call on a recent trip to my folks to confirm our ETA.  Tami tried to make the call using this device.  After several "no joy" attempts, I descended to around 1000' agl to get a cell signal and told Tami to take off her headsets and make the call the "old fashion way".  I throttled back to slow flight to reduce the engine and wind noise and she made the call.  It worked.

• There are a lot of cords and devices hanging around in the cockpit.  It gives a real feeling of cockpit clutter. (A pet peeve of mine)

My Opinion:  If you mainly want it to make a phone call, make it on the ground before you leave.  If want to  listen to music, go with PS-Engineerings Muse.  Read on....

After my luke warm attachment to the Sporty's audio device, I opted to try for the PS-Engineering Muse to plug into my headsets.  Since Tami and I have drastically different music tastes, this is actually a good compromise.  I wanted something simple to plug in, with good sound, and a mute feature when someone talks on the radio or intercom.  My observations of this device:

POSITIVES:

• Fewer cords in the cockpit allowing for reduced cockpit clutter.
• It turns on and off automatically when it detects a signal
• It plays your music in stereo
• Music can be played louder and sounds a lot better than Sporty's version.
• It has a "soft mute" which reduces the music volume when someone comes over the radio or intercom.  This feature can be turned off with a switch on the side of the Muse.

NEGATIVES:

• A little more pricey than Sporty's version.  (street price of $169)
• It will not allow you to use your cell phone through your aviation headsets.
• The battery continues to drain when not in use (the unit draws a trickle current while monitoring for a external signal).  A ON-OFF switch would have been easier than removing the battery.
• The wire and plug that plug into your intercom is not very long so the Muse just hangs in mid-air.  Would have been nice to be able to tuck away in a side pocket.

Forget about making cell phone calls with the Sporty's device.  In fact, I would forget about the Sporty's version of the audio player.  If you want music in the cockpit without having to re-wire your intercom, then the Muse is the way to go.