I have some hearing problems that cause me physical pain in loud environments, so I always have one pair of 'musician' earplugs with me on keychain. And I think I own all ~5 major kinds of universal 'musician' earplugs on the market. Of them all, those are my least favorite, and are not used much those days. Thing is, you can not just insert them with your fingers, you have to use special insertion tool that allows you to really jam those in your ear canals and twist. Sound-wise, they are also nothing special, there are others that allow cleaner sound through. Their size in on the large size of medium, and users with ear canals larger than mine (medium-to-small) might find them more comfortable.
Anyway, if you do not have small ear canals and do not mind the hassle of easy-to-lose insertion tool, they can be good.
I find it a little misleading that their picture typically omits insertion tool.
On the upside, their sound filtering cartridge can be removed, and then they could be easily fitted on Etymotic ER4S IEMs, creating one more option for soft silicone double-flange tip for those picky phones. Yes, those double-flanges are more comfortable (to me) than stock Etymotic tri-flanges, although they are not nearly as deep of a fit. And those long Etymotics shafts work great as 'insertion tool'. Just tried this combination, and so far I like it.
HualicopterMy personal 3 top choices (best choice first).
- D'Addario Pacato - easy to use, comfortable, good sound, inexpensive; cons - soft silicone gets dirty very soon
- Livemusic HearSafe - Deeper insertion/isolation than Pacato, fine sound, inexpensive
- Earasers - least isolating, very strong bass (a bit too much for my taste), more fiddly to use, look very cool, expensive
OlekI have a pair of large size erasers that I really love and use for clubbing and concerts. How do these Alpines match up in terms of sound quality, isolation, sizing and wearing comfort?
OlekOlek, you say they use an insertion tool. But here and Amazon in listing what's in the box don't say anything about any such tool being in the package. Just checking, but are you sure that you're talking about this product?
Anyway, if you do not have small ear canals and do not mind the hassle of easy-to-lose insertion tool, they can be good.
I find it a little misleading that their picture typically omits insertion tool.
On the upside, their sound filtering cartridge can be removed, and then they could be easily fitted on Etymotic ER4S IEMs, creating one more option for soft silicone double-flange tip for those picky phones. Yes, those double-flanges are more comfortable (to me) than stock Etymotic tri-flanges, although they are not nearly as deep of a fit. And those long Etymotics shafts work great as 'insertion tool'. Just tried this combination, and so far I like it.