High Fidelity Earplugs

[Stokely]

Personally, when it comes to rehearsal I don't intend to ever sit in a loud practice again.    I regret all the jet-plane-loud practices I used to do.   After doing a few "semi-acoustic" ones to learn songs when our drummer was out of town (he already knew the songs in question), it was so nice to be able to talk through changes without shouting    Now I won't go back, even if the drummer is there.

step 1 - everyone learns the songs at home (!)
step 2 - quietly go through endings/breaks/trouble spots in practice
step 3 - pick an easier gig to debut the new songs.

That said, we have a new drummer and a rehearsal scheduled.   If I had my preference he'd whack a chair cushion or something for most of it, as i say to work out the changes and endings.   I may have to resort to IEMs at practice, and if the bandleader doesn't set up the mixer I'll stuff my ears and simply won't be able to hear shit (I already know the songs, the drummer is the one getting up to speed.)

[David R]

I swear by my Etymotic ER20s. Have used them for years, I never leave home without them, and they’re like $15 a pair at B&H or other vendors.

 

I should probably get customs but the idea of the moulding process and pouring stuff in my ears just gives me the shivers.

[adamcz]

17 minutes ago, David R said:

I swear by my Etymotic ER20s. Have used them for years, I never leave home without them, and they’re like $15 a pair at B&H or other vendors.

I have these too. Visually, the $50 Eargasm ones look just like this. Anybody have both and can say if there's a noticeable difference?

[MRkeys]

I’m the one that started this thread and weighing back in. I have been using the air pods with great success! Proper sealing is a MUST! I put the small tips on because of comfort, but was thinking the mics were distorting. If not sealed they will pop/crack/fart. I now have memory foam tips from Amazon and like them. Also they work amazing for hearing aides! Problem is an old fart trying to navigate through all the pages to get to transparent settings is awful. I would finally get there and not remember what I did. Also the limiting varies around depending on SPL and time, so sometimes the song starts at one volume then limits down after a few seconds. Takes getting use to , especially when the keys kick off a song. 

 

Before the air pod 2’s I tried some cheap re20 look alike. They were awful.
 

Then I tried Earasers. These are the closest to flat and most natural sounding ear plugs I have found. But the AirPods work way better for me. 

 

[Coker]

4 hours ago, MRkeys said:

I’m the one that started this thread and weighing back in. I have been using the air pods with great success! Proper sealing is a MUST! I put the small tips on because of comfort, but was thinking the mics were distorting. If not sealed they will pop/crack/fart. I now have memory foam tips from Amazon and like them. Also they work amazing for hearing aides! Problem is an old fart trying to navigate through all the pages to get to transparent settings is awful. I would finally get there and not remember what I did. Also the limiting varies around depending on SPL and time, so sometimes the song starts at one volume then limits down after a few seconds. Takes getting use to , especially when the keys kick off a song. 

 

Before the air pod 2’s I tried some cheap re20 look alike. They were awful.
 

Then I tried Earasers. These are the closest to flat and most natural sounding ear plugs I have found. But the AirPods work way better for me. 

 

You can set up the different modes, like Transparency Mode, to cycle through when you squeeze the end of the air pod. I no longer have to use my phone to set the mode I want in real time. 

[Reezekeys]

53 minutes ago, Coker said:

You can set up the different modes, like Transparency Mode, to cycle through when you squeeze the end of the air pod. I no longer have to use my phone to set the mode I want in real time.

 

Yes cycling through the modes is easy. I still find myself needing to use the phone to vary the amplification setting in transparency mode - from 0 when I'm playing, to 100 when I'm using them as hearing aids! I also mess with the "reduce ambient sounds" setting depending on where I am. So, still need the phone. Not complaining, these things are the best $200 I've ever spent.

[Stokely]

Do you mean you set them to transparency, and it knocks down some of the volume even still?   So you don't have any signal running through the airpods?   (I generally use noise-cancelling mode when doing things like the dishes while I listen to my book, but holy hell does the wife get annoyed when she asks a question that I can't hear!)

As an aside, I just got mine run through the wash when I left them in a pocket.  They were making high-pitched squeals at first, I figured "that's it", but as they dried out they went back to normal.  if you get them wet, advice I read online was to let them dry out before trying to charge them, which makes sense.

I just had a band practice where I had my normal stereo in-ears, man it was great to actually hear everything   

[Reezekeys]

1 hour ago, Stokely said:

Do you mean you set them to transparency, and it knocks down some of the volume even still?   

 

No, enabling transparency does not reduce volume more - it just feeds in some of the high end that passive earpugs (or in this case the Airpod Pros themselves) would block, resulting in a more balanced sound. In addition, the limiter will kick in and reduce the amplification level further when things gets loud (when "Loud Sound Reduction" is turned on). But when used this way I keep the amplification level at 0 or slightly above. "0" doesn't really mean zero as in microphones completely off - there is still some pass-through; there's just no need to amplify much, since the point is to keep the total spls lower than what you'd experience with no ear protection at all.

 

I wish these Airpod Pros had a variable noise-cancelling feature - that would make them way better musicians' earplugs, imo. Maybe that's not technically possible. I've switched to noise-cancelling mode a few times and they reduce the level too much for me to be able to play.

[Stokely]

Funny how at gigs even though I'm maybe 10-15 ft from the drum set, I desire them to be miked up (with an overhead) so I can hear the cymbals with my in-ears in    It's like, take everything out then add it back in, but lower!

I'd consider ambients, but I've already spent so much on various earbuds, including customs which I don't like....our guitarist has some Westone ambients that he is not using, I might see if I can try them out.