Etymotic ER20XS ETY Earplugs Set - High-Fidelity Hearing Protection - Up to 20 dB Sound Reduction - Reusable - Includes Large Clear Eartips, Foam Eartips, Neck Cord & Case

As a musician who is constantly in a performance environment, these provide amazing noise reduction and protection of my ears. Super easy to use and carry around. They fit well and are a small price to pay for the protection they offer for my ears.

Whether you are playing in a school band or orchestra, a professional musician, or simply going to a concert (non-classical), these musician's earplugs are essential to the longevity of your hearing. The normal, disposable orange earplugs are great at blocking out harmful volumes of noise, but also skews the perception of sound for those playing in a musical group or listening to a concert. These earplugs, as marketed, are "high-fidelity," meaning that the effect of wearing them is more similar to "turning the volume down" rather than blocking out certain frequencies entirely. A rock band will still sound as great with these in, just at a volume that will not damage your ears.For those who are in a band or orchestra, these earplugs have some weird side effects that take getting used to. Unlike the experience of a mere concertgoer, the act of playing an instrument (especially one that is in contact with your body) changes the way you'll hear yourself. As a clarinetist, these earplugs alter how I hear myself dramatically due to the nature of how the instrument is played. For musicians, these earplugs are essential to saving your hearing for a long and enjoyable career, though they take getting used to. I recommend acclimating to them by practicing with only one earplug, and alternating between ears (depending on which side you need to protect during rehearsals/concerts).

So these do work. They lower the volume as opposed to blocking the sound (like a foam earplug would). However, at least for me, you do lose the feeling of the music. You lose a lot of highs. Mids sound fine, maybe a tad muddled. Bass sounds fine too. But losing the highs definitely takes away from the soul of the music.Now, with that being said, it is MUCH better than foam ear plugs. It *IS* like turning down the volume, but it's also like switching from your expensive home audio system to a portable bluetooth speaker.The genre of music DOES matter. For anything with instruments I almost never wear these. I'd rather hear the full body of music. But for EDM these things are LIFE SAVERS. Er, ear savers, I guess. EDM is more about the lows and mids and less about the highs, so these earplugs don't ruin the sound as much. I was just a few rows away from the stage during a Bassnectar show, so I was close to some gnarly loud speakers. Not only were my ears very well protected, but everything still sounded great. My friends had to retreat to the back because their ears were hurting so much, but I was able to stay up front.Later in the year I purchased "EarPeace HD Concert Ear Plugs - High Fidelity Hearing Protection for Music Festivals, DJs & Musicians (Standard, Red Case)" (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076VTXWBP/). In comparison the EarPeace was much more comfortable. The Etymotics start to dig into your ear and become uncomfortable after a while. The EarPeaces fit much more softly in your ear. However, the Etymotics had far superior sound quality than the EarPeaces. The EarPeaces sounded much more muddied than the Etys. Granted, I only tried the mid-grade sound dampening filter of the EarPeaces (they came with three filters, most dampening, some dampening, least dampening). Next time I will try the least to see how they compare to the Etys.Now back to the Etys. I never tried the foam plugs. The carrying case sucks, it's difficult to use and open. Also, don't get caught up on having a lanyard. With both the Etys and the EarPeaces neither plug would simply fall out of your ear without coercion. And when you take out the plugs and use the lanyard to rest them on your shoulders, it honestly feels like the lanyard could fall off me at any moment. The EarPeaces didn't come with a lanyard, which had me worried. But when using them in the field I realized I didn't need it and I was better off putting them directly back into their case anyway. (Which, btw, EarPeace has the superior case).So yes, the Etymotics do work. They don't work great, although they work better than EarPeace. They aren't very comfortable, however, I've found that you can't rely on someone else's definition of comfort. Everyone's ear canal is shaped different.

Having done the orange Mack's earplugs thing for concerts before, I really wanted to avoid the generic in-ear foam plugs (or any over-ear headphones) for going to live concerts. Regular plugs muffle EVERYTHING to the point that the music I've paid to hear sounds like the Swedish Chef screaming into a pillow.I settled on these Etymotic plugs based on a single recommendation after having posted a request for recs on Reddit. The stipulations were:1) They had to be in-ear. The reasoning being over-ear protection is very bulky for anything that actually protects well enough to use. I'm old enough where I don't care what anyone says about how "uncool" I am wearing ear protection.2) They had to include a non-flange option. My wife cannot use flanged ear plugs due to numerous ear piercings on different spots of her ears. For the same reason, she cannot wear over-ear pro as in #1. I was pretty sure she'd be stuck with regular foam plugs until I found these. I did see a "moldable" plastic ear plug set exists from another manufacturer, but I read extensively that they are very uncomfortable to wear after only an hour or two.3) They couldn't cost an arm and a leg to buy without knowing how they'd function. Each set of these plugs was $25 at the time of my purchase, so they weren't about to break the bank for a "risk" purchase based on a lone recommendation.Overall: yeah, these are definitely a winner. The flanged tips were comfortable for me. The foam tips were comfortable for my wife. We were both pretty happy with the total volume reduction (no ear pain/ringing at the end of the concert) and exceedingly pleased with the limited distortion to the music/vocals. There definitely is SOME distortion, but, compared to standard foam plugs, these are definitely high-fidelity.We're looking into professional custom-made plugs for both of us, but I'll definitely return for more of these if the custom plugs don't happen and if/when my current set of these wears out.