GPS Earbud Recommendation

[Big-B]

I bought a Boostaroo amp to bump up the volume. Works pretty well with the helmet speakers. It will support up to 3 headsets. Battery life is pretty good using 2 AA batteries.

$28 at Radio Shack clicky

 

[SkooterG]

I too, find it extremely hard to believe a 48db noise reduction. I know of NO plug that claims that. And depending on helmet fit and ear shape, those look to have an awful big piece of hard plastic on the back of them that could get down right uncomfy in a hurry.

That's what's great about the S-plugs. The 'hard' part of the earbud speaker is extremely small.

 

[RaYzerman19]

I believe I saw a kit that lets you mold your own, and use them with your choice of earphones... can't remember where, but if I come across it, I will post.

 

[mferriter]

I saw these in a catalgue I got yesterday:

From here: clicky

They claim a 48db attenuation rate to deal with jet engine noise (product target is frequent travelers). You can order different ear canal foam to tailor the fit as well... at an extra cost, of course.

I have no experience with them, but am considering ordering a set as the $70 cost places them in the "upper-reasonable trial" zone for me.

48db - holy crap! All I'd hear is my own heart beat...LOL The 33 db foam ones I use now are almost too much, bu tonly almost. Me likey the quiety...

I agree - NO WAY - on the 48db noise reduction. The best commercially available foam earplugs are about 33db reduction. Unless they're adding some sort of active noise reduction I've never heard of, it's either a scam, misprint or they are referring to something else.

 

[Aasland]

I believe I saw a kit that lets you mold your own, and use them with your choice of earphones... can't remember where, but if I come across it, I will post.

Walmart (and I'm sure other places too) have a kit for creating custom earplugs. You mix some grey goo with blue goo and get light grey goo that you pinch in half and squish into your ears and wait for it to set up. I think it's $10/kit. it's similar to the stuff you use to take impressions with, except in this case you just use the impression as a plug.

EarFuze is a company that sells real crappy speakers with that goo which you use to make the earphones. I friend tried this, and the sound quality was so bad he threw them away and found some JVC isolating earphones that were good enough.

At the moment I'm experimenting with that goo and the Skullcandy Titans. I think I got one side good, on the other side something got pinched and blocks the sound, so I'll remold that. One problem with the Titans is their size - Im' tempted to try with the smaller ER6's but they just don't sound as good as the Titans.

One issue with the goo is that the surface is a little porous, not nice and smooth like custom molds made from impressions. That surface allows bacteria to be harbored, which will lead to irritation over time. Thus .. this solution might have a limited useful life. When I had custom earplugs made, they used the goo they pout in my ear, and dipped them in some sort of plastic to coat/seal them and six years later they are still the best earplugs (for comfort and attenuation) I've ever had. I wonder if I can get this plastic someplace?

I still have the molds from the broken Challengers .. I might be able to salvage some part of that, by somehow grafting the Titans to them and using the aforementioned goo.

Also .. the deeper you can get the seal, the quieter it will be. Having had many impressions taken (I wear hearing aids) I've gotten good at seeing where the impression of the canal goes past the skull (the texture of the impression changes). You don't want anything to go that far, so cut the impression off there if you can (for me that's about an inch into the canal). To get something that deep with sound you'll need to find a way to rig a tube for sound transmission, or drill ou the material. This gets tricky ... but again, the deeper it seals, the better.

So far .. my advice if you go this route:

1. Get two sets of goo. Use the first to practice.

2. The deeper into the canal the goo is, the better the seal.

3. Use quality speakers.

4. Practice, practice, practice!

At which point do I give up and look for bone-transmission technology ? No stereo though ..

 

[GreyGoose]

I wanted to thank everyone for their input. I just frigin love this forum. you guys rock. that being said, i just purchased the above set of nr10's off ebay for 55 bucks (and that included shipping). i'll give a review of them when i get them. I couldnt pass up the 48db noise reduction coupled with reviews about extended wear comfort. The reviews state that the phones are bass heavy which is exactly what we tend to lose with all the wind noise. With 48 db reduction, i cant imagine its going to actually matter (untill GPS jill starts talking to me in a deeper voice :yahoo: . .......thanx again everyone
GreyGoose

I hope this doesn't come across as crass, but...if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. I don't believe a 48db reduction for a minute. Please report back and let us know.

I'm approaching this purchase thinking that these plugs are offering the Maximum amount of reduction currently advertised. anything comfortable that meets or exceeds 33db of reduction and sounds good would make me pretty darn happy (expecially for 55 bucks). My real concern is about the size and there no way i'm gonna know untill i own them. Worst case is that i've got another set of phones for the gym. I've got an arai quantum II thats got nice cutouts around the ears, but theres not way for me tell how this setup will work without a purchase. in my original post (see above), i rigged some "standard" ear buds to my skull candy speakers (which about doubled the size of the original unit) and had no confort issues with the helmut on. Heres the reviews i found on this product:

https://tgsreviews.wordpress.com/2007/04/23...rphones-review/

https://www.ilounge.com/index.php/reviews/e...tion-earphones/

The reviews all say about the same thing. Very comfortable, very bassy, good value, good noise reduction. I'll be hard pressed to report the actual noise reduction i get in a real world situation, but i should be able to give everyone a good idea concerning fit,form, and function. I tend to be picky about this kind of stuff (which is why i had custom plugs made), and i'll transfer that attitude to my report.

GreyGoose

 

[Fred W]

I saw these in a catalgue I got yesterday:

From here: clicky

They claim a 48db attenuation rate to deal with jet engine noise (product target is frequent travelers). You can order different ear canal foam to tailor the fit as well... at an extra cost, of course.

The above headphones are identical to a set of Skullcandy Smokin' Buds earphones that I bought for $29, except for the grey foam seals. They do sound quite good considering the cost, but no matter what I used I could not get adequate noise reduction, even using cored out 33dBa foam earplugs for seals.

 

[GreyGoose]

I saw these in a catalgue I got yesterday:

From here: clicky

They claim a 48db attenuation rate to deal with jet engine noise (product target is frequent travelers). You can order different ear canal foam to tailor the fit as well... at an extra cost, of course.

The above headphones are identical to a set of Skullcandy Smokin' Buds earphones that I bought for $29, except for the grey foam seals. They do sound quite good considering the cost, but no matter what I used I could not get adequate noise reduction, even using cored out 33dBa foam earplugs for seals.

Fred,

sounds like you'll be very interested in the upcoming review. If the only problem you had with this set was noise reduction, and the only difference between these two sets is the noise reducing quality of the different earbuds, and your happy with the overal sound of what you have, we may actually be onto something.

also note: I wanted to clear up any confusion on the 48dB claim. The 48dB is the most sound the NR-10 will reduce in a specific frequency not the Noise Reduction Rating which you are referring to with the earplugs (NRR 32).

An official NRR is determined by testing across the entire frequency spectrum and combining the dB reduction from each specific frequency together for an average dB reduction.

NR-10 tested and it came back NRR 29 (better than active canceling headphones)..."

GreyGoose

 

[sportsguy]

also note: I wanted to clear up any confusion on the 48dB claim. The 48dB is the most sound the NR-10 will reduce in a specific frequency not the Noise Reduction Rating which you are referring to with the earplugs (NRR 32).
An official NRR is determined by testing across the entire frequency spectrum and combining the dB reduction from each specific frequency together for an average dB reduction.

NR-10 tested and it came back NRR 29 (better than active canceling headphones)..."

GreyGoose

This may be to our advantage then. If the attenuation rate targets frequencies in the lower range better, that would be more useful to us. I may try a set of these from eBay. .

 

[ffejtable]

For a cheap solution I use JVC HAFX33B Marshmallow In-Ear Stereo Headphones (Black). About $10 on sale when Circuit City was still in business. I can't buy the good stuff, I tend to break/lost things.

I now pair them to a Motorola S705 (bluetooth receiver) to be wireless to my phone and/or GPS.

 

[GreyGoose]

Just posted a full review of the product:

Comply nr10 Review