Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
Yes, the whole point is they let sound through, while theoretically just lowering the volume level without actually changing the sound signature, so it doesn't sound muffled like with foam earplugs. If you're trying to block snoring, use regular foam earplugs.
Some info on earplugs:
One of the original popular concert earplugs was made by Etymotic, called the ER-20. These were rebranded by a lot of companies (such as Vater). You can look up a picture to see how common that model is. Then Etymotic released the ER-20-XS which these look like. The XS sound a bit better, but they are definitely a different earplug. Those are definitely good-sounding.
It is simply hit and miss for any other manufacturers earplugs, because unless they post a graph that shows smooth attenuation across the entire frequency range, we can't know for sure if they'll actually sound that good, apart from hearsay reports. However, the filter inside these, the way it looks, looks to be the same style of filter commonly used in IEMs to change their sound signature (the light grey foam).
I would only be concerned with sweat or rain getting on the surface of that foam, soaking it and muffling the earphone.
All in all it looks like a good bet, pick them up, but if you even occasionally visit concerts and understand the importance of keeping your ears young, get a pair of etymotic ER20XS as well.. Can be found for 20 on amazon.
These prices are totally insignificant for your ability to continue to hear high quality sound as you get older.