I’ve been looking at “hidden” earplugs that filter sound, but don’t mute to the point I can’t hear much; sometimes I’m in places that it’s not acceptable, or not practical to wear earbuds or headphones/ear defenders to mute sound while hearing clearly, but it’s loud enough I’m uncomfortable and need a solution (like a lecturer who speaks loudly, or church service). I also have trouble hearing people talk when there’s a lot of background noise going on, but it wasn’t the main thing I was searching for. When I found out there were such things as high fidelity ear plugs, I realized this was a great solution to both of my problems.
After doing my research, I was torn between the two brands because Eargasm has better ratings, but Downbeats were supposedly comfier, and were half the price. I’m wanting to use them for sleeping in a large, many bunk dorm room as well, so comfort with sleeping on my side is a must. Fortunately, they happened to have a lightning deal on Amazon for Eargasm plugs when I was going to buy the Downbeats, making them only a few dollars different. So, thanks to the sale, I got both, and decided I should make a detailed review focusing on feel in ear and sound quality to help others in my predicament of just relying on ratings on Amazon.
Since this review is detailed, I’ll put a keep reading to not clog dashes, but tl;dr: Eargasm plugs are worth the price for clarity to volume reduction and if you don’t know if you have regular or smaller ear canals, but Downbeats are half the price and almost just as good quality for loud places like concerts or malls for people with regular to smaller ears.
Appearance
As far as packaging, Downbeats (on the left) is simple, the metal carrying case more slender and taller than Eargasm’s, but they actually have the same volume. Eargasm (on the right) does come with two earplug sizes (the ones on the far right are the smaller ones), which is good because I have smaller ears and the regular size didn’t fit well.
(Picture above shows the regular Eargasm plug on the left, Downbeats in the middle, and the small Eargasm plug on the right, with ruler for reference)
Both the smallest flange (flange is the flexible bit that goes in your ear) on the Downbeats and the middle flange on the smaller Eargasm plugs are approximately 1.3cm (0.51in) wide, with Downbeats just a hair smaller. The regular size Eargasm plugs 2nd flange is just over 1.4cm (0.55in). While that difference seems small, when it comes to your ear canal, it makes a big difference.
As far as sound reduction rating, the packages list 16 decibels reduction for Eargasm, and 18 decibels for Downbeats (see picture below). I didn’t notice much of a difference between the two volume wise, but I’ll discuss quality in that section below.
The blue thing in the Eargasm buds is the attenuation filter, which according to their Amazon page, “reduces noise evenly to maintain the full spectrum of sound while protecting hearing. Won’t muffle music or voices as foam plugs do.” It is removable, so I could transfer them from the regular size to the smaller plugs. Wearing the plugs without them doesn’t really reduce noise much because it leaves the middle wide open. If you don’t want that color, they do make clear ones. I got blue because it was the one on sale, and I don’t mind the color because I wear my hair down over my ears most of the time.
Feel in Ear
One reason I was looking at the Downbeats, besides price, was the fact that they were smaller in how much goes into your ear. They do feel pretty good in ear, soft and not irritating, and while some people in the Amazon reviews said they were hard to get out because the stem is small, my ears aren’t big enough to put them in super far so I had no issues with removal. (picture below with Downbeats in)
Surprisingly, the smaller Eargasm plugs felt almost the same as the Downbeats. They do stick out a little more due to being 3 flanged while Downbeats has only 2 flanges. With the attenuation filters, they feel slightly heavier, but I quickly got used to it; the material is very soft, not hard at all. The tab doesn’t bother me either because it’s so thin, and you can just turn the plug so the tab is sticking out if you don’t want it laying on your outer ear. (picture below with the small Eargasm earplugs in, with tab not adjusted to how I wear it)
Sound Quality
I did two controlled tests for sound quality. First, I listened to a song in my over the ear, noise cancelling headphones, without earplugs in as a calibration, making it just loud enough it was uncomfortable, but not painful. Then, I tried the Downbeats while listening to the song again. After that I listened to the song again at the first calibration volume, and then tried the Eargasm plugs.
Next, I used the Beltone hearing test for its tests of hearing words in crowd and white noise, since I want to also use these plugs to hear conversations in loud places better. I took the test before with no plugs, then tried it again with each brand of earplug at the same volume as I did the test without earplugs.
I also paid attention to sound when wearing them for the long period tests too, results of that are in the long use section below.
Downbeats
At the same volume as the calibration, the song was slightly muffled, enough to notice, and considerably quieter. However, when I increased the volume to a level that would be painful without ear plugs in, the muffled quality went away a bit, but it was still faintly noticeable.
In the Beltone test, it was overall easier to hear with the louder background noise, but that muffled effect came into play especially on my left ear (I have slightly less hearing capacity in that ear). It was enough that in both the crowd and the white noise tests, I messed up on the loudest round in my left ear.
Eargasm
At the same volume as calibration, the Eargasm plugs were slightly clearer, and when I put the volume up to the same level the Downbeats cleared up at, Eargasms sounded just a tad clearer, maybe a smidgen louder, but not enough I could say for sure it felt louder.
In the Beltone test, I got to each max level of background noise and could hear quite better than without the earplugs. I still struggled a tad, but I didn’t mishear anything wrong enough to click the wrong response with either ear.
Long Term Wear and Sleeping
As far as staying in while moving around, size is key on both. Downbeats run smaller, so they stayed in fine for me, but if you have big ears they may be too little and fall out (or little enough that you put them in far enough to make removal difficult, like the Amazon reviews say sometimes). They do make a larger size with a longer stem if that’s a concern.
Downbeats
I got quite used to them in my ear, and I wore them for two hours without any sensory issues or auditory comprehension mess ups, but I couldn’t “forget they were there” because anything in my ear makes my voice and sounds inside my mouth (i.e. swallowing, teeth clicking together) louder. It also means I have to remember to speak clearly because I tend to mumble and lower my voice when, for example, my ear is clogged, because my brain thinks it’s talking louder than it is.
Since Downbeats has the small stem, laying on my side it was fairly comfortable. I still knew they were there, but it didn’t hurt. I still probably would only sleep with one plug in the ear not on the pillow (I sleep on my side), but that’s just due to having something in my ear and laying on it in general, which doesn’t feel very great to me. That being said, they were more comfortable than the earbuds I used to block out sound in the large dorm sleep situation last time.
Eargasm
Again with size, the smaller ones fit me great, so they stayed in just fine (you should be able to shake your head, jump up and down, etc, without them coming out). If you don’t know your ear size, Eargasm has a higher chance of having a plug that will fit properly.
Since Eargasm plugs muffle less than Downbeats, overall I thought I heard more clearly. Like the Downbeats, I couldn’t “forget they were there” for the same reasons. A weird thing I noticed was if I had my headphones on over them (which wouldn’t be the normal way I’d use them), my tinnitus was louder than usual, but when I didn’t have headphones on, the ringing went away. Not sure why it did that exactly.
As far as sleeping, the filter makes Eargasm plugs a bit more noticeable in the ear, but surprisingly it wasn’t painful or even that much more uncomfortable than the Downbeats. I would still do just the one ear though like I said in the downbeats section.
Well, that is my review of the Eargasm and Downbeats earplugs. For what I need, Eargasm will work better, because I need to be able to hear clearly when in loud situations like a crowded mall. Though I still may use the Downbeats for sleeping when needed since that muffled quality doesn’t matter.
