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Custom in-ear headphones

M

Manfred

Guest
I just finished "making" my custom in-ear head phones from http://www.earfuze.com/product.html I bought the Motorsports Fuzelite.

First impressions - excellent audio quality and fit. The "naked" headphones are short and do not stick out of the ear enough to allow the helmet to push on them as many other products do. Even without the custom fit material, these would be a great improvement over many devices.

The two-part material used to make the custom fit which blocks out ambient sound is color coded; I used red for right. The material is super soft and almost pours into the ear, on top of the headphones. The instructions tell you how to smush it down into you ear so it will hook on the part above the opening.

15 minutes of listening to tunes while it cures.

Once cured, the material is firm and very light. With a little experimentation, it's easy to put them your ears and remove them. I don't see any likelihood of helmet interference - putting on, removing, or wearing - as these devices are virtually flush with the ears. I couldn't hear the TV with the installed.

Seem to be very comfortable - a perfect fit for my ears. Not bad at all for $35.

I went out the garage and grabbed my helmet. No problem pulling the helmet on - Ear Fuze stayed in place. Absolutely NO pressure from the helmet on these headphones! The right one was pulled out when I pulled the helmet off - I think this is a learning issue and no big deal.

I give these headphones two thumbs up!

Update: When I tried these with the helmet, I noticed I could hear the TV; it was muffled quite a bit. Turns out the TV was muted initially :)
 
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Please report back to us when you have logged some miles under your helmet with these ear speakers. I am always looking for affordable, workable ear speakers. The ones I have tried often lost their seal when my helmet was put on or were further seated into the ear canal by the helmet. I am interested in your long term review. Thanks. Paul
 
I couldn't find anything on their site about NRR value of them. Any guesses?
 
I couldn't find anything on their site about NRR value of them. Any guesses?

By NRR do you mean noise reduction value? I've used Phillips SHN2500 in-ear, BOSE over ear and Plane Quite on ear. The Plane Quite replaced my BOSE after the BOSE died.

I think these Ear Fuze units are as good as the active noise reduction of the Phillips units, which are rated at 10 db. The Phillips go into the ear and generate some "white noise"; the Ear Fuze cover the entire ear opening and muffle all the sounds before they enter your ear.

I hope to take a 6 hour day trip into the local hill country in a week or two and will try these out and post a report.
 
I couldn't find anything on their site about NRR value of them. Any guesses?


Looking at the product, I don't believe there will be any significatn NRR. A noise seal is made down in the ear canal, consider the way a foam plug fits and works.
The material in the outer ear mainly serves to hold the plug in place.
10db reduction won't cut it when you are generating 100db+ of wind noise. Turning up the tunes will only mask the windnoise, and the extra volume will damage your hearing.
 
Would also be definitely interested in hearing what you think after several hours on the road. I'm on my second pair of custom fit (by audiologists) earplugs. The first were good, but the wire kept pulling out of the speaker module. The second are much better, but some ambient sounds still get through.
 
Looking at the product, I don't believe there will be any significatn NRR. A noise seal is made down in the ear canal, consider the way a foam plug fits and works.
The material in the outer ear mainly serves to hold the plug in place.
10db reduction won't cut it when you are generating 100db+ of wind noise. Turning up the tunes will only mask the windnoise, and the extra volume will damage your hearing.

That's certainly my -umm- impression. :D
 
Regarding noise reduction - the actual headphone is a foam covered device that is settled into the ear opening, as with any other in-ear device. The mold material encapsulates the headphone and seals between it and the ear. This unit would appear to me to provide as much - or more - passive noise reduction as any other in-ear device. Probably better than the Phillips active noise reduction because the Ear Fuze fit better in the ear and do not rely on added noise to mask ambient noise.
 
Would also be definitely interested in hearing what you think after several hours on the road. I'm on my second pair of custom fit (by audiologists) earplugs. The first were good, but the wire kept pulling out of the speaker module. The second are much better, but some ambient sounds still get through.

New earplug users frequently feel that all noise is blocked. There is a period of time until you acclimate to the reduction of sound when you start using earplugs. You will always have some ambient sounds getting through. There are no 100% noise blocking earplugs. An earplug will only reduce the ambient noise.
Use an old cell phone wired earphone clip on your cord as a stress relief to keep the wires from pulling out.
 
I've heard that audiologists make the same stuff as the guys who target the motorcycle market, but do it for about half the price or less. Anybody have any experience with this?
 
I've heard that audiologists make the same stuff as the guys who target the motorcycle market, but do it for about half the price or less. Anybody have any experience with this?

Not with speakers, but custom earplugs from an audiologist cost me more than plugs purchased from one of the vendors at a motorcycle show. Over the years I've paid:

$55 at a motorcycle show
$100 from an audiologist
$75 at a motorcycle show

The current plugs are bright BLUE. Maybe now I'll be able to find them when I drop one.

// marc
 
Any worries about blocking too much ambient noise? Things like car horns, screeching tires, naked girls trying to get your attention...you know. normal stuff.
 
Any worries about blocking too much ambient noise? Things like car horns, screeching tires, naked girls trying to get your attention...you know. normal stuff.

I haven't worn the Ear Fuze units on the bike yet, but sitting in living room, I could hear enough to lead me to believe that I will be able to hear horns, screeching tires, etc. - but I'm not sure how much noise naked girls make trying to get my attention. Do you plan on doing research on this?
 
Since I'm in Saudi Arabia the research possibilities will be limited. HOWEVER, I'm willing to carry my ipod to Europe this summer just to see how it works at the beach in St. Tropez. Not that my wife will let me go to St. Tropez. Maybe I'll just wear them into the bathroom when she is taking a shower, should be able to hear the screams then.
 
Weather was bad this past Saturday, so I canceled my ride and installed running lights on my boxer. Plan for a nice ride on 28 March and will test them out them.
 
They are not earplugs. They do not compare to my custom fit earplugs. If your helmet is noisy you might not like these. That's the down side.

On the up side they are comfortable (so far) and do reduce some noise, i.e. they are better than no hearing protection at all. They are roughly the equivalent of stuffing your fingers in your ears.

I've not used mine for more than an hour at any one time, so don't know how comfortable they would be over an all day ride. That's not an issue for me as they are too noisy for an all day ride. I might break them out to help pass the time on a boring stretch of freeway before switching to my regular earplugs for the fun stuff in the twisties.

When making the plugs be sure to get the material around ALL sides of your ear. I got good coverage on the top, back, and bottom, but the front of the ear could have used more. Perhaps they would attenuate a bit better had I done that. :dunno

// marc
 
OK - I went for a 180 or so mile ride this past Saturday and tested out these EarFuse devices. Due to a malfunction with my MP3 player, I also tested them as ear plugs.

Sound quality is good. Volume does not have to be loud, as much ambient noise is blocked.

Comfort - best I've tried, but still not fully comfortable for me. The actual head-phone part pokes too far into my ear. Maybe my fault in how I constructed them. I'll look at the possibility of modifying the part that pokes into my ear canal.

Noise reduction: when my music stopped, the road and wind noise was about the same as when I wear good ear plugs.
 
I have a pair of Shure E4c in-ear headphones. The model has been replaced with the SE420MPA model. http://store.shure.com/store/shure/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.107540700

Yes, they cost as much as a new iPod Touch 32GB. But then you understand paying more for quality because you ride a $20,000 motorcycle.

They don't need to be customized to fit your ear canal. They come with a large assortment of differently sized "flanges" to fit your particular ear canal. When the flange is properly sealed against the wall of the ear canal, external sounds are greatly muted. There are good reasons professional musicians use Shure products on stage and in the recording studio, and you should use them for those same reasons.
 
Ain't no way I can justify spending $430 on any headphones. The price of the bike has nothing to do with it - that's a non sequitur.
 
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