Airpods as Ear Plugs!

Long story short: Joined a new band as a second guitarist; i grew very comfortable and familiar with my FM9 direct to FOH with IEMs setup. Not sure how much I will be using my IEMs with this band so I will be going direct with an Atomic CLR as a backline cab. Earplugs feel so weird to me now so last night I tried the Apple Airpods Pro 2 Transparency mode during rehearsal. It was cool but I need to try it again. It works by reducing volume levels after they’ve reached a certain threshold (I think 85 dB’s?) so it seemed like theyre not working because some of the loudness is still there, but I do think it leans more towards the “hear the sound as you normally would just lower volumes” camp. I do think they’re better than regular earplugs. But my setup last night wasn’t ideal; we have pretty chill rehearsals so I just go direct into one PA speaker. I honestly could hear everything fine and while it felt loud (louder than normal ear plugs for sure) it wasn’t too loud. I honestly think I just needed to turn my guitar up on the board and I wouldve heard myself fine. For those reasons it’s hard to draw any conclusions. I will definitely be trying this again though for sure because it didnt really alter the sound the way normal ear plugs do. And my ears felt fine after rehearsal and feel okay today. Be great if other people here tried it and see what other results we get! Apple could really take advantage of this if they began to offer some custom EQ options for the transparency mode.

P.S. - Before rehearsal, I took a hearing test via the Mimi app and got an audiogram. You’re able to load the audiogram into the Apple Health app and make some EQ changes that way. See the attached photos for reference. I dont really know how this EQ works or how I would manipulate it to achieve a better noise coming through so I left it alone. Im all ears for suggestions though!!

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Foam earplugs are junk for music.

While the Airpods can work - a pair of Eargasm’s Musician’s plugs work better for me. They reduce the sound level without losing fidelity and work amazingly well.

They also have the added benefit of being invisible vs something like an Airpod. Nevermind the expense and tendency for Airpods to work loose after a while.

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Ive heard good things about the Eargasms. maybe ill check them out. What made you go with them over other options?

Everything else was either too expensive (custom molded) or seemed less durable.

A client of mine is an audiologist. When I told her I got the Eargasms over the Etymotics she said “The Eargasms are meant for musicians and a better choice.”

I need a good live music solution for going to clubs. Why are some of the Eargasm plugs different colors? Blue is cheapest, but then they have clear that’s a few dollars more, etc.? And then they have things like cleaning kits, what is necessary? The price of a replacement filter is almost the cost of an entire new unit, does one just replace the entire plug when it dies?