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The purpose of this purchase was to see if I could use noise isolation inside my motorcycle helmet to listen to music with clarity and not destroy my hearing. 

I got these off ebay for about $20 from an ebay store.  They are a ‘homemade’ combination of Koss The Plug earphones + Etymotic ER4 noise isolation plugs called Koss hybrids on ebay.  Separately, the Koss unit sells for $10 and the plugs are (I think) 3 pair for $8.  There is minimal rework involved because you just remove the stem from the OE Koss earplug and shove it inside the ER4.

The sound is actually decent.  I have a problem with the size and the function:

The size for my Shoei X-11 helmet is too big.  It is possible that I am a moron and cannot figure out how to install them properly, but I don’t think that’s the case.  The speaker unit does not fit flush in my ear when installed and many times the plugs separated from the speaker.  That means off with the helmet and try again.  I just found myself messing with it too much.

That leads me to the function.  The plugs use a stem that slides over a small stalk that protrudes out of the speaker.  Its an interference fit that keeps them in place.  Interference fits work well with metal parts, but not when one is a deformable plastic.  The hole of the stem opened up on mine when they separated inside my helmet once.  From that point forward, the interference fit was compromised.

In general, the sound is good, the price is cheap, and the concept is great.  In fact, that is why I bought them…proof of concept.  I wanted to see if the isolation would eliminate the wind noise allowing me to listen to music at a normal level before I spent a wad on a higher fidelity set.  And when I got them to stay in, all was well.

The Good

• Cheap
• Decent sound for under $20 but far from high fidelity
• Readily available - ebay
• Proof of concept

The Bad

• My success rate for putting on my helmet without the speaker separating from the plug was less than 50%
• Relying on an interference fit for a deformable plastic will likely not have longevity with helmet installs and removals.

The Ugly

• They ebay guy I bought them from used the ‘grab bag’ theory for color selection…I got light purple.

Overall Rating: