Nick B
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2005
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Greetings Learned Forum:
Because I did not want to get too OT in the E4/SF5 thread, I thought I would break this issue out into its own thread and welcome your coments. I ride a motorcycle and use a full face helmet. I have always worn ear protection, starting with foam inserts and eventually, had custom molds made. I figured that as long as I was attenuating the outside noise, I might as well replace it with some good tunes.
I tried various earbud style phones, but they never sat far enough inside my ear canals so as to not be pulled out by the snug fitting helmet going on. Eventually, I had another set of ear molds made that were drilled out and I inserted Sony plugs into them.
They worked well enough (not quality sound though). I could still hear loud noises while riding, such as horns and trucks. I live in a very rural area, and the vast majority of my riding is on two lane country roads. In the prior thread, people expressed concerned over the use of canal phones on a motorcycle. The alternative, I assume, are phones that do not attenuate outside noise. Unfortunately, the defeats my original purpose of hearing protection. It would only add more noise that would be in a contest with the already really loud road noise. I think if used judiciously, canal phones can safely be used on a motorcycle. I welcome your comments and differing points of view.
As far as which canal phones to use, I am quickly learning that there are some phones that are automatically off the list because of how far they physically protrude outside of the ear. This is a big consideration for me, since my helmet fits flush against my ears. So looking at phones that protrude minimally, which offer the best sound? From reading others' discriptions and given my personal financial circumstances, I was quite interested in the E4/SF 5 debate. Both of these phones seemed to fit the bill sonically. Unfortunately, they seem to out of the running when it comes to squeezing a helmet over them.
As always, I greatly appreciate your opinions and expertise. Thank you.
Nick B
Because I did not want to get too OT in the E4/SF5 thread, I thought I would break this issue out into its own thread and welcome your coments. I ride a motorcycle and use a full face helmet. I have always worn ear protection, starting with foam inserts and eventually, had custom molds made. I figured that as long as I was attenuating the outside noise, I might as well replace it with some good tunes.
I tried various earbud style phones, but they never sat far enough inside my ear canals so as to not be pulled out by the snug fitting helmet going on. Eventually, I had another set of ear molds made that were drilled out and I inserted Sony plugs into them.
They worked well enough (not quality sound though). I could still hear loud noises while riding, such as horns and trucks. I live in a very rural area, and the vast majority of my riding is on two lane country roads. In the prior thread, people expressed concerned over the use of canal phones on a motorcycle. The alternative, I assume, are phones that do not attenuate outside noise. Unfortunately, the defeats my original purpose of hearing protection. It would only add more noise that would be in a contest with the already really loud road noise. I think if used judiciously, canal phones can safely be used on a motorcycle. I welcome your comments and differing points of view.
As far as which canal phones to use, I am quickly learning that there are some phones that are automatically off the list because of how far they physically protrude outside of the ear. This is a big consideration for me, since my helmet fits flush against my ears. So looking at phones that protrude minimally, which offer the best sound? From reading others' discriptions and given my personal financial circumstances, I was quite interested in the E4/SF 5 debate. Both of these phones seemed to fit the bill sonically. Unfortunately, they seem to out of the running when it comes to squeezing a helmet over them.
As always, I greatly appreciate your opinions and expertise. Thank you.
Nick B