Cons — Not cheap; easy to lose.

Executive Summary

The Dekoni EARPLUGZ aim to attenuate ambient noise near-evenly across the frequency spectrum by 21 dB while not completely eliminating it. This is designed for situations where one still wants to stay aware of their surroundings at a reduced volume, such as in (heavy metal) concerts or simply on the bus/train on their daily commute or on the job.

Introduction

Noise is unwanted sound. We are sometimes in situations where ambient noise is getting unbearable. Some of us are sensitive towards low-frequency hums emitted from industrial installations, others cannot handle aggressive high-pitched noise from chainsaws and leaf blowers.

In this article, we are not talking about a device that produces sound but rather one that removes some of it. Noise annoys.

The easiest solution would be to eliminate most of the noise with either noise-cancelling headphones, or, much easier, with industrial-grade foam earplugs. This may work as long as we do not have to be aware to our surroundings, let’s say on the job, or when waiting for grandma’s phone call at home. Conventional earplugs also compromise our sense of balance considerably. I speak of experience as I live on a steep hill that ices up in the winter. Try descending with plugged ears…

Dekoni have teamed up with Lucid Audio and hearing-aid/hearing-protection manufacturer Etymotic Research to offer relief in such situations. The idea was to design small, light, and comfortable $30 “EARPLUGZ” that do not switch the sonic world around us completely off, but rather attenuate ambient noise by 21 dB. The user can still hear their surroundings in full sonic context but at a reduced level. The Dekoni EARPLUGZ are not designed as total noise eliminators, let’s say on airplanes or in bed at night.

Sound pressure level in dB is plotted on the logarithmic scale so that sound pressure doubles every 10 dB. If I calculate this correcetly, the Earplugz remove 75% of ambient noise, and this is claimed to happen nearly evenly across the frequency spectrum. This, if true, is amazing, as the majority of noise attenuating materials fail at very low frequencies.

Applications

The idea is noise attenuation while not losing contact to the surrounding environment, and also to protect our hearing from damage. Find a few applications for the EARPLUGZ that came to my mind. I am sure you can add a few more.

Protection from your own Activities

• Lawn mowing, vaccum cleaning
• Drilling, sawing, sanding, grinding, and other handymen chores

Protection from Activities by Others

• rock concert, movie theatres
• office noise, noisy libraries
• traffic noise, on the bus/train/airplane, at railway stations and airports
• car and motorbike races
• neighbour’s leaf/snow blower, hot tub, air conditioner, parties, barking dogs
• construction noise
• visiting mother-in-law

Physical Things

EARPLUGZ are tiny polycarbonate devices that work with the Gemini line of Dekoni’s BULLETZ foams. In the box, you find 3 pairs of Gemini foams (S/M/L), the pair of clear plastic shells, a somewhat waterproof aluminum case, a carabiner, and a lanyard. The Gemini are slow rebound foams with 3 mm bores that also fit a large number of earphones [BULLETZ fit chart]. They can be rinsed to remove earwax but need replacement every 3-6 weeks, depending on use.

The EARPLUGZ are featherlight and tiny that I do not really feel them at all. I doubt that they are easy to see by bystanders. Little handles allow to pull them out of the ear canals easily.

You find more details on the EARPLUGZ product page.

Testing

I had applied to test this product because I have several uses for it.

First, there is the crazy neighbour on the opposite site of the street who has the most aggressive sounding, high revving, 2-stroke weed whacker. When he cuts his grass, the offensive pitch travels right through our house walls.

Second, the neighbour in the attached home has an annoying air conditioner right by my driveway with a low-frequency hum and an aggressive compressor pitch in the higher frequencies,

And she also has a hot tub on her back deck that causes my (attached) house’s plastic siding to resonate, which results in a low-frequency hum inside my office.

Absolutely horrible after a while when sitting on my desk, as emitter and receiver are stationary, and the monotonous noise is excavating my sanity in the hot tub’s 2-3 hour heating cycles.

So when the first-mentioned neighbour whacked his weeds, recently, I stepped up with the EARPLUGZ. And it rounded the sharp, aggressive corners nicely off. The noise become somewhat tolerable, even at a short distance.

Similar with the air conditioner: the noice became less substantial and the nuisance essentially disappeared….at least for the time being.

The problematic low frequencies of the hot tub (120 Hz) were also not a problem as the noise was not very loud to begin with.

BUT, coincidentally, construction took place in the neighbourhood, ca 100 m away, and the ground was compacted by heavy machinery after water and electricity lines had been connected to a new house. This caused a small earthquake, and the EARPLUGZ struggled with those low-frequency seismic waves…and so did my picture frames…they moved.

On the city bus, I like to sit in the back, no the larger, more comfortable benches… right above the vibrating motor. And yes, it calmed the noise, down, too, although, in “real life”, I am using earphones on the commute.

Concluding Remarks

The Dekoni EARPLUGZ perform as intended in that they round the corners of ambient noise off. They even attenuate the low frequencies on buses and the low-frequency hum at my neighbour’s air conditioner to a tolerable level, and they really took the bite out of my other neighbour’s aggressive 2-stroke weed whacker.

Until next time…keep on listening!

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DISCLAIMER

The EARPLUGZ were provided by Dekoni for my review. And I thank them for that.

Get the EAPLUGZ from Dekoni.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.

The post Dekoni Earplugz Noise Attenuators Review – 2 Efficient Volume Knobs For Your Ears appeared first on Audio Reviews.

Pros — Fantastic Build and material choices
– Very comfortable
– Not as sweaty as the materials would suggest
– V-shaped tuning can be an interesting change from stock pads

Cons — Changes stock tuning too much, not for purists
– Price is higher than stock pads (due to material choices)
– Worse instrument separation/more congestion vs the stock pads

INTRODUCTION

Dekoni Audio is pretty well known for aftermarket earpads. They provide a range of options across a variety of price ranges and offer replacement earpads for popular models such as the Sennheiser HD6X0 lineup, Audeze LCD lineup, Denon/Beyerdynamic and so on. 

Their Elite series is basically as the name suggests: premium earpads made with premium materials. I received the Dekoni Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin and the Dekoni Elite Hybrid earpads (HD650 variant) for this review. Let’s see how things change between them and the stock pads.

Note: the ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. Dekoni Audio was kind enough to send the Elite pads for review. Disclaimer.

Price, while reviewed: $80. Can be purchased from Dekoni website.

PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY

IN THE BOX…

The earpads and some stickers. That’s about it.

APPEARANCE, HAPTIC, AND BUILD QUALITY

The Elite pads are built exceptionally well. The seams are well put together and fit and finish is top-notch. The stock Sennheiser pads look cheap and janky in comparison. The plastic mounts are glued to the back and didn’t seem to budge even with some force applied. 

For the Elite Hybrid pad you get a velour front (the part that touches your skin), leather sides, and fenestrated sheepskin on the inside. It’s an interesting choice of materials but the combination doesn’t look out of place. 

The Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin pad, on the other hand, has fenestrated sheepskin layers all around. Both earpads utilize memory foams inside though the foam on the Hybrid pad is softer/less dense.

One thing you should note is that these pads don’t come with the dampening foam (there is a foam between the drivers and the earpads on the HD600 series headphones). So you should probably keep the old foams handy (or get a replacement of those foams elsewhere). 
5/5

ERGONOMICS, COMFORT

The Elite Hybrid and the Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin pads are both very comfortable but there are some differences between them. Due to the softer foam, the Elite Hybrid pad has a more supple fit. I personally find it more comfortable of the two though again: both are a substantial improvement over the stock earpads on the comfort front. In terms of feel the Fenestrated Shipskeen is smoother vs the coarser Elite Hybrid pad. I prefer the Shipskeen pads in terms of feel. 
4.5/5

SOUND

The sound changes are quite interesting to say the least. You can look at the graphs on Dekoni’s website here. The following images are courtesy of Dekoni:

First up: the Dekoni Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin pads. Compared to the stock pads, they boost the bass noticeably and some of it even slightly spills into the lower mids. As a result you lose some separation of instruments and imaging takes a hit to my ears (center-imaging esp). On the other hands, dynamics improve and the resulting sound signature is a pretty fun one and definitely suits Pop, hip-hop, RnB and such genres more than the stock pads. One thing that I noticed was how the lower-treble became peakier with the Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin pads. Compared to the stock pads, these are definitely a more V-shaped offering. 

The Dekoni Elite Hybrid earpads on the other hand provide less mid-bass and upper-bass emphasis vs the Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin pads. They do have more sub-bass but given the limitations of the HD600 series driver (cannot reproduce sub-bass notes that well) it’s not that noticeable in most cases. I personally prefer the presentation of the Elite Hybrid pads over the Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin pads as they sound less cluttered in the midrange and the treble response is slightly more even-handed. It’s still not as smooth and laid-back as the stock pads but then again: the Dekoni pads are for those who are looking for a different signature. Comapred to the Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin pads, the Elite Hybrid pads also offer better instrument separation, though both pale in comparison to the stock pads in that regard. 

CONCLUDING REMARKS

In the end, if you are looking for the stock Sennheiser sound with a different/more comfortable earpad material — such an earpad does not exist to my knowledge. Sennheiser surely knew what they were doing (and they knew it very well) so the one-to-one replacement of the stock Sennheiser pads are… stock Sennheiser pads.

However, if you want to taste a different flavor of sound to the stock HD650 tuning, or perhaps you like to switch things up from time-to-time — try the Dekoni Elite series pads. They are superbly comfortable, has great feel and finish, and are suitable for modern genres along with movies/gaming since those usually benefit from bass emphasis. 

MY VERDICT

Overall Rating: 4/5 for Elite Hybrid Pads

Recommended (if you want a V-shaped flavor of the stock HD650 sound)

Overall Rating: 3.75/5 for Elite Fenestrated Sheepskin Pads

I prefer the Elite Hybrid pads more overall so these are gonna get a pass

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Product Pages

Dekoni Audio Fenestrated Sheepskin Replacement Ear Pads for Sennheiser HD 600 Series Headphones

Dekoni Audio Elite Hybrid Replacement Ear Pads for Sennheiser HD 600 Series Headphones

The post Dekoni Elite Pads for Sennheiser HD600 Series Review – Something Different appeared first on Audio Reviews.