These are my favorites so far
UPDATE 12/23/15:<br />After using these for a while, I've decided that they almost tie for my favorite pair of ear plugs.  Definitely worth the reasonable price!  The only reason they aren't my &#34;most favorite&#34; pair is that I bought the Alpine MusicSafe ear plugs after writing the original review.  The Alpines are probably my favorite overall plugs, because they have different filters that you can change out to fine tune the volume reduction.  But the DownBeats are VERY similar to the Alpines, so if you don't want to spend as much, get the DownBeats.  You won't be disappointed.<br /><br />*************<br />ORIGINAL REVIEW:<br /><br />I have these, as well as Etymotic ER20 ear plugs, Erasers Musicians plugs, and I've also used standard foam ear plugs.  These are my favorite of all. Here are the details...<br /><br />FIT: These are made of a soft plastic, much like the material of the Etys.  They have 2 flanges compared to the Etys 3, and they seem to seal in the ear well without going too deeply into the ear canal.  They are by far the easiest ear plugs to insert that I have ever owned.  They're also easy to remove, even though the stem doesn't stick out very far from your ear.  In comparison, my #1 complaint with the Etys is fit/comfort.  The Etys are extremely uncomfortable; they feel like they're poking too far into my ear canal and my ears get sore after wearing them for only a few minutes.  The stems stick out too far and make them easy to bump and dislodge from my ears.  The Earasers fall somewhere in between DownBeats and Etys for comfort.  They don't hurt like the Etys, but they're made of a harder material, so they don't seem to seal as well. I've tried both the small and medium sized Earasers, with similar results from both.<br /><br />SOUND QUALITY:<br />The DownBeats sound pretty good to my ear.  They lower the sound enough to make it comfortable to listen.  They do muffle the sound somewhat, but not as badly as standard foam ear plugs.  To my ears, the Etys also muffle the sound, and at the same time they don't lower the volume enough for me.  The Earasers seem to have the most clear sound of the three, but the volume is not lowered enough...I just don't feel that they are protecting my hearing. Some of my problems with the Earasers and Etys not lowering the volume enough may be my own fault.  Maybe I'm not getting them inserted properly, but if it's that much trouble to get them inserted properly, they're not the solution for me.<br /><br />So far DownBeats are my favorite plugs.  The slightly muffled sound is really the only thing that I'm not 100% happy with on the DownBeats. I plan to try Alpine MusicSafe plugs at some point, just to see if they sound clearer, so I'll update my review with comparison to those as well.
Rating: 5 stars