3M PELTOR Ear Muff Hearing Protection, X5 Series, Noise Protection NRR 21 dB, Construction, Manufacturing, Automotive

4.6 stars. they aee2 great you can't gear anything coming out from outside of the house.they felt too tight at first and almost returned them back but then i gave them another try and the pressure is not so bad at allthey wide like all headphones so you can't sleep on the side of course. wish a new technology will come in the future with same noise blocking quality that gives the option to sleep on the side without putting plug inside the ears

Rarely do I feel so moved to write a review such as this. I haven't had a life-altering experience or anything of that magnitude with these earmuffs, but I have had a few moments of silence that have made my day!As a matter of disclosure, I bought these earmuffs to silence my many neighbors at my "open" workplace. I am a software engineer, and I very frequently need to hear myself think. Where I work, each employee gets 3 square feet of cubicle space. The official line is that being this close to all your office colleagues will foster collaboration. It is really just a way to save money on cubicle furniture (which -- to my employer's credit -- does gouge out souls with their prices). So they try to put a positive spin on what is essentially a negative occurrence: everybody now gets less space. And more noise. And more distraction. And a ridiculous amount of light. But the light is another story.Anyway, my previous tries at finding a set of headphones or earmuffs to stifle every little joke, conversation, phone call, laugh, etc. had previously met with mixed results. I had already settled on how I would listen to music: a really good set of noise-cancelling headphones and some Bluetooth transmitter/receiver magic (not all good headphones are wireless). But I still longed for times where it could be library-level quiet at my desk. A quixotic desire to say the least, since people are on the phone right next to me, having meetings right next to me, walking by in groups and talking like no one else is around right next to me, etc.. So I tried a few earmuffs with high NRR, again with mixed results. The most effective set of earmuffs I used before these were a set of earmuffs rated 29 NRR. They worked very well. But the ear cushions were square (who thought of that?) and after an hour or two of wearing them, my ears would protest vociferously. Hence my search for a quieter and more comfortable set of earmuffs. My search led me to these and another set that claimed a rating of 34 NRR. I ordered these, and told myself if they didn't do the job, I could always order the 34 NRR ones.Wow. The first time I put these on, I could feel myself physically relax. The noise was GONE. I can't hear a THING with these earmuffs on. Well, I can, but everything outside of the earmuffs is either dead quiet or so muffled it doesn't even matter. Any amount of distraction due to sound is effectively eliminated with these earmuffs. My previous 29 NRR earmuffs used a huge cushion on the inside of each earmuff to do the hard work of absorbing noise. But it made my ears hot after a while (body part + insulation + containment = heat & sweat). These Peltor earmuffs are hollow on the inside of each earmuff, and the shell is lined with the noise-absorbing foam. As a result, my ears are much cooler with these on. The space between your ear and the outside of the earmuff shell is part of the strategy of how these earmuffs reduce noise, and it is VERY effective. Also, the seal provided by the ear cushions is the tried-and-true plastic/vinyl-like material (I believe it is PVC) that creates a good seal around your ears without acting like an adhesive.That being said, no earmuffs are perfect, and these Peltor earmuffs are no exception. The immediate inside of each earmuff -- where your ear makes direct contact with the earmuff -- is solid plastic. This plastic wraps around the whole earmuff, but for the most part you feel it on the back of your ear. I believe it is designed this way on purpose, because a rigid plastic ring where the foam ends and the cushion on the outside begins helps to create a superior seal around the ear. And the plastic does not put any crushing pressure on your ear lobes. But this rigid plastic can become tiresome. I usually need to wear these for hours at a time. Sometimes, during crunch times, I wear these earmuffs for four hours straight. And either my head will protest, or my ears will, depending on whether I put them on correctly, of if they are a little off balance. When I take them off, the areas on my ears where the plastic made contact are the most sore. And the headband could stand to have some kind of cushioning on it, to prevent the "two-band" impression in my hair after a long programming session. I realize these earmuffs are intended to be used along with protective headgear, but for my application (i.e. shutting everyone around me up) I wouldn't mind a terry cushion or a memory-foam cushion on the headband.But I swear these are quibbles and nitpicks. I LOVE these earmuffs. If 3M has a higher NRR set of these Peltors, I will be all over them. I now use these all the time at work. I look like a dork with these huge cans on my head, but I don't care. I can finally work in a library whenever I want to! Now, all I have to do is conquer the copious light in my "open" workspace...

I do software programming, and I use the X5As in a shared office setting. The X5A is the best passive noise cancelling earmuff I've ever tried, and I've tested a lot of brands. They work well when used alone. In addition, if you use them with Bose active noise cancelling earbuds underneath, or with regular foam earplugs underneath, you will have a true impenetrable cone of silence. Voices don't get through at all, nor do any other sounds, low or high frequency.Compared with using Bose active noise cancelling over-the-ear headphones in an office setting, these X5As block more noise when used alone (that is, when used with no earbuds or earplugs underneath). When used with earplugs underneath, the two solutions are comparable in how much noise they block. That said, these 3Ms are cheap and the Bose cost multiple hundreds of dollars.I also love that these don't need batteries or charging. In that sense, they're super convenient. They're always ready to go and there are no wires to worry about. A similar advantage is that they're inexpensive, so I bring them while traveling and don't worry about them getting lost or broken. I once left these in a taxi and didn't worry about it like I would expensive noise-cancellers; I just bought a new pair.Outside of an office setting, I also like to reduce noise when I'm on airplanes. For airplanes, active noise cancelling headphones like Bose with foam earplugs underneath are the best option. That said, I've gone on airplanes with these 3M X5A earmuffs, and they are decent -- better than no ear protection at all especially pretty quiet with foam earplugs underneath, even if they don't do as well as active noise cancelling headphones for the low frequency airplane engine rumble.I liked the X5A so much that I also bought the X4A model of this product. I sleep in the X4A sometimes when I want very deep sleep, because they're low profile and comfortable enough to sleep in, and they can be used more nights in a row than heavy duty foam earplugs without ear irritiation. Sometimes I also wear the lighter X4A model around my city apartment because they're not as heavy and bulky as the X5As but still do a pretty great job of noise blocking. Not as impenetrable as the X5A but still really good.All in all, this 3M earmuffs series is absolutely top of the line. I've ordered many of the cheaper and knock-off brands here on Amazon to compare them because I wanted the best product for use in my office and around my city apartment. I'm someone who concentrates better and is more productive when I don't have noise distractions. Hands down, the X5As are the best passive noise blockers of any earmuffs on the market, and the X4As are the best low profile and smaller noise blockers.There are a ton of knock off brands for passive earmuffs, usually made in China by a few relatively less known companies. Some examples are Clear Armour and DD. Those knock off brands are okay but in my opinion, they do not compare with the 3Ms which are the "OG" passive earmuffs. You can order them side-by-side to compare -- they're not too expensive -- but I already did that comparison so you don't have to and you can take the results of my research if you want.The only downside I will mention here is that any earmuffs -- 3M brand or others -- can make your ears sweat if you sleep in them or wear them for multi-hour stretches at work. I think that's inevitable with any earmuffs in this style because they work in part by creating a seal around your ears. It's not a vice-like seal; it's pretty gentle but a seal nonetheless. The way I handle the sweat issue for everyday office use is to switch the earmuffs occasionally with less sweaty noise cancelling options like the Bose noise cancelling earbuds, foam earplugs, or the Bose active noise cancelling over-the-ear headphones which make less of a tight seal because they don't have to.Because you do sweat in these, after extended use they will begin to get a little bit of an odor. The good news is that you can replace the foam padding, and as far as I know, these are the only comparable earmuffs that let you do that. Cleaning with a warm towel and some scented product also works pretty well.Lastly, you can tell by the photos that X5As look outrageously ridiculous. If the photos here are not enough, Google Bose X5A to see some more. These are not earmuffs to take selfies in. They are earmuffs when you have a good reason to wear them. For me, that reason is maximum productivity in my shared office, where a lot of people wear noise blockers of various types.All in all, I'm a huge fan of the X5As and X4As! Very glad they exist. These are a nicely engineered product.

Perfecto, reduce un 90% el ruido que se puede escuchar en una apartamento en la cuidad.