Fancy Earplugs Are a Thing & They’re Not as Dumb as They Sou

Disclaimer: Dailybreak was not paid to write this post, and all opinions are our own.

Unhandled

You know that moment when you’re in public -- on a train or in an Uber or at a coffee shop -- and you hear half a conversation over the music playing through your headphones, and you just have to hear the rest of it so you low-key pause your music and promptly tune in to the young couple having their first argument a few seats down? Knops are pretty much made for that moment.

At least, that’s the first thing I thought of when testing them out on Boston’s subway system. (I definitely didn't think of them as a "fashion item.") But that’s just me. Knops are designed to be a “volume button for your ears,” an “acoustic hearing solution [that] offers total control over the sounds that surround you.” They’re even battery-free! But…they’re…earplugs. Earplugs don’t need batteries, and what kind of sicko wants to just walk around wearing earplugs all day?! That’s some sensory-deprivation level sh*t right there.

All criticisms aside, I guess there are people out there who don’t like listening to music during their morning commute or while they read or work. And there are actually notable studies like this one, that found that listening to music while studying directly and negatively impacted students’ ability to retain information and perform well on tests. Maybe Knops is onto something here.

Still, I can’t shake the feeling of utter uselessness these things emit. It’s like selling high-end firewood to hipsters or pedaling baseball caps as a cure for baldness. At the end of the day, it’s creating a solution for a need that doesn’t really exist. For the friendly price of $99, you might as well just buy real wireless headphones and only play music when you want to.

Furthermore, Knops aren't exactly as ~~stylish~~ as they make themselves out to be. If you have small ears like mine, they look straight-up ridiculous. Not to mention the level of discomfort that can build up when you have a heavy metal object shoved into your ear for longer than 15 minutes at a time. Let's be real, earplugs just aren't going to suddenly become the next big thing. If they ever make a debut at fashion week in Milan or New York, I'll be one surprised writer.

If you're a regular concert-goer with large ears, a socially-nervous commuter who doesn't care for music or you just want to eavesdrop more (I call it people-listening), then Knops might just be for you. If you are none of those things...stick to headphones.

And if you can't hear us loud and clear...

...then maybe you don't need Knops at all. These things literally say "no gimmicks" on the box they come in and although that's technically true, at the end of the day, Knops themselves are a gimmick. If anything, they're a specialty product and should shift their marketing techniques to reflect that. I give it less than two years until fancy earplugs become another failed fad we all forget about.

Fancy Earplugs Are a Thing & They’re Not as Dumb as They Sound

And if you can't hear us loud and clear...

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