16 months with Loop Switch 2 earplugs

If your advertising profile is similar to mine then there's a good chance you're familiar with Loop earplugs — it feels like every tech or tech-adjacent person I know has seen loads of ads from them online!

If you aren't familiar with Loop, they make a range of different earplugs for different circumstances, and present themselves as a fancy new startup that leans heavily on social media, influencer sponsorships, and media collaborations.

I went for it and bought a pair of their Switch 2 earplugs in October 2024, and have been using them for almost a year and half now — time for a review and you can't claim my testing process is too fast! The question is do I like them? (as if the 18 months hasn't given it away!)

Caveat — my hearing and ears

Getting the caveat out the way — my ears and hearing is different from yours. There's the standard normal variation among folk, but I also have issues with my hearing — likely coming from auditory processing issues. Also for some reason my right ear canal is a weird and different shape from my left so that's fun! (it makes finding nice IEMs that fit an absolute nightmare)

My main issue with auditory processing is trouble differentiating foreground noise — someone's voice — from background music, other conversations, hubbub etc. I've had several hearing tests but nothing that comes up so it seems likely to be a mental disorder/issue. I mention it so you can use that as context with the rest of my thoughts.

So take everything here with a pinch of salt, what may work for me may not for you. this especially applies to the 'modes' of the Switch, which may make more sense for others than for me — but more on that in a bit.

How I use earplugs, and what I used before

I initially got earplugs for music concerts, when standing too near a speaker caused a month of ringing in my ears. PSA: if you go to live music you should have hearing protection!

I now use them for quite a few different circumstances:

• Music gigs
• Reducing traffic noise when walking around a city
• Blocking transport noise — trains, planes, buses
• Loud neighbours or street parties preventing me from sleeping
• Focus while I work

Previously I've used disposable foam earplugs — cheap (free at music venues in the UK), easy, sound like shit — and Alpine MusicSafe Pro — professional kit, recommended by experts. Unfortunately I didn't really get on with the MusicSafe Pro's — I used them for a while but they didn't fit my ears very well, and for music I felt like the energy and excitement was taken out by them.

Enter the Loop Switch 2

I actually bought the Loops originally based on their heavy advertising towards people who get sensory overload, and ads that showed people struggling to hear others in loud environments. They put in some Loops and suddenly the background noise was gone but they could still hear foreground noises easily. That sounds perfect for me!

Loop has a range of different earplugs with different noise levels for different circumstances. The Dream is for sleeping, Quiet is for focusing and travel, Experience for concerts, and Engage for conversation and socialising. The Switch is more expensive, and they claimed it combines Quiet, Experience and Engage behind a single switch that allows you to 'switch' between them — while the earplug is still in your ear.

I went for the Switch because I would use all three modes for my earplug use-cases above, and I can keep track of one pair of earplugs more easily than if I got several different pairs (I would definitely lose a pair within a month).

Ordering from their website, delivery, packaging etc all good, no major comments there. They feel premium and have a nice small carrying case.

In terms of fit, they're okay. They're a bit chunky and hard so you do definitely feel them if you wear them for a while (6+ hours for me), but most of the time I don't notice. You probably want to avoid other ear pressure for long periods, I found wearing them with my glasses and a mask around the back of my ears did make them quite sore after an hour or so.

They have replaceable tips like silicone earphones so you can get a good fit regardless of the size of your ear canal. Handy for me, my ears need different sizes!

How do they sound?

The big question is how they sound wearing them!

When I started using them initially, I was extremely disappointed. There were all those ads I mentioned and Loop talks big about the different modes for different circumstances. I had been led to expect the Engage mode would help me hear voices over background noise and that definitely wasn't happening. I was really not happy with them after a few days.

At some point when trying to work out my thoughts, I started thinking in terms of volume instead of modes. Forget about modes, with the Loop Switch you can choose how much volume the earplugs blocks by 'a bit', 'a decent amount', or 'quite a lot'. (I'll refer to them in amount of blocking, so higher is more blocking, lower is less)

When I adjusted those expectations I got along a lot better with them! I could put them in and instead of thinking about what circumstance I was in I could simply choose whether I wanted more or less blocking. At a gig that was particularly loud? I'll pop it up one. Want to be a little more aware of my environment when I'm out? Switch it down one so I can hear more.

The MusicSafe Pro has multiple inserts with different levels, but the ability to change without removing them is a game-changer. At gigs in particular I frequently find myself reducing for acoustic songs or my favourite tracks, increasing for heavier and louder songs.

In terms of the audio quality, they dull sound pretty equally across the spectrum and don't affect what you hear a huge amount other than volume. Listening to music you do lose detail in the top-end whilst bass gets through more easily, similar to other earplugs I've used before. I do much prefer them to the Alpine MusicSafe Pro however, and feel like live music still retains a good amount of energy and excitement despite the volume reduction. They are as expected much better than disposable foam earplugs.

When thinking in terms of volume reduction instead of the modes I really like them.

'Engage' mode and conversation

There is one exception, and that is with voices/conversation (the purpose of the "Engage" mode). As I've mentioned a couple times that's something Loop advertise a lot and I just don't get it.

I can only assume given how much they talk about it that it must work for some people, but it really doesn't for me. It turns a clear voice on top of background noise into a muffled and quieter voice on top of quieter background noise. For me, they are worse than useless when it comes to conversation.

So yeah, your mileage may vary but I'd be wary about buying Loops solely for the purpose of conversation, and extremely wary if you also have auditory processing or hearing issues. For "Experience" and "Quiet" sure, but I would be sceptical of their pitch for "Engage".

How I use my Loop Switch

I carry them with me everywhere now and use them for:

• Music gigs — generally the lowest mode, sometimes pop it up to the middle if needed
• Walking around in the city — the highest mode much of the time, lower when I need to be more aware
• Transport — crack that one on highest, blocks pretty much all transport noise
• Sleep — they are not comfortable when resting your head sideways on a pillow, so I don't do this often. But in a pinch they do work, and work well if you're sleeping on transport with a neck pillow. I'm considering getting a pair of the "Dream" earplugs for home.
• Focus while I work — also on the highest most of the time when I want quiet whilst working

After 9 months of daily use they're still in good condition and have no major differences from when I got them.

Combined with bone conduction earphones

This feels like a weird one — bone conduction earphones are designed to keep your ears free and you aware of your surroundings, whilst earplugs do the opposite!

That said, my primary earphones are bone conduction earphones, previously the Aftershockz Aeropex and now the Shockz OpenRun Pro. And I don't want to have to own and carry a second pair of earphones when I want to focus on what I'm listening to.

It's not a perfect combo but it does work surprisingly well!

The main thing to note is the character of sound is changed quite significantly by inserting earplugs with bone conduction earphones. Essentially the earphones are tuned for open ears and by changing that you are blocking particularly the high frequencies from getting to your ears. Everything becomes a lot more bassy.

For speech like audiobooks and podcasts I don't notice it enough to find it a major issue.

With music it's really obvious. My music app has an equaliser that allows me to knock back the low frequencies and increase the high frequencies so by using that I have managed to match it up roughly to still be decent listening, but far from a great experience.

If you're really fussed about audio quality all the time, or you don't have access to an equaliser then this isn't for you. But if your phone/music app does have an equaliser and you're happy with okay sound quality then it works!

It definitely works better with purely bone conduction earphones like the Aeropex however, whilst earphones combining bone conduction and open speakers like the OpenRun Pro are much more muffled and perform worse so keep that in mind.

Should I buy them?

As mentioned, you should have hearing protection if you go to live music. Even if you don't use it, you will regret not having when you need it.

If I need earplugs anyway then I may as well make sure I have decent ones, and I think the Switch 2 is a really good pair of earplugs. Yes they're expensive, but for me the ease and versatility makes them easily worth it.

I would re-iterate that for me at least they're not at all useful for voices and conversation so if that's your primary use then don't get your hopes too high.

But on the other hand you have different ears from me — and thank goodness because I'm currently busy with mine.