I have a cheap earbud (yes, just one earbud) that I use to listen to the radio while hunting and fishing. Granted, I'm usually the last one to the dance but it seems the technology may now be to the point where noise cancellation and sound quality are both exceptional. I've held off looking into them because I feared they only amplify the sounds around you and don't work as well as a pair of cheap foam earplugs at protecting the ears.

Did I miss a thread where the latest and best performing offerings were discussed in detail? It seems the best ones are made by a company named Axil. I don't necessarily need something to answer phone calls, but something with excellent noise cancellation and sound quality. Also not interested in something that covers the ears.

TIA

Evidently not.

I only have experience with Walkers buds. They are nice. They are especially good when shooting rifles. One of my guys at work has the Axils and has no complaints. I always seem to end up with the over the ear on though.

Based on the reviews I've read, the most expensive ($200) Walker earbuds have the same features as the more expensive Axil offerings. It would seem the key differentiators would be the ability to suppress noise without any making it more difficult to detect sounds that might not otherwise be heard with the naked ear. And while I don't need them yet, I've heard there are huge differences in the capabilities of your average hearing aids, a technology which this new generation of earbuds appear to duplicate at least to a point. How well they sound when listening to music is probably another differentiator, with the better ones not sounding like AM radio. Both use Bluetooth and allow you to take calls, if that's something that interests you.

Walker’s Raptor Bone Conduction. You can hear everything and keep your foam ear plugs in at all times. Non bulky and pretty much sweat proof.

Still mulling over these and have decided there's no way to use all three features, improved hearing, noise reduction, and listening to music or the radio all the same time. I can see listening to the radio with noise reduction (protecting the ears from rifle blasts) being possible, but how can you better hear an approaching animal while listening to something else? I do that now with some level of success by using a single earbud. I'm also not sure the sound amplification capabilities would add that much above what can be detected with the naked ear without making extraneous noise more of a nuisance.

I ONLY utilize the ambient amplification while hunting with foam ear plugs stuffed up to my ear drum. Protection from the blast but can still hear the Squirrels rustling. I have killed many with the benefit of enhanced hearing.

I only listen to music with them when exercising. I turn off my phone while hunting.