Earplug Investigation · Comparison
Loop Quiet 2 vs Alpine Silence
Same category, same price, different seal geometry. They sit two positions apart on the attenuation scale and feel noticeably different at the thirty-minute mark. The gap matters most in supermarkets and on the commute. Less so at your own dinner table.
What you are comparing
Both are reusable silicone earplugs at the same price point (£19.95 / $24.95). Both are marketed for sleep, focus, and travel. Both seal the ear canal with a flanged silicone tip. The differences are in the geometry of what does the sealing, and that geometry has consequences.
Loop Quiet 2
A three-flange silicone tip on a hard plastic loop stem. The matte finish is dry to the touch and slides in without resistance once you have found the right size. The flexible stem conforms as the tip seats. Four sizes; XS is the right fit for smaller canals. The round matte travel case is one of the better ones tested.
Insertion requires practice. The first few sessions involve working out whether the seal is correct, and the risk of the tip detaching inside the canal is real enough to warrant flagging: it happened once in an earlier session, with customer services confirming a likely faulty unit, though not during this investigation’s test period. Piston pressure on the eardrum is present on insertion if you push straight rather than with a slight twist.
Alpine Silence
A harder oval core with a silicone tip and a V-shaped outer cradle that sits snugly against the outer ear. Four sizes including XS. The V-shape is what Alpine calls a “snug fit,” and it genuinely is: the outer cradle makes the plug feel more securely seated than Loop’s loop stem. It also brings to mind the Vulcan salute, which is either appealing or not, and at least means you never forget which way round it goes.
The oval core is the trade-off. Once inside a smaller canal it exerts more direct lateral pressure than Loop’s more cylindrical tip. The tip feels more securely attached than Loop’s, which reduces the detachment anxiety. Removal is effortless: no suction, no pop, rated 1 out of 5 in testing.
The headline numbers look close: SNR 24 vs 22, NRR 14 vs 16. After the HSE’s recommended 4dB real-world derating, you’re comparing approximately 20dB against 18dB. Not a large gap on paper. The tone test data tells a more specific story.
Frequency attenuation: what the data shows
The table below shows how much of each test tone passed through each earplug, as a percentage of the original signal. Lower numbers mean stronger attenuation. Nine tones tested from 75Hz to 15kHz. Method: NAD C320 amplifier, B&W S601 speakers, 33% volume, 50cm. The 15kHz measurement uses an iPhone speaker at 6 inches and is not directly comparable to the other eight.
| Frequency | What it represents | Loop Quiet 2 | Alpine Silence | Stronger |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 Hz | Traffic rumble, HVAC low end | 50% | 75% | Loop Quiet 2 |
| 125 Hz | Traffic rumble, HVAC low end | 50% | 75% | Loop Quiet 2 |
| 250 Hz | Bus engine, fridge hum | 50% | 66% | Loop Quiet 2 |
| 500 Hz | Chewing low end, voice fundamentals | 50% | 50% | Equal |
| 1 kHz | Speech clarity centre | 50% | 33% | Alpine Silence |
| 2 kHz | Checkout beeps, key ND irritant range | 33% | 33% | Equal |
| 4 kHz | Kettle hiss, cutlery, PA tones | 20% | 25% | Loop Quiet 2 |
| 8 kHz | Sibilance, sharpness | 75% | 50% | Alpine Silence |
| 15 kHz † | Upper edge of hearing, sharp squeal | 1% | 0% | Effectively equal |
† 15kHz measured via iPhone speaker at 6 inches; not directly comparable to the NAD/B&W measurements above. Both figures approach complete attenuation.
The picture is more complicated than the SNR numbers suggest. Loop Quiet 2 is meaningfully stronger in the low range (75 to 250Hz): half as much bass rumble passes through. Alpine Silence recovers in the mid-upper range: it attenuates 1kHz speech frequencies more effectively and handles the 8kHz sibilance band better. Both reach roughly the same result at 500Hz and 2kHz.
This explains the real-world bus finding. On the upper deck, Alpine Silence cut engine noise more than the tone test predicted, because bus engines carry a larger mid-range component than their low-frequency rumble would suggest. Loop Quiet 2’s stronger low-end reduction does less work there than it might in a pure HVAC environment.
The 8kHz gap is also worth naming: Loop Quiet 2 lets 75% of sibilant sound through, against Alpine Silence’s 50%. For listeners who find high-frequency sharpness particularly difficult, that difference in voiced consonants and hissing sounds is perceptible.
The hidden difference
Both earplugs seal the ear canal and produce occlusion. Your own voice, breathing, and chewing become amplified as external sound drops. The occlusion effect guide covers the mechanism in full, including why it hits harder for autistic and interoception-sensitive listeners: sealing the ear traps bone-conducted internal sound that would otherwise escape freely.
Loop Quiet 2 builds a gradual pressure that feels like mild altitude change. It’s noticeable by the fifteen-minute mark (rated 3 out of 5 in the quiet room stage) and stays there rather than climbing. The flexible stem helps: it adjusts as the tip seats rather than pressing with a fixed shape. Breathing is intrusive in quiet environments; footsteps are noticeable. Heartbeat was absent across testing.
Alpine Silence creates less of that air-pressure-in-the-ear sensation and more direct lateral pressure from the oval core on the canal walls. The V-shaped outer cradle sits more comfortably against the outer ear than Loop’s loop stem does. But the harder, less compliant core means more surface pressure inside a narrower canal, and more pronounced piston effect on insertion. Repeated insertion and removal across a day was described in the workbook as irritating specifically because of this. More on which tips seat in a narrow canal in the small-canal comparison.
Neither product’s occlusion effect was rated worse than the other on a five-point scale. It’s a different type of intrusion rather than a different amount.
Six environments: findings side by side
Both products were tested across the same six environments. The table gives the headline verdict for each; the descriptions below the table carry the detail from the testing notes.
| Environment | Loop Quiet 2 | Alpine Silence |
|---|---|---|
| Quiet room | Caution | Caution |
| Home / appliances | Cleared | Cleared |
| Commute / bus | Cleared | Cleared edge |
| Supermarket | Caution | Cleared edge |
| Open-plan office | Caution | Caution |
| Restaurant / café | Flagged | Flagged |
BOST verdicts from the sensory scorecard: Cleared / Caution / Flagged. “Edge” indicates a meaningful advantage within the same verdict band.
Quiet room
Both become intrusive. With no external noise the occlusion effect takes over. Loop Quiet 2: breathing intrusive, footsteps noticeable, own chewing doubly magnified. Alpine Silence: breathing noticeable, footsteps faint. The Alpine is fractionally less internally loud in a quiet room, but neither product is usable for quiet reading or focused work in silence.
Home / appliances
Loop Quiet 2 cuts the kettle by around 80%, removing both the low rumble and upper hiss, leaving a mid-range woosh. The extractor fan is reduced to a single soft note. Washing machine spin is cut by about 75%. Alpine Silence performs similarly or slightly stronger here, with the testing notes describing 95% reduction of background hum and “very little left to hear” at the kettle. Both are useful tools for sensory management at home. Alpine Silence has the edge in the quietest domestic settings.
Commute / bus
Alpine Silence performed better than expected, given that its tone test data showed weaker low-frequency attenuation. The bus finding resolved the apparent contradiction: bus engine sound carries a significant mid-range component, and it’s the mid-range where Alpine Silence is stronger. Engine noise was cut more than half; fan hiss was heavily attenuated; sibilant sounds in passenger speech were reduced. Loop Quiet 2 reduces the bus but leaves more residual texture, including occlusion interacting with the low-frequency vibration felt through the seat and floor. Both are genuinely useful here. Alpine Silence gets the edge.
Supermarket
The most revealing environment for the difference between them. Loop Quiet 2 removes the low and mid background layer and leaves high-frequency activity more exposed. The testing notes describe a disorienting effect: plastic bags sounded like they were crinkling loudly in every direction simultaneously, because everything below them had been filtered away. Alpine Silence reduces the environment more uniformly, keeping the acoustic balance intact while lowering the overall level. Children’s voices were usefully softened; PA announcements were 30% quieter. The supermarket became described as “half as stressful, noise-wise.” Loop Quiet 2 is an improvement on no earplug at all; Alpine Silence is the better tool for this specific environment.
Open-plan office
Neither resolves speech. Both remove background masking noise, which can make nearby one-sided phone calls feel more present even though the absolute volume is lower. This is a documented effect: background noise provides cognitive cover for unwanted speech, and removing it can increase rather than decrease the intrusiveness of a nearby conversation. Loop Quiet 2 reduces HVAC hum to a soft woosh; keyboard clicks are audible but quieter. Alpine Silence attenuates the HVAC hum more, reducing it to a higher “D” pitch without buzzing. Alpine Silence also reduces desk eating sounds by around 50%, with less crisp crunch and wet eating noise. Extended desk wear: Alpine Silence creates slightly more pressure than Loop Quiet 2 at the sixty-minute mark. Neither is right for a working day that involves regular conversation. See Loop Engage or the Loop Quiet 2 vs Loop Engage comparison for the speech-permissive alternative.
Restaurant / café
Both are rated Flagged for this environment, and for the same reason. Eating sounds from nearby tables are softened but not eliminated. Conversation with a companion becomes difficult: Loop Quiet 2 makes speech reduced but intelligible across a table; Alpine Silence makes speech too muffled in a noisy room to follow words clearly. The deciding problem for both is occlusion: your own chewing sounds doubly magnified, your own voice booms in your head, and the combination makes a social meal with these in worse than wearing nothing. Loop Quiet 2 is slightly more tolerant for solo café use. Neither is an option for eating with company. If neither level of attenuation fits, the Alpine PartyPlug keeps speech intelligible while still reducing the room, and handles this environment more gracefully than either product here.
Claims examined
Taken from packaging and marketing copy, tested against the investigation findings.
| Claim area | Loop Quiet 2 | Alpine Silence | Finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noise reduction | “24dB SNR noise reduction” | “Damping up to 22dB” |
Both hold Neither figure was instrument-verified, but tone testing placed both among the strongest silicone attenuators tested. Real-world estimates after HSE 4dB derating: Loop Quiet 2 ~20dB, Alpine Silence ~18dB. The gap is real but smaller than the packaging suggests. |
| Comfort | “Ultra-Comfy Reusable Earplugs” | “Optimal wearing comfort during prolonged use” |
Both partial Loop Quiet 2 builds to a noticeable 3 out of 5 pressure rating by fifteen minutes, stable thereafter. Alpine Silence creates more lateral pressure from the oval core, rated slightly more uncomfortable at sixty minutes of desk wear. Repeated insertion and removal in a day irritated with both, more so with Alpine Silence due to the piston effect. Neither earns “comfy” without qualification. |
| Fit | “Customizable fit, 4 tip sizes” | “4 sizes XS/S/M/L, there’s always a size that fits you” |
Both hold XS was the correct size for this reviewer’s smaller-than-average canal in both cases. Alpine Silence’s XS runs slightly larger than Loop’s equivalent, so wearers at the smallest end of the range should note that the XS label does not describe the same size across brands. The four-size range is genuine in both cases and the difference matters. |
| Focus / travel | “Noise-reducing for sleep, deep focus, travel” | “Reduce ambient sounds, less easily distracted” |
Both partial Travel holds for both: the bus stage was one of each product’s strongest results. Focus does not hold in genuinely noisy environments: removing background masking increases the relative salience of remaining speech, which can be more distracting than the background it replaced. In a quiet home office both work well. Sleep not tested. |
Sensory axes: how each product scores
BOST reviews eight sensory dimensions. Below is how each product performed on the axes most relevant to this comparison. Full axis-by-axis findings are in the individual Case Files.
Loop Quiet 2: stronger at low frequencies. Alpine Silence: stronger mid-to-upper.
Loop Quiet 2 attenuates the 75 to 250Hz range more effectively (50% vs 75% passed through for Alpine Silence). Alpine Silence leads at 1kHz speech frequencies and 8kHz sibilance. In environments dominated by traffic rumble and HVAC hum, Loop Quiet 2 has the acoustic edge. In environments with voices, cutlery, and high-pitched beeps, Alpine Silence is more useful.
Both: caution. Different pressure character.
Loop Quiet 2 produces an air-pressure sensation that feels like mild altitude change, rated 3 out of 5 at both fifteen and thirty minutes, stable rather than building. Alpine Silence produces more direct lateral pressure from the oval core on canal walls. Neither is free of pressure; the type differs. For wearers who find air pressure more tolerable than physical contact pressure, Loop Quiet 2 may be preferable. For those who find air pressure more distressing, Alpine Silence may be the better option.
Both: caution. Own-voice and breathing amplified.
Loop Quiet 2: own-voice described as “hollow boomy” with strong humming vibration. Breathing intrusive, especially while walking or moving. Footsteps noticeable. Heartbeat absent. Own chewing doubly magnified. Alpine Silence: same own-voice profile. Breathing noticeable but slightly less intrusive in the quiet room stage. Footsteps faint rather than noticeable. For interoception-sensitive listeners who find internal body noise the hardest dimension to manage, neither product is well-suited to quiet environments.
Loop Quiet 2: matte, dry, easier insertion. Alpine Silence: snug outer cradle, more lateral canal contact.
Loop Quiet 2’s matte silicone finish is dry and slides in without resistance once sized correctly. The round travel case and dry surface feel clean and pleasant. Alpine Silence’s matte finish is similar, though the tan colourway was noted as resembling a poor-quality prosthetic, which is either charming or not. The outer cradle design means more contact area against the outer ear, which most testers found more comfortable than Loop’s stem.
Both: cleared. Silicone stays clean.
Loop Quiet 2 in black: earwax does not show. Dry and clean after removal. No cleaning required beyond an occasional tissue wipe; tip removal allows thorough cleaning when needed. Alpine Silence in tan: wax could show, and the shiny tip surface looks like it might be waxy even when clean, which the testing notes found less reassuring than Loop’s matte finish. Neither product was found hygienically compromised after a dozen uses.
Both: broadly fine in public. Neither works well for conversation.
Loop Quiet 2’s loop stem looks like a standard earbud from a distance: no self-consciousness reported in a supermarket or on the bus. Short exchanges are manageable; longer conversation requires removal. Alpine Silence sits snugly with minimal protrusion and was described as fine in public professional settings. The V-shaped outer cradle is more visible than Loop’s loop on close inspection, but not in a way that drew comment. Both products make sustained conversation impractical due to occlusion, which means one earplug typically comes out at a checkout, adding an executive function step to an already demanding transaction.
Misophonia note
Neither earplug resolves misophonia triggers. External eating sounds are softened but not eliminated: cutlery and chewing noises were described as “reduced but audible, less intrusive” with both products in restaurant testing. The fundamental problem is the occlusion effect: sealing the canal amplifies bone-conducted internal sound, so your own chewing comes back louder precisely when you have reduced the external sounds you were hoping to escape. The result is usually a trade-off rather than a solution.
Alpine Silence reduced desk eating sounds in the office stage by around 50%. Loop Quiet 2 reduced them by a smaller margin. Neither reached a level that would meaningfully interrupt a misophonia trigger. For a full data breakdown across all ten products tested at eating-sound frequencies, see best earplugs for misophonia: what the data says.
Verdict
Loop Quiet 2 is the more versatile daily option. It’s easier to insert, more comfortable over a long session, less demanding at the pressure axis, and its attenuation character is more balanced across the low end. It works on the bus and in the supermarket without producing the disorienting spectral imbalance that turned the supermarket stage into a plastic-bag surround-sound experience.
Alpine Silence is the more capable tool in two specific environments: commuting and busy retail. Its mid-to-upper frequency attenuation is stronger, its seal is more stable, and in the supermarket its more uniform reduction keeps the acoustic environment coherent. The cost is more lateral pressure on smaller canals and a piston effect on repeated insertion that makes it less suited to a day that requires the earplugs to go in and out frequently.
The decision isn’t technical. It’s how long you can keep them in, what type of pressure you find more tolerable, and which environments you’re actually trying to manage. If the answer is mostly commuting and errands, Alpine Silence earns its position here. If the answer is a general-purpose plug for varied daily use with some social interaction, Loop Quiet 2 is the more forgiving choice.
Neither replaces foam or wax when deep attenuation is the need. See the 3M 1100 and Ohropax Classic Wax for that category.
Case files and related investigations
Case File
Loop Quiet 2: full sensory review
Occlusion, canal pressure, and the piston effect in small canals. All six environments scored.
Read the case file
Case File
Alpine Silence: full sensory review
Four sizes including XS. Stronger mid-range attenuation, with different pressure characteristics than Loop.
Read the case file
Comparison
Loop Quiet 2 vs Loop Engage
Same housing, different filters, opposite use cases. Which becomes counterproductive in an open-plan office.
Read the comparisonreviews
Investigation hub
All earplug reviews: sensory tested
Every product scored on pressure, occlusion, own-voice effect, and what it’s like to live with over time.
See all case files