[anotherwebdev]

I think that the Etymotic earpieces are the best for 1 and 2. Haven't tried ANC yet but Etymotic's noise isolation is equal or maybe slightly less than X5A or 3M's foam earplugs.

Add a very gentle 30db pink noise with Etymotic and I don't hear 99% of the noises.

Best protection so far - X5A along with Etymotic under them and pink noise playing.

I want to try some ANC pairs but they're quite expensive and I've read it only works for constant noises. Do they work in an office/coworking environment with people chatting everywhere?