Here's a review of the ADEL™ Drum 11 earbuds by drummer Colby Peters:
"The ADELs allowed me to experience several sensations I've NEVER experienced before. One of them being the ability to essentially open and close the "gate to the eardrums." (Adjustable ambient control). There's a lever feature that allowed me to control how much sound was being let in/out that left me dumbfounded in the best possible way. I was on FaceTime with Stephen live and he probably thought there was a ghost in the room or something by the expression on my face... but I was just trying to fathom what was happening. When the gate was all the way open, I could talk to Christian (guitar player/ADEL testing assistant) as if the ear buds weren't even in my ears. Then, when Christian would start talking about how OFF I was from the click track at rehearsal... I could shut him off right away! It was great! ... only kidding... but what that allows from a listening perspective is it gives the listener the option of essentially EQ-ing the sound of the ear buds to the room or atmosphere they are in.
On the topic of EQ-ing, there's also a "wheel" (ADEL membrane tensioning thumb screw) on the ear piece I could turn to further EQ the sound. All the way forward would give me more low and all the way back, more high. I noticed that while listening at lower volumes, this wheel had a very subtle effect in changing the EQ, but as the volume raised it became very apparent. I'm still experimenting with the different combos between lever and wheel, but I can already tell how these features will provide manual control of endless "atmosphere" EQ options.
Another feature that immediately stood out to me with the ADEL drums was that fact that I could listen to music at loud volumes but it didn't feel agitating. It SOUNDED loud but didn't quite FEEL loud. It's a sensation that words don't really do justice, as you'll experience once testing these buds out.
As far as being "in" the music while listening through these buds, I was IN THE MUSIC. I tested a pair of Shure SE425 in ear monitors and then the ADEL drums. The difference was like watching TV in your living room with the TV speakers as the source of audio, and then being in an IMAX theater. The SE425's had more of a tall and narrow sound, whereas the ADEL's had an extremely WIDE sound. So wide in fact, it appeared sounds were coming from BEHIND me. At moments if I closed my eyes, it was hard to tell WHERE the sounds where coming from. They were EVERYWHERE! It was like going from 2-D to 3-D... but from an auditory perspective.
One final thought in regards to the ADEL drums, is that when the lever (Adjustable ambient control) controlling the "gate to the eardrums" as previously described in this message was all the way open, I could sing with the music and it sounded as if I was recording vocals into the track. I could truly see this feature becoming a great tool for vocalists to practice singing harmony, or just singing over musical arrangements in general. It's a very interesting sensation to hear music IN your ears while simultaneously being able to hear noise from the room you are in. EXTREMELY cutting edge in my opinion."
Thanks, Colby!