I've tried every Fender ear protection and it was always that dull, unpleasant sound and the earplugs were stiff and uncomfortable.
That's not the case with these Alpines.
I sing in a 6-piece symphonic metal band, play bass in an alt.metal trio and play guitar and sing in a surf-western band and they work really nice in every situation.
I use the grey "mode" and it reduces the sound a lot while retaining some comfy treble. The golden pieces reduce the sound a bit more but there's a low end buildup and the white pieces sound the most natural, but they are not enough for my sensitive recording engineer ears.
4 stars in "quality" because after a year of weekly use the silicon(?) pieces start to have visible wear on their soft edges.
They are very soft and comfy though.
All in all I think they are worth every cent, I have recommended them to friends and bandmates and until I get a fancy wireless monitoring system I'll probably be using these.
Cheers!