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I got an email probably two weeks ago from Clarity Aloft saying they had a new formulation on their in-ear foam pieces that was enhanced noise cancellation vs. the originals. Before buying them I asked how much more noise cancellation that was and got this answer from Bill at C.A.:

The average of the older tip formulation was about 25 db average over the frequency range. It is a logarithmic scale, so a 4 db improvement is substantial, especially in the speech frequencies.

Bill was right, logarithmic increase indeed! We flew the Eclipse on 2.6 hour and 3.0 hour flights the past couple days and through all phases of operation the difference was pleasantly noticeable. I had no issue with the previous (original) set to begin with, but there were times when the background noise was just enough to make me have to turn up ATC (on high speed descent with the air conditioner running, for instance - and for those that don't know the Eclipse, the AC in/out doors are right in front of the co-pilot, and at higher speeds can add a pretty good amount of wind noise when in use). Not any more, the new ear pieces do indeed make a real difference, we both noticed it almost immediately.

For a piston, especially the Icon with extra wind noise in general - especially if I have the windows out, and the engine is zooming at 5,000 rpm right behind my head - this still may not be enough to make an in-ear headset style give enough noise cancellation to be effective, but these are certainly a lot better than the previous iteration. I know others use them in pistons, but I have found that an over-the-ear headset and active noise cancellation (i.e. Bose, Lightspeed, David Clark) is necessary to get the necessary background noise reduction in that environment. I am curious if anyone here uses a C.A. or similar headset in the Icon and finds it okay.

I believe a 12 pack of ear pieces is $35, but IMO they would be a bargain at twice the price.