IEMs. Isolated or ambient?

[Baldwin Funster]

I tried to do a search first remembering sven. But the words IN EAR MONITOR brings up too many irrelevant results about ears.

 

So IEM . Anybody use the $100 ones? Do you feel negatively isolated from the stage sound? Do the ambient ones give good monitoring while allowing you to hear the stage sound? Do these cheap 4 ch Mackie type mixers have enough output to drive them?

 

Other stuff?

[Ledbetter]

Shure 400 series. Worth the money. Drove them with an isolated auxiliary channel monitored from my Alesia mixer, no problem. The more isolation the better, for me.

[Stokely]

I've used Shure 215s (80-100 bucks, single driver) for a couple hundred shows. I bought triple driver customs, which offered even more isolation, but I'm back to the Shures because when I sing it blocks everything out. I'm told they may have screwed up by not having me open my mouth when the molds were made (?)

 

I may take a flyer on some 5-driver "chi-fi" (meaning hifi stuff direct from China) earbuds that are 50 bucks on Amazon. KZ brand, people on forums have talked them up. My Shures are cutting out, they've put in their time.

 

I honestly hear pretty well, and when using them with music compared to my mixing Sennheisers I think they sound good. I don't feel the need to spend many hundreds on it for the type of gigs I do, at least without knowing it would be a night and day difference. My customs were not night and day (the singing issue aside).

[Baldwin Funster]

I've used Shure 215s (80-100 bucks, single driver) for a couple hundred shows. I bought triple driver customs, which offered even more isolation, but I'm back to the Shures because when I sing it blocks everything out. I'm told they may have screwed up by not having me open my mouth when the molds were made (?)

 

I may take a flyer on some 5-driver "chi-fi" (meaning hifi stuff direct from China) earbuds that are 50 bucks on Amazon. KZ brand, people on forums have talked them up. My Shures are cutting out, they've put in their time.

 

I honestly hear pretty well, and when using them with music compared to my mixing Sennheisers I think they sound good. I don't feel the need to spend many hundreds on it for the type of gigs I do, at least without knowing it would be a night and day difference. My customs were not night and day (the singing issue aside).

I'm checking out some of chi's but they seem to have usbC inputs. I'm not sure how to plug that into a 3.5mm stereo jack.

[Tom Williams]

Isolated. Westone two-driver. Love 'em.

[nursers]

Ambient Westones here, really like them but have never used ones with full isolation so nothing to compare to

[Canoehead]

I use Shure 425s, custom moulds, isolated. For me, isolated helps a great deal with harmony vocals. I strongly encourage the use of a limiter so you don"t get a sudden, accidental blast of noise injected into your ears.

 

Cheers,

Gord

[wineandkeyz]

I may take a flyer on some 5-driver "chi-fi" (meaning hifi stuff direct from China) earbuds that are 50 bucks on Amazon. KZ brand, people on forums have talked them up.

 

I've been using the KZ ZS5s (about $35) since my band went to IEMs four or five years ago. They're a little brighter than others I tried, which helps due to some hearing loss I have. I've gone through maybe two pairs over that time, but I don't worry too much about losing or breaking them since they're so inexpensive.

 

Back to the OP's question, the ZS5s do provide good isolation, which I prefer for the added ear protection. But we use two ambient mics, one on each side of the stage, to pick up crowd reactiion, etc., so we can dial in a bit of that to feel more connected.

[cphollis]

Some bands ask you to put your head down and play your part. Isolated IEMs. Shures.

 

Other bands you're communicating with others during a gig. Ambient IEMs. Westones.

 

Also a bit of crowd/stage noise is great, although you can get that from microphones.

[ajstan]

I may take a flyer on some 5-driver "chi-fi" (meaning hifi stuff direct from China) earbuds that are 50 bucks on Amazon. KZ brand, people on forums have talked them up.

Our singer and guitarist both have them and have positive things to say. Their thought in trying them was that even if it turned out they eventually wanted something better, the KZs would be good to have as a $50 back-up set.

 

For the OP, here is a link to an older thread started by @cphollis that should provide some helpful reading material on IEMs:

https://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2905025/1

[RudyS]

I have only used isolated ones.

 

Began on the cheap Shure 215. Served me well I really liked them. The difference coming from wedges is hugh imo.

 

I tried some other ones, including the most expensive KZ ones, with 10 drivers or so. Used them on some shows. The sound really good, but are a bit bass hyped. For bigger shows with a lot of subs on the PA I actually get too much bass (bass will bleed through..). Also the fitting in my ears is not as comfortable.

 

I'm actually back to the shure 215. The sound really clean and fit very well.

[tunaman]

I use Ultimate Ears - I started with a set of UE5s about 8 years ago or so, and just got a new set of UE7s last year after NAMM. Neither of them are ambient. I use the AKG SPR4500 as my monitoring device, and have a total of four of them to feed most of our band.

 

Also a bit of crowd/stage noise is great, although you can get that from microphones.

 

Definitely want ambience from mics - I usually place an ambience mic somewhere in the middle of our practice space, and everyone has mics for the stage setup so we get plenty from them.

[Reezekeys]

I used the cheap MEE Audio M6 Pros, definitely a budget model â they were $40 when I bought them. One side went out while I was on the road so a quick trip to a Guitar Center and I wound up with the cheap Shures mentioned by Rudy. They've been fine. Later on I found out MEE has a lifetime guarantee so I can replace mine for the cost of shipping and have a spare - but I might use the Shures as spares since I remember thinking I liked the MEEs more. One of these days.

 

The main job I need in-ears to do is act as earplugs to the crazy stage levels I [used to] deal with. Super-balanced "hi-fi" quintuple-driver sound is not anywhere near a priority - just let me hear myself and what's in my monitor mix clearly and without any serious peaks or dips in the fr. My hearing is bad enough already, I can't see paying tons of money for a benefit I won't experience - not on my loud stage, anyway.

 

I toyed with the "ambient" in-ear idea for a second - some have small holes to let outside sound in, others have tiny microphones that let you mix in ambient sound (those were not cheap iirc). In the end I realised that for my tinnitus-impaired ears, blocking as much stage as possible was most important and these cheap guys did the job (I used the Comply foam tips). It took some time to get used to the experience of making music with my bandmates like this, as I never used ears until about 5 years ago. I can't say I love it, but I'm fine with it now and I know I have to do it.

 

Anyway, I suppose my .02 would be to not spend a ton of money on the super-hi-fi ears if you're using them just for gigs on loud stages.

[vonnor]

I use a Shure PSM-900 Series system. The receiver has a built-in limiter that can be set to different volume caps, which as Canoehead said is very important. I own 3 different ear-bug sets, Shure SE425, Westone custom 3-driver and Westone UM Pro 50s. All are isolation type, which works for me and I get real nice low-end from either of the Westones. The 425s are not as deep in the bass range.

 

~ vonnor

[dbk]

I went with the 'active' ambient design that Sensaphonics/ASI Audio uses. The built-in mics allow you to bring down the stage volume to-taste. I then dial a mix in by adding a bit of keys via Radial Key Largo monitor outputs. Their new 3DME design has some nice improvements over the older system and is somewhat more cost affordable by using universal-fit IEMs. System has been a lifesaver for me as my ears are in poor shape after years of abuse. Keeps me in the game. If you are fighting a loud stage I would recommend a custom-fit approach for better isolation. Current 3DME price is about $750 with the custom-fit sleeves. Above all, protect your hearing!

 

Dave

[SteveUK]

I would go for isolated as you can always add ambience with mics. I use Jerry Harvey Audio JH5s (I think). Had them for nearly 10 years and really good isolation. Before that I used normal off the shelf from Sennheiser. Again good but struggled to get sufficient isolation from stage noise. When I was getting my impressions done the audiologist said I had a very straight ear canal so would explain why I struggled with universal buds

[KeyMoe]

Isolated here and love them!