IEM Ear Buds - Suggestions

to the OP:
IMO - of all of the advice + recommendations in the thread, the MOST IMPORTANT consideration is MULTIPLE DRIVERS - regardless of vendor, price, etc.

You will get better separation, sound stage and quality (even if only MONO) with them than you will with single driver buds.
 
Hi,
I use Shure 535's. Their sound is clear and stable and they allow for a lot of deep lows, that's just perfect. The only thing I miss is some real ambience, but that's a known problem with IEMs. Maybe I should drill a hole in the foam and see what happens?
Best solution is to add a couple of room mics (small, inexpensive condensers work fine) and bring them into your mix. Properly placed, you can even hear people when they come to the stage. I've been back on a wedge monitor for a while due to peculiarities of my band setup, but this is the only way we ever solved the isolated feeling.
 
My vote after 2.5 years of using them is for Ultimate Ears. I have the UE7's and still love them, they are better than the westone generic, shure generic, etc... definitely better than the Carvin buds. I just had to ship mine in for service but considering the amount of use they've had and the $99 flat fee to fix them I still think they are awesome.

Best solution is to add a couple of room mics (small, inexpensive condensers work fine) and bring them into your mix. Properly placed, you can even hear people when they come to the stage. I've been back on a wedge monitor for a while due to peculiarities of my band setup, but this is the only way we ever solved the isolated feeling.

Some IEM vendors will add ports to the custom molded models so you can have ambient noise bleed in as well.
 
Some IEM vendors will add ports to the custom molded models so you can have ambient noise bleed in as well.

This is pretty important to me as the amount of times I see performers with one IEM out and one in is surprising.
A common complaint is in using IEM's on stage you loose the feeling of what's happening on stage and the audio coming from the IEM does not feel live.
Getting some local audio blended in would seem to fix this, but it looks like there is no bleed adjustment, only a fixed level.
It think the "bleed technology" needs more refinement and the IEM manufactures need to do some homework.
 
I believe (but am not 100% sure of this) that there are some options to change the amount of bleed with different physical filters on some of the systems. The whole thing with custom IEMs is they are expensive and you don't get to choose other options after the fact, so that part sucks bad, but I still personally am happy I got them.

This is pretty important to me as the amount of times I see performers with one IEM out and one in is surprising.
A common complaint is in using IEM's on stage you loose the feeling of what's happening on stage and the audio coming from the IEM does not feel live.
Getting some local audio blended in would seem to fix this, but it looks like there is no bleed adjustment, only a fixed level.
It think the "bleed technology" needs more refinement and the IEM manufactures need to do some homework.
 
to the OP:
IMO - of all of the advice + recommendations in the thread, the MOST IMPORTANT consideration is MULTIPLE DRIVERS - regardless of vendor, price, etc.

You will get better separation, sound stage and quality (even if only MONO) with them than you will with single driver buds.

+1, BUT there's a point where you reach diminishing returns.
2 drivers - smoke 1
3 drivers - definitely clearer than 2
4 drivers - ok maybe a difference over 3
8 drivers - the manufacturer tells me they're better than 6 so I'll take their word for it.
 
i originally bought a set of shure 215 but stepped up to westone um pro 30's with 3 drivers. great improvement for me. we are running personal mixers so i can dial in how i want to hear my mix. also if any ear-buds are not seated in you ear properly it sounds like crap.
 
+1, BUT there's a point where you reach diminishing returns.
2 drivers - smoke 1
3 drivers - definitely clearer than 2
4 drivers - ok maybe a difference over 3
8 drivers - the manufacturer tells me they're better than 6 so I'll take their word for it.
Agreed, but I didn't go down that path since the diminishing returns vary by user.
Where does one draw the line..???
Is 10 or 12 drivers really better than 3 or 4?
idk.. I'm REALLY happy with my 4 drivers... so-o-o-o much better then the single drivers I've owned - Carvin, Shure 215, Sony EX's, Westone UM1's...
Own Senn IE4's (come w/ G3) but never tried them.
 
I really started to narrow down the field but now find myself having to chose between either a 2 driver set or a 3 driver set. Thanks to all of the suggestions. This has been very valuable. :)
 
Yeah, definitely NOT one of those things you want to do over and over if you go the custom molds route. Resale on just the drivers kinda sucks, and no one wants molds of your ears.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Hi,
I use Shure 535's. Their sound is clear and stable and they allow for a lot of deep lows, that's just perfect. The only thing I miss is some real ambience, but that's a known problem with IEMs. Maybe I should drill a hole in the foam and see what happens?

There are models where the molds have ports to allow so outside noise in, I tried it but prefered it closed.
 
Back
Top Bottom