IEM ??

Quality of the ear mold impression plays a huge role in the sound quality. Get them done by someone with experience doing proper molds
 
If you're talking about a good IEM system, I'm a huge fan of my Sennheiser EW300-IEM G3 System.

If you're looking for the 'buds' themselves, the best off-the-rack solution I've found are the Shure In-Ear Headphones. Even the basic model, the 215 has remarkably good sound quality and the 425 (the ones I use) are just fantastic.

I also have a set of CIEM's (Custom IEM's) that I had made from a mold of my inner-ear taken from an audiologist where I then had my drivers (I forget what, I believe a nicer set of Etymotic, but I'm not sure, it's been a few years) sent to a CIEM maker who 're-shelled' my drivers from the generic 'earbud' style enclosure into a set of shells created from my audiologist molds.

FREAKING AMAZING. Crystal clear, fantastic exterior noise reduction, absolutely wonderful in every way EXCEPT, I feel a little TOO isolated from the audience and the rest of the band when I wear them. I've minimized this issue by occasionally using a cheap room mic placed onstage that I fold into my monitor mix a bit, but that's not something I can do for every gig, so I ended up using the Shures most of the time. It's a SLIGHT tradeoff in sound quality, they're not QUITE as comfy as the CIEM's, but I wouldn't be horribly upset if for whatever reason I were limited to the Shures at all.

If you REALLY want to go down the rabbit hole of CIEM's, head over to head-fi.org, there's a TON of information there, both in how to have your molds properly done (basically there's a bit of dispute on whether or not to use a 'bite block'), reviews on different IEM makers, and which drivers are best suited to re-shelling.

Hope that helped.

Edit: That being said, too, even an entry-level IEM system like the Shure PSM-400 (about $450 street) which includes the entry-level 215 buds is STILL so much better than using wedges, I'd absolutely recommend it, with the caveat to buy the best you can afford.
 
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+1 for the Shure 215's. Pretty rugged, just replaced the cable for the first time after 2+ years of gigging and running with them, and the cable was only $25. Of course, multi-driver 'phones will have even better sound quality, but for $90-ish bucks, it's difficult to beat the 215's.
 
I just ordered the new Shure Digital PSM300 digital IEM with 215's, runs around $850 in Canada, looking forward to it, as all the analog wireless stuff I've ever bought was crap....
 
glad to hear positives about the 215s. my band is gonna do IEMs for our monitors and split out to FOH using Art S8's. at $99 each, it adds up, but i'm glad it will sound pretty decent for a single driver.

i'm sure ANYTHING is better than a bunch of loud speakers that you can't hear anything nicely.

i hear the 215s actually have more bass than the 300 and 400 series, so that might actually work out better for us. i have to EQ the crap out of my 425s... cut some mids, like 600, then boots 80 and below and like 6k and above haha.
 
Chris@KatsuKuriMedia said:
glad to hear positives about the 215s. my band is gonna do IEMs for our monitors and split out to FOH using Art S8's. at $99 each, it adds up, but i'm glad it will sound pretty decent for a single driver.

i'm sure ANYTHING is better than a bunch of loud speakers that you can't hear anything nicely.

i hear the 215s actually have more bass than the 300 and 400 series, so that might actually work out better for us. i have to EQ the crap out of my 425s... cut some mids, like 600, then boots 80 and below and like 6k and above haha.
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We mostly use the 215s, except our drummer who recently upgraded to the 315 (might even be the 400, I need to check) as he decided he wanted the separate driver. Even he has admitted that the only time you notice the difference between the 215 and the 315 is when you compare them side by side right after each other.

The 215 on its own works extremely well. I stand right in front of my amp when I play and they do an excellent job of cutting that out, so I get the cleanest feed from the desk.

And I love the fact you get loads of different size ear pieces with it.
 
I don't know that I'd agree the 215s have more bass than the 300/400 series, they're not as tight and/or detailed, but I'd need to go A/B them at some point today to really get an idea.

Incidentally, since I have some good people working at my local GC (and as an avid headphone enthusiast I also had plenty of my own tips) I was able to demo the full line and for the money and bearing in mind the idea of diminishing returns, I'd be of the opinion that one would be better served with either the 215 or the 425, skipping the 315 entirely (it's a good earbud, but it doesn't seem to be in a good price/performance point compared to the 215 and 425).

I'm contemplating jumping into a pair of 535's to see how I like them and then maybe getting one of the pair reshelled, dunno.
Hey, as far as quality of sound, I use a pair of my 215s quite often to listen to music with, they're not my 'nicest' buds, but they're pleasant sounding, fit well and just work.

Edit: Yup, definitely more pronounced/extended bass than the others, weird.
 
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I'm a huge fan of the JHAudio IEMs. Not the cheapest but I'm hearing things I've never heard before in music I've listened to for years.
 
Another vote for 1964 Ears. IMO they offer great bang for the buck. Sometimes I still get awed by how good they sound with a quality sound source.
 
i tried the consumer line of Ultimate ears - that blue one you can get at the Apple store. it's a quad driver and WOW, it was the best thing i've EVER heard in my life. the separation and detail was just amazing. i'm sure it's just because that's the first time i'd ever heard a quad driver system.

but the cool thing is, you can use Shure cables with it. the included UE cable is this braided thing that gets stuck and i feel is very fragile. i put my 425 cable on them and it was perfect.

unfortunately i couldn't justify the $400 price tag at the time, but i definitely want to get them again. the fact that i could in a pinch get them at a local store is amazing to me.
 
I use the sennheiser ew300 system. And JH audio 16's. The sound is fantastic but it's a pricey solution. I agree with kris in a sense. Go with what you can afford. Specifically, the best you can afford. Upgrading later on is expensive since you can't ever sell your old pairs to recoupe some cost. So go big right away. Save for longer if you have to


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boltrecords said:
Upgrading later on is expensive since you can't ever sell your old pairs to recoupe some cost.
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Actually, there's a very healthy secondary market for used IEM's over on Head-Fi.org. People (and this is how I got a much better set of drivers than I could really afford at the time) will buy used ones and send them off for a re-shell. Some significant bargains to be had.
 
I ended up getting 1964 v6 stage, I love them. I use them for everything these days. I even take them to work, so I can listen to my weeks tunes without disturbing people around me. The bass response is awesome. It's been one hell of a purchase.
 
We have Sennheiser EW300 system with Westone 4R ear monitors. They come with 10 or so sets of generic ear plug styles. We spend a few hundred each on custom ear molds and ours sucked. Too hard to use. Went back to a stock generic plug and it's back to being great.
 
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