Cheap IEM suggestions

AntonHunter

I've not tried in-ear monitoring before, but I've got a specific use case where I think it'd be useful. My Quilter Superblock already has a headphone out, so I'm thinking if I can get a long cable from that then I can avoid having my amp too loud on stage without the need for an additional monitor. So...

1) any suggestions for cheap headphones I can use? Not looking to get moulded ones, at least until I've tried the set up, but ideally something one up from regular earbuds that might provide some protection from the drummer.

2) the headphone out is affected by the master volume control, so I could do with some way of adjusting it before it gets to my ears. Probably just passive attenuation would work as its quite hot, any headphone extension cables with that built in that anyone knows about? Or another solution I've missed?

Danny1969

You could lash a headphone extension cable to your guitar lead then put this inline before the IEM's .. 



That's £1.64 from CPC.co.uk

For budget IEM's I like Shure SE215's but there are cheaper £50 sets on Amazon that will do the job. 

AntonHunter

Aha, perfect yeah. I think I'll order one. Do you find the SE215's to be good enough at keeping the stage volume out?

AntonHunter

Anyone have any experience of the Stagg SPM range? 

https://staggmusic.com/en/products/view/SPM235BK-high-resolution-sound-isolating-in-ear-monitor-black/

mike257

215s are a go to for entry level generic IEM. If you want to go cheaper, the KZ ZS10 Pro are widely available on Amazon for about fifty quid. They're good *for the price* but take all the "better than my Shure 535" hyped up reviews with a pinch of salt. They're good cheapos, and better than most non-IEM users are used to hearing but they're not the holy grail the internet would have you think. I own a set that live in my backpack for casual listening/emergency spares but they're back of the queue behind my Cosmic Audio CE6P customs, and my Shure 535 and 315. 

Isolation from stage volume depends on the fit in your ear. Any decent pair of generics will come with a couple of different tip sizes, so it'll take some experimentation to see which works best for you. When popping them in your ears, roll/squish the foam earbuds so they're squashed smaller, pop them in your ears and hold them in place for a few seconds while the foam expands. 

The fit of generics will never match the isolation you get from well fitted customs, but they'll still be a step in the right direction. 

StevenMK

Just started using IEMs and been happy with my Shure 215s. I use a donner headphone amp and blend a FoH mix with a second out from my pedalboard. I find they block out more than enough noise with the foam plugs. 

AntonHunter

mike257 said:

215s are a go to for entry level generic IEM. If you want to go cheaper, the KZ ZS10 Pro are widely available on Amazon for about fifty quid. They're good *for the price* but take all the "better than my Shure 535" hyped up reviews with a pinch of salt. They're good cheapos, and better than most non-IEM users are used to hearing but they're not the holy grail the internet would have you think. I own a set that live in my backpack for casual listening/emergency spares but they're back of the queue behind my Cosmic Audio CE6P customs, and my Shure 535 and 315. 

Isolation from stage volume depends on the fit in your ear. Any decent pair of generics will come with a couple of different tip sizes, so it'll take some experimentation to see which works best for you. When popping them in your ears, roll/squish the foam earbuds so they're squashed smaller, pop them in your ears and hold them in place for a few seconds while the foam expands. 

The fit of generics will never match the isolation you get from well fitted customs, but they'll still be a step in the right direction. 

Thanks for the detail!

Roland

AntonHunter said:

Aha, perfect yeah. I think I'll order one. Do you find the SE215's to be good enough at keeping the stage volume out?

Not in my case. When we started with IEMs I used SE215s. They supplemented what I was hearing, but let a lot of the drums through. We got a louder drummer, and I had to change to Cosmic fitted plugs to give me greater isolation. 

The other problem I found was that SE215s could pull out of my ears if the cable rubbed on anything. Guitar strap was a particular problem. I tried all the different sizes of foam tips, but nothing held them in. My fitted plugs stay in place. 

shufflebeat

Roland said:

AntonHunter said:

Aha, perfect yeah. I think I'll order one. Do you find the SE215's to be good enough at keeping the stage volume out?

Not in my case. When we started with IEMs I used SE215s. They supplemented what I was hearing, but let a lot of the drums through. We got a louder drummer, and I had to change to Cosmic fitted plugs to give me greater isolation. 

The other problem I found was that SE215s could pull out of my ears if the cable rubbed on anything. Guitar strap was a particular problem. I tried all the different sizes of foam tips, but nothing held them in. My fitted plugs stay in place. 

Sounds to me like you were using the wrong tips. There’s no way large Comply tips on my se215s would be pulled out of my ears without serious effort, certainly not guitar strap drag.

Two top issues:

Does the size of the IEM body fit into your ear, allowing the tip to reach into your ear canal? The body of the KZ is so large and flat that I can’t get it far enough in to work properly. If you have the right shaped ears they sound fine and the cable is great. Se215s are a totally different shape and will fit most people.

Are you using the right size foam tips? Silicon triple-flange tips are ok on quiet stages or if you like some audio bleed but some care is needed to get useful isolation, but it can be done. Correctly fitted, appropriate sized, good quality (Comply) tips should be fine.

Assuming we’re not talking about the cheapest and worst buds these two issues are much more significant than the actual model of IEMs used.

AntonHunter

Ah man, I'm going to end up getting moulded ones before I've even tried it aren't I?!

shufflebeat

AntonHunter said:

Ah man, I'm going to end up getting moulded ones before I've even tried it aren't I?!

Don’t rush to spend, moulds can be great but there are other priorities and badly done moulds are much worse than well fitting foam tips.

Consider also what you’re driving it with. A badly set up IEM system is a very efficient way to destroy your hearing. Good EQ and limiting coupled with decent isolation should be higher up the list than moulds.

PolarityMan

mike257 said:

215s are a go to for entry level generic IEM. If you want to go cheaper, the KZ ZS10 Pro are widely available on Amazon for about fifty quid. They're good *for the price* but take all the "better than my Shure 535" hyped up reviews with a pinch of salt. They're good cheapos, and better than most non-IEM users are used to hearing but they're not the holy grail the internet would have you think. I own a set that live in my backpack for casual listening/emergency spares but they're back of the queue behind my Cosmic Audio CE6P customs, and my Shure 535 and 315. 

Isolation from stage volume depends on the fit in your ear. Any decent pair of generics will come with a couple of different tip sizes, so it'll take some experimentation to see which works best for you. When popping them in your ears, roll/squish the foam earbuds so they're squashed smaller, pop them in your ears and hold them in place for a few seconds while the foam expands. 

The fit of generics will never match the isolation you get from well fitted customs, but they'll still be a step in the right direction. 

I use my zs10s in preference to Shure 315s. Obvs the 535s have more drivers but the zs10s are really punching significantly above their weight.

mike257

Roland said:

The other problem I found was that SE215s could pull out of my ears if the cable rubbed on anything. Guitar strap was a particular problem. I tried all the different sizes of foam tips, but nothing held them in. My fitted plugs stay in place. 

A spot of surgical tape holding the cable on the back of the neck goes a long way towards keeping them from being disturbed by slight pulls on the cable 

mike257

PolarityMan said:

mike257 said:

215s are a go to for entry level generic IEM. If you want to go cheaper, the KZ ZS10 Pro are widely available on Amazon for about fifty quid. They're good *for the price* but take all the "better than my Shure 535" hyped up reviews with a pinch of salt. They're good cheapos, and better than most non-IEM users are used to hearing but they're not the holy grail the internet would have you think. I own a set that live in my backpack for casual listening/emergency spares but they're back of the queue behind my Cosmic Audio CE6P customs, and my Shure 535 and 315. 

Isolation from stage volume depends on the fit in your ear. Any decent pair of generics will come with a couple of different tip sizes, so it'll take some experimentation to see which works best for you. When popping them in your ears, roll/squish the foam earbuds so they're squashed smaller, pop them in your ears and hold them in place for a few seconds while the foam expands. 

The fit of generics will never match the isolation you get from well fitted customs, but they'll still be a step in the right direction. 

I use my zs10s in preference to Shure 315s. Obvs the 535s have more drivers but the zs10s are really punching significantly above their weight.

Better than they should be for £50, for sure.

I find that they're excessively hyped in the high mids compared to other earphones, especially when you directly A/B them. That might suit some people - I'm generally looking for as flat a response as possible as I'm using them for mixing monitors live, and often with people wearing different types of IEMs on stage, but if it's just for yourself, you might prefer the more sculpted frequency response on the KZs. Certainly can't knock them for the price. 

WeZ84

I have some KZ ZS10 ear buds and they are pretty comfortable and sound good for the price. I use a Behringer P2 headphone amp / belt pack thing to adjust the headphone level then take an aux feed from our mixer.

Most of the IEM earbuds will block out a lot of the ambient sound so if you're planning on using your headphone out on your amp you hear yourself better you might find that the other band members will then be too quiet. 

Danny1969

I have a set of ZS10's but I find long gigs fatiguing with them and the cable isn't great. I brought them when I blew a driver on my 215's . Having used them for a few long gigs I think I will repair my 215's .. they provide a less hyped more relaxed IEM experience.  

shufflebeat

Danny1969 said:

I have a set of ZS10's but I find long gigs fatiguing with them and the cable isn't great. I brought them when I blew a driver on my 215's . Having used them for a few long gigs I think I will repair my 215's .. they provide a less hyped more relaxed IEM experience.  

Do you have access to EQ and limiting on your IEM feed?

firepaulmusic

I have a couple of basic radio IEM systems I could sell if you're interested in not being tied to the spot...

AntonHunter

Thanks for the suggestion @firepaulmusic, but I am 100% committed in being tied to the spot. I get separation anxiety if I'm more than 3 feet away from my pedals anyway...

Danny1969

shufflebeat said:

Danny1969 said:

I have a set of ZS10's but I find long gigs fatiguing with them and the cable isn't great. I brought them when I blew a driver on my 215's . Having used them for a few long gigs I think I will repair my 215's .. they provide a less hyped more relaxed IEM experience.  

Do you have access to EQ and limiting on your IEM feed?

Yes I am feeding them from an ME-1 which also has ambience from its built in mic .. really nice unit 

shufflebeat

Danny1969 said:

shufflebeat said:

Danny1969 said:

I have a set of ZS10's but I find long gigs fatiguing with them and the cable isn't great. I brought them when I blew a driver on my 215's . Having used them for a few long gigs I think I will repair my 215's .. they provide a less hyped more relaxed IEM experience.  

Do you have access to EQ and limiting on your IEM feed?

Yes I am feeding them from an ME-1 which also has ambience from its built in mic .. really nice unit 

Ooh, very nice.

We did some exploring of these some time ago because we generally use a Qu-Pac but couldn’t really justify the expense vs the Qu-You app and existing IEMs. There was definitely some IEM Acquisition Anticipation Anxiety in the room, though.