Wireless IEMs - what wireless bits?

stickyfiddle

Our keyboardist has a great mixer that can take all our inputs and then output for monitor mixes and FOH, and I already have SE215s for my ears, so I'm looking at getting the wireless kit to be use IEMs without extra cables. 

What would be a good option for "serious amateur" level? I can see stuff from Nux that looks decent and stuff from Shure/Sennheiser for twice the price that I'm sure is excellent. 

bloodandtears

I recently got the Xvive stuff cos its USB rechargeable..  The transmitter is small in comparison to a pedal or rackmount equivalent... The receiver is a small chunky box but not overly heavy..  overall it all works pretty good thus far.

Musicwolf

You can't beat a good old piece of copper wire (lowest cost, highest quality and best reliability) but, when I do go wireless, I have a Nux B-7PSM.  The background noise is apparent as soon as you switch it on, but I find it to be within limits for live applications.  Same with latency.  Spec says <5.5ms which I'm ok with.

stickyfiddle

Cheers. I spoke with our resident tech & owner of the IEM mixer this morning and have got a Sennheiser one arriving this evening. Figured I've got 30 more years of gigging in me if all goes well so no bad thing to have a decent bit of kit. I definitely want wireless as I'm singing as well and with guitar changes I really don't want to get tangled up in cables

Full review once I've used it!

bloodandtears

I have an old sennheiser half rack sized Gen1 think..  but I dont use a rack and hate batteries.. so I stopped using it..   of course mine would use RF technology as opposed to the newer digital stuff which is a lot clearer for sure.

maltingsaudio

stickyfiddle said:

Cheers. I spoke with our resident tech & owner of the IEM mixer this morning and have got a Sennheiser one arriving this evening. Figured I've got 30 more years of gigging in me if all goes well so no bad thing to have a decent bit of kit. I definitely want wireless as I'm singing as well and with guitar changes I really don't want to get tangled up in cables

Full review once I've used it!

Excellent choice   . Never ceases to amaze me how people will happily spend thousands on a guitar and amp and pedals, yet don’t apply the same logic/ethos  to the other less sexy but oh so important bits of kit you need.

Ps I don’t always practice what I preach 

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/286089/ebay-vagary-update

DiscoStu

bloodandtears said:

I recently got the Xvive stuff cos its USB rechargeable..  The transmitter is small in comparison to a pedal or rackmount equivalent... The receiver is a small chunky box but not overly heavy..  overall it all works pretty good thus far.

Which one did you get?

stickyfiddle

Long session with the Sennheisers yesterday. Very impressed. Easy to set up and sounded great. My ears were ringing slightly after (and still very slightly this morning so I need to keep a firm mental note to keep a limit on the volumes. 

The biggest issue was with my old Shure SE215s - the foam is 10 years old at this point so they weren't staying in my ears well enough. New foams ordered and I should be good to go

djspecialist

Which wireless system did you get @stickyfiddle ?

stickyfiddle

djspecialist said:

Which wireless system did you get @stickyfiddle ?

Sennheiser Pro XSW 

The same as this one, though I paid a bit less Sennheiser XSW IEM SET (E) 823.200 - 831.800 MHz - Andertons Music Co. 

bloodandtears

DiscoStu said:

bloodandtears said:

I recently got the Xvive stuff cos its USB rechargeable..  The transmitter is small in comparison to a pedal or rackmount equivalent... The receiver is a small chunky box but not overly heavy..  overall it all works pretty good thus far.

Which one did you get?

this.. https://xvive.com/audio/product/u4-in-ear-monitor-wireless-system/

thomasw88

Just did my first gig with the Xvive U45  which is the 5.6ghz band version of the Xvive U4.   I  was using a behringer P1 wired thing before which did do the job but a) I kept standing on the cable and b) I like to go for a wander during gigs so I can get the mix sorted.  I'll keep it for a backup solution as it was a nifty little unit.

The U45 was great, sounded clearer to me with no interference.  It is mono tho.  Couple of singers I work with have Xvive U4 and have 0 complaints about them at all with gigs all over the place.

DiscoStu

Good to know

robinbowes

stickyfiddle said:

Long session with the Sennheisers yesterday. Very impressed. Easy to set up and sounded great. My ears were ringing slightly after (and still very slightly this morning so I need to keep a firm mental note to keep a limit on the volumes. 

The biggest issue was with my old Shure SE215s - the foam is 10 years old at this point so they weren't staying in my ears well enough. New foams ordered and I should be good to go

I recommend getting some personal moulds done.

I use https://snugs.com/products/pro.

I have a pair of moulds for my Shure 535s, and also a pair for my Airpods!

stickyfiddle

robinbowes said:

stickyfiddle said:

Long session with the Sennheisers yesterday. Very impressed. Easy to set up and sounded great. My ears were ringing slightly after (and still very slightly this morning so I need to keep a firm mental note to keep a limit on the volumes. 

The biggest issue was with my old Shure SE215s - the foam is 10 years old at this point so they weren't staying in my ears well enough. New foams ordered and I should be good to go

I recommend getting some personal moulds done.

I use https://snugs.com/products/pro.

I have a pair of moulds for my Shure 535s, and also a pair for my Airpods!

Ta - I definitely will. I barely go anywhere remotely loud without my ACS plugs so it’s a no brainer tbh. 

I wonder if I’m better getting custom moulds for my existing 215s or maybe going slightly wholer-hog and going for a full in-ear from a single company?