Worth noting that Campfire Audio, the company mentioned in the article, has been involved with manipulating reviews via their sponsorships with large audio communities/publications.
Also, for those interested in IEMs in general: crinacle.com has a 1000+ item database including measurements and his subjective rankings.
I tried my friend's Campfire Audio and it is quite .. special. The metal case feels weird on my ears but the sound quality is spot on. That said though I am comfortable enough with my SE846.
Related: if you enjoy live music, get a pair of custom-fit musician's earplugs. They cost $150 total, which is a lot of money for earplugs, but is not much at all for protecting my hearing. Also, that's not many concert tickets!
To add to this, the cool thing about musician’s earplugs is they try to attenuate the sound in a way that roughly conforms to the equal loudness curve. It isn’t perfect (the highs are often still knocked down more than I would like) but in general they are way better than normal earplugs which basically just kill most of the mid to high range.
If you want to make sure you get custom moulds done right, a local audiologist can do it for you.
Walking out of a concert (or for me a gig - I used to play the drums professionally) popping out your plugs and having your head feel totally normal is such an amazing feeling! Highly recommend them even if you only go to a handful of loud venues in a year.
It always baffles me that concerts are allowed to get so loud. A few of my colleagues were complaining about their ears ringing after an AWS party, which is a strong indication they suffered some hearing damage!
Also worth pointing out that if you’re doing really loud stuff, you need to refer to NRR rating, not db. It’s a more precise way of measuring hearing protection against loud noises.
Same if you ride a motorcycle; I had a set made which reduced the harsh wind noise, but still let you hear the traffic around you. In fact it made it easier to hear cars, etc. Made motorway riding much more relaxing.
Can any audiophile tell me why even a professional should buy $1500 IEM?
I just bought $45 QZ ZS10 Pro and they might be the best sounding and noise blocking headphones I’ve ever had. Perfect for drumming along to tracks. Haven’t gotten to try them plugged in on stage yet.
The audiophile world is one of incredibly quickly diminishing returns, especially when you're talking about IEMs. Those KZ's that you have are a great value and that scales about linearly up to the $100 mark, after that I'd say things begin to drop off quite quickly.
As for why you'd buy CIEMs, its mostly about better isolation and comfort. Your average customs will have a quality on par with universals a bit below their price but will be more ergonomic and isolating. The benefits are generally more in line with professional musician rather than audiophile.
The usual justification for professional IEM is hearing protection. It's often loud on stage.
There is a danger with headphones that you will turn them up too loud (esp. in a loud environment) so you can hear the signal clearly. As a musical professional your hearing is vital to the quality of your performance so you should protect it.
If you get a good impression done, custom molds are superior to anything for a few reasons.
They fit your ear perfectly and block everything out. That's why most of the really popular touring musicians go custom-molded, usually with UE, Westone, or Jerry Harvey.
They are also VERY comfortable when molded properly. It's like a glove for your ears. You won't feel anything like it with silicone or foam. I can wear my custom plugs all night or for an entire concert, easy. Foam itches after 30 minutes.
Also, foam muddies audio by sacrificing some high end and bloating mids/low-end. If you care about audio reproduction, foam is usually a sacrifice for IEMs, and you usually have to EQ your gear to get the losses back.
The impressions have to be really good, though, and the turnaround time from the vendor needs to be fast. Custom molds are terrible when they don't fit right. I hate the turnaround time; waiting is the worst part. Ear impressioning is still kind-of stone age, IMO. The audiologist stuffs your ear with a curing paste, and you can't move for the five minutes it takes to cure. However, some people have really flexible ear canals that cause earplugs to lose their seal when you chew or smile, so you might need to do a block-bite impression to account for that. Moving your head at all can invalidate the entire impression. It's annoying. I wish audiologists did an impression panel so that manufacturers could send a sample of buds and have you trial them all within a return period (or charge you if you really want to keep them all). Oh well; a man can dream.
For most people, custom mold earbuds for music listening is way unnecessary, especially with IEMs getting incredibly good at noise cancelling. If you hate foam plugs or just want a set of buds that are really yours, custom is your only route though.
However, I will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS recommend custom earplugs for sleep and for loud environments, like hunting or concerts. They last forever, are super comfortable, and can make a loud environment tolerable (i.e. if your partner snores) and actually better-sounding, all while preserving your hearing (which from what I've heard SUCKS to lose).
Noise canceling is not necessarily going to protect your hearing on all frequencies. The point of having a really good seal is to make sure you can still hear 10 years down the road. That is worth the price of admission.
15-20 years ago when I was still touring, custom IEMs were the defacto standard for drummers, at least the circles I was in. Crazy expensive, but absolutely worth it if you cared at all about a solid mix while you're playing live (and also value your hearing).
I imagine that a ton has changed since then with respect to quality of consumer-grade earphones and I don't have a great frame of reference for that anymore. But I do know many live audio folks, drummers, and other touring professionals still using IEMs, that could be as much habit as utility though.
No, they are incrementally better. For about $100-150 you can improve (probably noticeably) on accuracy. For $300 you can improve a little bit more. For $600 you probably can't notice the difference, and for a thousand, you're buying for something other than accuracy. Might rhyme with shatus or gling.
In the last five years the bottom end of the market went from 2s and 3s for $50 to 7s and 8s. That doesn't mean the 2s and 3s aren't still around...
Like any product more than 2x the price of competition with the same feature set: there is no real practical value proposition.
If you were to consider $300 CIEMs to foam-tipped earbuds: the discussion is much different. Passive isolation is more than 20 dB higher, seal is guaranteed so bass response is much better, etc.
Custom sleep earplugs are an item I'll recommend to ANYONE. Best $300 you'll ever spend and your sleep will thank you.
As for custom IEMs: I'd definitely get me a pair when a truly wireless option from a known player in this space (Campfire Audio, JV Harvey, UE, etc) that sounds great and has a great mic comes on the scene.
I tried Bragi's offering years ago. (Bragi was the first manufacturer to try at truly wireless headphones. They released before Apple launched the AirPods. The AirPods are now a billion-dollar business, whereas Bragi is defunct.) They partnered with Starkey, a very popular hearing aids manufacturer, to make the (still only) waterproof custom true wireless earbuds. The idea of using earbuds that fit me perfectly that I could shower with was awesome. My right ear canal has a weird kink that makes it difficult to use regular IEMs and impossible to use the truly wireless options at the time, thus making the Bragi's even more lucrative. They also partnered with Mimi Audio to offer an EQ that was tuned to your hearing...on iOS. Impossible to beat feature set.
Unfortunately, the earbuds were a disaster. Worst $600 I ever spent. ($600 is cheap in the world of custom IEMs; another reason why I got them.) They didn't sound very good, the audio balance would shift right after an hour of listening, the mic was AWFUL (i made many, many excuses for it, but it was just plain bad), and, worst of all, because the base of the earbud was large (stuffed with ICs) and Bragi chose to use the same case that they used for their universal offering, the nozzle didn't go deep enough to provide a truly locked-in seal. This is, like, THE reason to get custom IEMs, so them failing here was especially painful. The local audiologist (you had to go to a Starkey "dealer" to get your impressions) got tired of me coming in for refits, and I got tired of waiting three weeks to have earbuds I'd use for three days.
I was done with them when Samsung released Galaxy Buds that were compatible with iOS and had noise cancelling. Threw them in the trash. The case even had my name on it. One of the few things I ever engraved with my actual name...and I threw them out because they frustrated me so much.
ADV-Sound has an offering here, but apparently their mic is not very good, and info on these headphones is lacking, Sounds very Bragi 2.0-ish to me, so I'm passing on those.
I've been looking for earbuds for sleeping and listening to audio books before bed.
I don't think such as thing exists sadly. I had high hopes fir UE fits, but while the fit is great, they stick out too much for side sleeping.
They also had an annoying firmware issue where tapping didn't work until they quietly rolled out a fix and I happened to see it months later when I googled the issue again.
Do you have further recommendations on brands for both custom sleep earplugs and IEM’s? I have a pretty significant case of TMJ and no bespoke in-ear audio product will ever fit me perfectly because one canal is pretty different than the other.
But is it safe to sleep every day with earbuds on? Even if they are washable, I'm thinking closing the ear canal for prolonged periods of time and the resulting increase in moisture can promote nasty bacterial growth.
I looked into this a few years back. What confused me about this article is the blurring of custom earphones and custom ear plugs.
You can get standard in ear monitors that come with a variety of interchangeable earplugs of different sizes, and different materials, like foam.
I believe it's possible, and fairly standard, for musicians to use these with custom fitted plugs.
But this seems to be talking about the whole device being custom made which sends the price rocketing and it's not clear what benefit that adds. Is it custom fitted to your outer ear too?
I'm also somewhat surprised that the state of the art is still to take molds rather than some digital scan of your ear, surely someone is working on that?
I had something like this done for the first set of hearing aids I got a decade ago, but when replacing them, I tried it without and it's fine. An advantage to not getting them custom made is that I can use cheap disposable domes now, so I can just replace them every so often, and buy more on Amazon.
It seems like the reason to do it would not really be for sound quality, but for comfort, so you can wear them all day. Whether you need it depends on the shape of your ears, so a review won't tell you whether you need them; the reviewer likely has differently-shaped ears than you.
For those of you who already have a favorite pair of nice earbuds, I suggest checking out ADV (https://www.adv-sound.com/pages/ciem). They are able to manufacture a custom-fit sleeve for a lot of existing earbuds and are therefore much cheaper (~250 USD). I have a pair of Shure earbuds and their custom-fit sleeves are great - they even send you a do-it-yourself ear impression kit, which is quite easy to use.
So I got a second hand CIEM (64Audio A18T) from my friend last year and sent it elsewhere for a remoulding. 64Audio wouldn't do remoulding for second hand buyers.
The audio was much clearer on the high end compared to any IEMs I used before. Maybe it is for the rigid and direct sound canals compared to foam or silicone tips.
The fit was not very good but that is fixable with some modelling putty.
And a few months later I decided to fix the bad fit for once and all. I bought ear impression supplies and took one myself. Tried to go fancy with 3D printing the shell but I never got the 3D scanning part to work out.
End up losing one side of the CIEM to the depths of my workshop, and now I am back to using my old Shure.
One thing no one mentions since they only just got their freshly molded IEMs is the maintenance.
You have to be careful to not get ear wax inside them. That means cleaning them a lot more frequently than any regular in-ear headphone.
Eventually I bought the hearing aid vacuum (it uses a needle, and pumps through a filter to suck out the wax) for $100 to be able to reasonably maintain my IEMs after a $300 cleaning from the manufacturer.
That said I’ve had my same IEM for around a decade and they still sound amazing.
I had some molds made for some custom musician's ear protection last week. They should be in soon.
I booked a bunch of dates running sound for country bands in a noisy dive bar. I don't see why they wanna play that loud, but it's their show. Personally, I want the mains to be louder than the monitors, if just out of consideration for intelligibility with the crowd.
The mold process was painless. I am curious how they will sound; ostensibly they are acoustically "flat", but given that our hearing response changes based on volume level I am skeptical. Hopefully they will be better than the cheap stuff I've been using.
I have used a set of Shure se215 for the last 5 years and they're freekin' great for, like mowing the lawn. Less good for playing in bar bands where I may have to interact with the audience.
All that said, I can see spending the 5-800 that custom IEMs run... but I can't see doing that if I didn't have to wear them on stage in a professional environment regularly enough for them to outpace the cost of a powered speaker.
Hell, I had a hard time dropping the $200 on hearing protection-- I usually just won't play with folks who play that loud. But I don't have a lot of choice when I am engineering other folks' shows.
I have shure e2cs. They require a good seal to get the best sound (any bass actually). They where good on planes. The tips are either memory foam or a soft rubber. The foam ones worked better, but lamentably they don't seem to make replacement tips anymore...
I had this done a few years ago [0] and the article is pretty much spot-on. Especially about the process - the audiologist will insert a tiny cotton ball allll the way down in your ear, then squirt the polymer in (which is creepy feeling). You wait for it to cure, and they pull it out & trim any excess.
Note that you can now get custom sleeves which slip over commercial earbuds like the Apple AirPods, so you can get a perfect fit and they're less likely to fall out. You get to choose your color. I went with different colors for the right & left ears, to make telling them apart easier.
They are noise isolating, so you will have to pay attention to your surroundings (traffic, people approaching you from behind, a coworker trying to get your attention). But they don't block enough sound to make them effective at loud concerts or at a shooting range. Wear proper hearing protection for those events.
Speaking of which - watch your volume levels. It's super easy to play them too loud and damage your hearing. Take breaks every 30-40 minutes.
I sell CIEMs hard when I hear friends and colleagues starting asking about ANC headphones.
Between the superior isolation, lack of need for batteries, longevity, and excellent audio quality, there’s really no contest.
I’ve had a pair of Alclair Audio Quad-driver studio reference CIEMs for nearly 7 years, and other than needing to replace the cable once, they’re as good as new.
If you can afford them, I highly recommend giving a pair a try.
Note: if you live in Minneapolis or Nashville (where Alciair’s offices are), you can go in and they’ll do your impressions for free - no need to visit an audiologist.
Somewhat regularly I'm tempted to try custom IEMs. I have tried various universal ones and they're always terribly uncomfortable, after an hour or so they have to come out so my ears can recover. Even with comply foam tips, sized so they're just tight enough to make a good seal. Drives my ears insane. If custom IEMs fixed that issue for me, it would be worth it.
CIEMs completely solved this problem for me. Like you, I could only stand foam plugs for a short period. Nearly 7 years ago now I got a pair of 4-driver CIEMs from Alclair, and they are still going strong today. I can literally wear them for 8 or more hours at a time without discomfort - this is a godsend for air travel. I put them in before boarding and they stay in until I’m back in the terminal.
My issue with all these new ear buds which have a rubber membrane which prevents sound from escaping is that it feels like there is no fresh air reaching my ear which would be able to carry out built up humidity. Couldn't this cause infections?
I can only wear them for so long, while the older ones, the small ones which have foam ear pads are wearable all day long.
1. Yes; compared to ANC they will block out way more ambient highs, and maybe a bit less lows.
2. Some custom IEMs have an option to replace the driver with a passive frequency-neutral filter; I didn't see one on campfire's website. I'd ask customer service before getting the molds made.
Depends on use case, is really good for the office but kind of sucks for the airplane because your ears won’t clear as well and some noise doesn’t get isolated as well
I have (and use daily) a pair of 13 year old Westone 3’s*. I bought them thinking of using them for a 40 minute walking commute involving freeway underpasses and a noisy sales pit style office.
The commute case didn’t work out because they didn’t seal fully. There was too much noise leakage to hear podcasts. Music wasn’t isolated enough and I didn’t want to turn it up too high and damage my hearing. The audiologist who made the molds had me chew while the mold material was curing in my ear canals and this resulted in a poor seal. A poor seal also means poor bass response. I think the audiologist had me chew to make the molds more comfortable for long hours of use and for snacking at the desk. Hearing aids were his main business and he seemed inexperienced with musician monitors.
I’ve recently discovered that I can apply clear finger nail polish to the inserted portion to “fine tune” the fit. I’m getting a good seal and they’er still comfortable. I mainly use them when working with power tools at home.
For office use there are a couple of caveats: 1) If you have a tight fit, they will be more difficult to insert and remove. This can be a nusiance in a highly-collaborative work environment. Also, people tend to ignore the earpieces and expect you to hear what they’re saying. 2) Chewing is very loud and borderline uncomfortable. This was the case with the original, narrower width as well.
> Can they double as concert earplugs or do I need a second set only for that?
My Westones have removeable cables, so they could be used that way, but there’s a better alternative: you can use the same molds to get relatively inexpensive silicone molds with tuned attenuation "filters". Mine use Etymotic 9, 15, 25 and solid 30 dB filters. The filters reduce frequencies more evenly, allowing more high end through than foam earplugs (except for the solid filters). I have Sensaphonics ER "Custom Musican”[2] plugs and Westone ES49[3], both made from silicone. The Sensaphonics are softer, but I prefer the Westones because they are lower profile, they have little handles for removal, and the firmer silicone is easier to insert/remove.
* Westone seems to have discontinued products for musicians and HiFi
On a related note what 3.5mm AUX cables do folks use that last? I am tired of either creating waste every 6-12 months to buy new ones or replace the ends when the wires fray inside.
I don't need that much flexibility. A thicker cable would be preferred.
[+] [-] hokumguru|3 years ago|reply
Also, for those interested in IEMs in general: crinacle.com has a 1000+ item database including measurements and his subjective rankings.
[+] [-] DougMellon|3 years ago|reply
https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/moondrop-x-crinacle-bless...
[+] [-] gaudat|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MengerSponge|3 years ago|reply
I used a pair of these for years https://www.amazon.com/ETY-Plugs-Fidelity-Earplugs-Standard-...
But I actually have weirdly shaped ear canals. I got tired of fighting the plugs, so I got my custom ones: https://www.sensaphonics.com/products/erseriesplugs
I've worn mine to see the Flaming Lips and to perform with several different professional symphonies. Highly recommended.
[+] [-] cardy31|3 years ago|reply
If you want to make sure you get custom moulds done right, a local audiologist can do it for you.
Walking out of a concert (or for me a gig - I used to play the drums professionally) popping out your plugs and having your head feel totally normal is such an amazing feeling! Highly recommend them even if you only go to a handful of loud venues in a year.
[+] [-] ashtonkem|3 years ago|reply
Also worth pointing out that if you’re doing really loud stuff, you need to refer to NRR rating, not db. It’s a more precise way of measuring hearing protection against loud noises.
[+] [-] cjrp|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] idontwantthis|3 years ago|reply
I just bought $45 QZ ZS10 Pro and they might be the best sounding and noise blocking headphones I’ve ever had. Perfect for drumming along to tracks. Haven’t gotten to try them plugged in on stage yet.
Are these leagues better in some respect?
[+] [-] hokumguru|3 years ago|reply
As for why you'd buy CIEMs, its mostly about better isolation and comfort. Your average customs will have a quality on par with universals a bit below their price but will be more ergonomic and isolating. The benefits are generally more in line with professional musician rather than audiophile.
[+] [-] gridspy|3 years ago|reply
There is a danger with headphones that you will turn them up too loud (esp. in a loud environment) so you can hear the signal clearly. As a musical professional your hearing is vital to the quality of your performance so you should protect it.
[+] [-] nunez|3 years ago|reply
They fit your ear perfectly and block everything out. That's why most of the really popular touring musicians go custom-molded, usually with UE, Westone, or Jerry Harvey.
They are also VERY comfortable when molded properly. It's like a glove for your ears. You won't feel anything like it with silicone or foam. I can wear my custom plugs all night or for an entire concert, easy. Foam itches after 30 minutes.
Also, foam muddies audio by sacrificing some high end and bloating mids/low-end. If you care about audio reproduction, foam is usually a sacrifice for IEMs, and you usually have to EQ your gear to get the losses back.
The impressions have to be really good, though, and the turnaround time from the vendor needs to be fast. Custom molds are terrible when they don't fit right. I hate the turnaround time; waiting is the worst part. Ear impressioning is still kind-of stone age, IMO. The audiologist stuffs your ear with a curing paste, and you can't move for the five minutes it takes to cure. However, some people have really flexible ear canals that cause earplugs to lose their seal when you chew or smile, so you might need to do a block-bite impression to account for that. Moving your head at all can invalidate the entire impression. It's annoying. I wish audiologists did an impression panel so that manufacturers could send a sample of buds and have you trial them all within a return period (or charge you if you really want to keep them all). Oh well; a man can dream.
For most people, custom mold earbuds for music listening is way unnecessary, especially with IEMs getting incredibly good at noise cancelling. If you hate foam plugs or just want a set of buds that are really yours, custom is your only route though.
However, I will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS recommend custom earplugs for sleep and for loud environments, like hunting or concerts. They last forever, are super comfortable, and can make a loud environment tolerable (i.e. if your partner snores) and actually better-sounding, all while preserving your hearing (which from what I've heard SUCKS to lose).
[+] [-] brian-armstrong|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spmurrayzzz|3 years ago|reply
I imagine that a ton has changed since then with respect to quality of consumer-grade earphones and I don't have a great frame of reference for that anymore. But I do know many live audio folks, drummers, and other touring professionals still using IEMs, that could be as much habit as utility though.
[+] [-] dsr_|3 years ago|reply
In the last five years the bottom end of the market went from 2s and 3s for $50 to 7s and 8s. That doesn't mean the 2s and 3s aren't still around...
[+] [-] willis936|3 years ago|reply
If you were to consider $300 CIEMs to foam-tipped earbuds: the discussion is much different. Passive isolation is more than 20 dB higher, seal is guaranteed so bass response is much better, etc.
[+] [-] scns|3 years ago|reply
https://kz-audio.com/kz-zs10-pro.html
[+] [-] yellow_lead|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nunez|3 years ago|reply
As for custom IEMs: I'd definitely get me a pair when a truly wireless option from a known player in this space (Campfire Audio, JV Harvey, UE, etc) that sounds great and has a great mic comes on the scene.
I tried Bragi's offering years ago. (Bragi was the first manufacturer to try at truly wireless headphones. They released before Apple launched the AirPods. The AirPods are now a billion-dollar business, whereas Bragi is defunct.) They partnered with Starkey, a very popular hearing aids manufacturer, to make the (still only) waterproof custom true wireless earbuds. The idea of using earbuds that fit me perfectly that I could shower with was awesome. My right ear canal has a weird kink that makes it difficult to use regular IEMs and impossible to use the truly wireless options at the time, thus making the Bragi's even more lucrative. They also partnered with Mimi Audio to offer an EQ that was tuned to your hearing...on iOS. Impossible to beat feature set.
Unfortunately, the earbuds were a disaster. Worst $600 I ever spent. ($600 is cheap in the world of custom IEMs; another reason why I got them.) They didn't sound very good, the audio balance would shift right after an hour of listening, the mic was AWFUL (i made many, many excuses for it, but it was just plain bad), and, worst of all, because the base of the earbud was large (stuffed with ICs) and Bragi chose to use the same case that they used for their universal offering, the nozzle didn't go deep enough to provide a truly locked-in seal. This is, like, THE reason to get custom IEMs, so them failing here was especially painful. The local audiologist (you had to go to a Starkey "dealer" to get your impressions) got tired of me coming in for refits, and I got tired of waiting three weeks to have earbuds I'd use for three days.
I was done with them when Samsung released Galaxy Buds that were compatible with iOS and had noise cancelling. Threw them in the trash. The case even had my name on it. One of the few things I ever engraved with my actual name...and I threw them out because they frustrated me so much.
ADV-Sound has an offering here, but apparently their mic is not very good, and info on these headphones is lacking, Sounds very Bragi 2.0-ish to me, so I'm passing on those.
[+] [-] mkoryak|3 years ago|reply
I don't think such as thing exists sadly. I had high hopes fir UE fits, but while the fit is great, they stick out too much for side sleeping.
They also had an annoying firmware issue where tapping didn't work until they quietly rolled out a fix and I happened to see it months later when I googled the issue again.
[+] [-] SOLAR_FIELDS|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ulnarkressty|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrischen|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidandgoliath|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ZeroGravitas|3 years ago|reply
You can get standard in ear monitors that come with a variety of interchangeable earplugs of different sizes, and different materials, like foam.
I believe it's possible, and fairly standard, for musicians to use these with custom fitted plugs.
But this seems to be talking about the whole device being custom made which sends the price rocketing and it's not clear what benefit that adds. Is it custom fitted to your outer ear too?
I'm also somewhat surprised that the state of the art is still to take molds rather than some digital scan of your ear, surely someone is working on that?
Are there open standards for earplugs?
[+] [-] skybrian|3 years ago|reply
It seems like the reason to do it would not really be for sound quality, but for comfort, so you can wear them all day. Whether you need it depends on the shape of your ears, so a review won't tell you whether you need them; the reviewer likely has differently-shaped ears than you.
[+] [-] simontheowl|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gaudat|3 years ago|reply
The audio was much clearer on the high end compared to any IEMs I used before. Maybe it is for the rigid and direct sound canals compared to foam or silicone tips.
The fit was not very good but that is fixable with some modelling putty.
And a few months later I decided to fix the bad fit for once and all. I bought ear impression supplies and took one myself. Tried to go fancy with 3D printing the shell but I never got the 3D scanning part to work out.
End up losing one side of the CIEM to the depths of my workshop, and now I am back to using my old Shure.
[+] [-] mlac|3 years ago|reply
It used to be a model they would put in your ears, but now it’s an image scanning device.
I haven’t purchased the in ear monitors, but have the ear plugs.
[+] [-] sh1mmer|3 years ago|reply
You have to be careful to not get ear wax inside them. That means cleaning them a lot more frequently than any regular in-ear headphone.
Eventually I bought the hearing aid vacuum (it uses a needle, and pumps through a filter to suck out the wax) for $100 to be able to reasonably maintain my IEMs after a $300 cleaning from the manufacturer.
That said I’ve had my same IEM for around a decade and they still sound amazing.
[+] [-] scarecrowbob|3 years ago|reply
I booked a bunch of dates running sound for country bands in a noisy dive bar. I don't see why they wanna play that loud, but it's their show. Personally, I want the mains to be louder than the monitors, if just out of consideration for intelligibility with the crowd.
The mold process was painless. I am curious how they will sound; ostensibly they are acoustically "flat", but given that our hearing response changes based on volume level I am skeptical. Hopefully they will be better than the cheap stuff I've been using.
I have used a set of Shure se215 for the last 5 years and they're freekin' great for, like mowing the lawn. Less good for playing in bar bands where I may have to interact with the audience.
All that said, I can see spending the 5-800 that custom IEMs run... but I can't see doing that if I didn't have to wear them on stage in a professional environment regularly enough for them to outpace the cost of a powered speaker.
Hell, I had a hard time dropping the $200 on hearing protection-- I usually just won't play with folks who play that loud. But I don't have a lot of choice when I am engineering other folks' shows.
[+] [-] acomjean|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] genmud|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chiph|3 years ago|reply
Note that you can now get custom sleeves which slip over commercial earbuds like the Apple AirPods, so you can get a perfect fit and they're less likely to fall out. You get to choose your color. I went with different colors for the right & left ears, to make telling them apart easier.
They are noise isolating, so you will have to pay attention to your surroundings (traffic, people approaching you from behind, a coworker trying to get your attention). But they don't block enough sound to make them effective at loud concerts or at a shooting range. Wear proper hearing protection for those events.
Speaking of which - watch your volume levels. It's super easy to play them too loud and damage your hearing. Take breaks every 30-40 minutes.
[0] Many thanks to RK Audiology in Austin. https://rkaudiology.com/custom-fit/
[+] [-] jcoder|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pkaye|3 years ago|reply
https://hearing-balance.natus.com/en-us/products-services/ot...
[+] [-] bogwog|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anderiv|3 years ago|reply
Between the superior isolation, lack of need for batteries, longevity, and excellent audio quality, there’s really no contest.
I’ve had a pair of Alclair Audio Quad-driver studio reference CIEMs for nearly 7 years, and other than needing to replace the cable once, they’re as good as new.
If you can afford them, I highly recommend giving a pair a try.
Note: if you live in Minneapolis or Nashville (where Alciair’s offices are), you can go in and they’ll do your impressions for free - no need to visit an audiologist.
[+] [-] rootusrootus|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anderiv|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qwertox|3 years ago|reply
My issue with all these new ear buds which have a rubber membrane which prevents sound from escaping is that it feels like there is no fresh air reaching my ear which would be able to carry out built up humidity. Couldn't this cause infections?
I can only wear them for so long, while the older ones, the small ones which have foam ear pads are wearable all day long.
[+] [-] wodenokoto|3 years ago|reply
Can they double as concert earplugs or do I need a second set only for that?
[+] [-] aidenn0|3 years ago|reply
2. Some custom IEMs have an option to replace the driver with a passive frequency-neutral filter; I didn't see one on campfire's website. I'd ask customer service before getting the molds made.
[+] [-] rdtwo|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matgessel|3 years ago|reply
The commute case didn’t work out because they didn’t seal fully. There was too much noise leakage to hear podcasts. Music wasn’t isolated enough and I didn’t want to turn it up too high and damage my hearing. The audiologist who made the molds had me chew while the mold material was curing in my ear canals and this resulted in a poor seal. A poor seal also means poor bass response. I think the audiologist had me chew to make the molds more comfortable for long hours of use and for snacking at the desk. Hearing aids were his main business and he seemed inexperienced with musician monitors.
I’ve recently discovered that I can apply clear finger nail polish to the inserted portion to “fine tune” the fit. I’m getting a good seal and they’er still comfortable. I mainly use them when working with power tools at home.
For office use there are a couple of caveats: 1) If you have a tight fit, they will be more difficult to insert and remove. This can be a nusiance in a highly-collaborative work environment. Also, people tend to ignore the earpieces and expect you to hear what they’re saying. 2) Chewing is very loud and borderline uncomfortable. This was the case with the original, narrower width as well.
> Can they double as concert earplugs or do I need a second set only for that?
My Westones have removeable cables, so they could be used that way, but there’s a better alternative: you can use the same molds to get relatively inexpensive silicone molds with tuned attenuation "filters". Mine use Etymotic 9, 15, 25 and solid 30 dB filters. The filters reduce frequencies more evenly, allowing more high end through than foam earplugs (except for the solid filters). I have Sensaphonics ER "Custom Musican”[2] plugs and Westone ES49[3], both made from silicone. The Sensaphonics are softer, but I prefer the Westones because they are lower profile, they have little handles for removal, and the firmer silicone is easier to insert/remove.
* Westone seems to have discontinued products for musicians and HiFi
[1] https://www.etymotic.com/hearing-protection-accessories/
[2] https://www.sensaphonics.com/products/erseriesplugs
[3] https://www.westone.com/hearing_health_care/recreational-ear...
[+] [-] joshu|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] winrid|3 years ago|reply
I don't need that much flexibility. A thicker cable would be preferred.