Topic: IEM's vs headphones

[weroflu]

I have a pair of beyer dt990's that always sounded very good to me, but they need new pads and it is uncomfortable to wear them.

how would a mid level pair of IEM compare in sound to the beyers. same league?

stupid question, but do the IEM go in about as far as your can put your finger in your ear?

or should i just repad the beyers?

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I can't compare anything to your current headphones, but if you go the IEM route definitely get custom molded tips. Costs about $100 but worth it IMO.

[Brian Skalinder]

For me, they go in deeper than my finger...but I have odd ears with especially narrow ear canals.

Looks like the DT990s are open-earcup, which generally sound better to me than closed-earcup and in-ear 'phones.  Though for most of my listening, I really appreciate the external noise attenuation provided by my in-ear 'phones.

What type of usage do you intend?  Home listening in a controlled environment?  On-the-go listening?  Monitoring mixes while recording?  For me, IEMs excel when one wants to attenuate external noise.  Otherwise, I opt for an open-earcup, circum-aural headphone every time for comfort and sound quality.

[weroflu]

i guess the IEM would be for all sorts of uses... home, on the go, and i had not even thought about using them for recording but that's a good idea.
usually when recording i do solo or small groups and never wear cans.

i just wanted to try to miniaturize my whole setup so if they sound as good as the beyers i can have something small but just as good.

also could be good to block out my gf's incessant prattling on her cellphone (just kidding???)

where is a good place to get replacement pads for the beyers in europe?

[page]

The most realistic soundstage recreation I've ever heard from one of my audience tapes was achieved while listening via my IEMs. That said, I had a generic pair of etymotics and a custom set of westones and I've since let go of both. While they were great and I do miss them time to time, IEMs work best when you are listening outside of your primary environment (e.g. home in a quiet room) and I wasn't doing that anymore. One word of caution, the sensitivity of your headphones is much less (takes more volume) than any IEM I've ever heard, so you may notice noise that you previously didn't, and you may have trouble getting the volume quiet enough to listen to for long periods of time without having a channel imballance. I solved the later by using the digital attenuation function on my mac, but when I was listening on the go, it was much more difficult.

[weroflu]

thanks for all of the info. it sounds like i will most likely pick up a pair of iem's in the not too distant future.

extra noise???

bring it on.

i hate all these sterile noiseless recordings made nowadays.

next purchase after the iem's will be a nagra IV.

[page]

thanks for all of the info. it sounds like i will most likely pick up a pair of iem's in the not too distant future.

extra noise???

bring it on.

i hate all these sterile noiseless recordings made nowadays.

next purchase after the iem's will be a nagra IV.

well, it wasn't the recording so much as playback gear. I could hear noise off of my headphone jack on my laptop with any headphones or IEMs, but I could hear the noise off of my DAC/headamp with the IEMs were I couldn't with some of the headphones I had at the time. It wasn't until I dropped lots of coin on headphones could I match that noise detail.

[willndmb]

I can't compare anything to your current headphones, but if you go the IEM route definitely get custom molded tips. Costs about $100 but worth it IMO.

where/what brand has custom tips these days for reasonable??
when i was looking into custom molds they had discontinued all the ones that worked with cheaper phones/monitors and the only ones i could find where like 700+
i got some shure lc3e (or something like that) and like them a lot

[George]

thanks for all of the info. it sounds like i will most likely pick up a pair of iem's in the not too distant future.

extra noise???

bring it on.

i hate all these sterile noiseless recordings made nowadays.

next purchase after the iem's will be a nagra IV.

well, it wasn't the recording so much as playback gear. I could hear noise off of my headphone jack on my laptop with any headphones or IEMs, but I could hear the noise off of my DAC/headamp with the IEMs were I couldn't with some of the headphones I had at the time. It wasn't until I dropped lots of coin on headphones could I match that noise detail.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what your saying.  Are you saying you could hear noise, like the headphone out on your laptop and some of your gear had scratchy feedback?  That's typically not a good thing...

I can hear the whine of the HDD in my Rio Karma and some fuzziness out of the headphone jack of my H180.  Definitely not things I want to hear.

[page]

thanks for all of the info. it sounds like i will most likely pick up a pair of iem's in the not too distant future.

extra noise???

bring it on.

i hate all these sterile noiseless recordings made nowadays.

next purchase after the iem's will be a nagra IV.

well, it wasn't the recording so much as playback gear. I could hear noise off of my headphone jack on my laptop with any headphones or IEMs, but I could hear the noise off of my DAC/headamp with the IEMs were I couldn't with some of the headphones I had at the time. It wasn't until I dropped lots of coin on headphones could I match that noise detail.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what your saying.  Are you saying you could hear noise, like the headphone out on your laptop and some of your gear had scratchy feedback?  That's typically not a good thing...

I can hear the whine of the HDD in my Rio Karma and some fuzziness out of the headphone jack of my H180.  Definitely not things I want to hear.

Bingo, it's like a hiss when it's just faint. With mid-fi headphones I didn't hear it, but with my IEMs I could pin point it. It was DAC/amp dependant as well, some performed much better than others, and with the IEMs I was able to figure out what of my gear paired well and had a very "black" background.

[George]

thanks for all of the info. it sounds like i will most likely pick up a pair of iem's in the not too distant future.

extra noise???

bring it on.

i hate all these sterile noiseless recordings made nowadays.

next purchase after the iem's will be a nagra IV.

well, it wasn't the recording so much as playback gear. I could hear noise off of my headphone jack on my laptop with any headphones or IEMs, but I could hear the noise off of my DAC/headamp with the IEMs were I couldn't with some of the headphones I had at the time. It wasn't until I dropped lots of coin on headphones could I match that noise detail.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what your saying.  Are you saying you could hear noise, like the headphone out on your laptop and some of your gear had scratchy feedback?  That's typically not a good thing...

I can hear the whine of the HDD in my Rio Karma and some fuzziness out of the headphone jack of my H180.  Definitely not things I want to hear.

Bingo, it's like a hiss when it's just faint. With mid-fi headphones I didn't hear it, but with my IEMs I could pin point it. It was DAC/amp dependant as well, some performed much better than others, and with the IEMs I was able to figure out what of my gear paired well and had a very "black" background.

Ah okay.  Yeah, unfortunately, most of the gear we use does have shitty headphone outputs.  The iriver is pretty decent, the karma beats it hands down (I've yet to hear a mp3 player that drives my shures better than the Karma).   Surprisingly, the NJB3 has a kick ass headphone out, especially with my Sony 7506's.  It just made them sing like no other mp3 player. 

[bgalizio]

I can't compare anything to your current headphones, but if you go the IEM route definitely get custom molded tips. Costs about $100 but worth it IMO.

where/what brand has custom tips these days for reasonable??
when i was looking into custom molds they had discontinued all the ones that worked with cheaper phones/monitors and the only ones i could find where like 700+
i got some shure lc3e (or something like that) and like them a lot

I have Etymotic ER6s with custom molds. The molds are also used as earplugs at shows (just remove the headphones and insert the filter). They were reasonable, though I get audiologist work done at cost (from family member).
http://www.etymotic.com/customfit/faq.html

[page]

I can't compare anything to your current headphones, but if you go the IEM route definitely get custom molded tips. Costs about $100 but worth it IMO.

where/what brand has custom tips these days for reasonable??
when i was looking into custom molds they had discontinued all the ones that worked with cheaper phones/monitors and the only ones i could find where like 700+
i got some shure lc3e (or something like that) and like them a lot

I had mine through Westone, (generic drivers, custom adaptors). I think ultimate ears will do a set of generic drives and custom tips as well. JHenry only does the all in one if I remember correctly (so there is zero resale value...), might want to check.

thanks for all of the info. it sounds like i will most likely pick up a pair of iem's in the not too distant future.

extra noise???

bring it on.

i hate all these sterile noiseless recordings made nowadays.

next purchase after the iem's will be a nagra IV.

well, it wasn't the recording so much as playback gear. I could hear noise off of my headphone jack on my laptop with any headphones or IEMs, but I could hear the noise off of my DAC/headamp with the IEMs were I couldn't with some of the headphones I had at the time. It wasn't until I dropped lots of coin on headphones could I match that noise detail.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what your saying.  Are you saying you could hear noise, like the headphone out on your laptop and some of your gear had scratchy feedback?  That's typically not a good thing...

I can hear the whine of the HDD in my Rio Karma and some fuzziness out of the headphone jack of my H180.  Definitely not things I want to hear.

Bingo, it's like a hiss when it's just faint. With mid-fi headphones I didn't hear it, but with my IEMs I could pin point it. It was DAC/amp dependant as well, some performed much better than others, and with the IEMs I was able to figure out what of my gear paired well and had a very "black" background.

Ah okay.  Yeah, unfortunately, most of the gear we use does have shitty headphone outputs.  The iriver is pretty decent, the karma beats it hands down (I've yet to hear a mp3 player that drives my shures better than the Karma).   Surprisingly, the NJB3 has a kick ass headphone out, especially with my Sony 7506's.  It just made them sing like no other mp3 player. 

yeah, best I ever heard with my westones was my ibasso D10 portable dac/amp. It was black as night with the UM3x IEMs. I had a littledot amp that was pretty good but I could hear the tubes ping (faintly) occasionally.

I can't compare anything to your current headphones, but if you go the IEM route definitely get custom molded tips. Costs about $100 but worth it IMO.

where/what brand has custom tips these days for reasonable??
when i was looking into custom molds they had discontinued all the ones that worked with cheaper phones/monitors and the only ones i could find where like 700+
i got some shure lc3e (or something like that) and like them a lot

I have Etymotic ER6s with custom molds. The molds are also used as earplugs at shows (just remove the headphones and insert the filter). They were reasonable, though I get audiologist work done at cost (from family member).
http://www.etymotic.com/customfit/faq.html

I have the same set, but I only use them with filters now (I had the ER6s, I think they pair great with a dark amp to warm up the bottom end). The shells cost around around $150 (filters are $40 a set I think) if you pay out of pocket. Check your insurance, mine covered them as "hearing supplies" or something along those lines.

[F.O.Bean]

I think the Zune Premium earphones are some of the best for that pricepoint, at least IMO. I have Sennheiser HD280 Pro cvans for my monitoring setup. The 722 has AMAZING headphone amps, at least IMO, and I can monitor very realistically w/ the Senn HD280's plugged into my 722. I have been wantting a decent and SMALL headphone amp/DAC but just dont have the $$ yet.........

[willndmb]

I can't compare anything to your current headphones, but if you go the IEM route definitely get custom molded tips. Costs about $100 but worth it IMO.

where/what brand has custom tips these days for reasonable??
when i was looking into custom molds they had discontinued all the ones that worked with cheaper phones/monitors and the only ones i could find where like 700+
i got some shure lc3e (or something like that) and like them a lot

I have Etymotic ER6s with custom molds. The molds are also used as earplugs at shows (just remove the headphones and insert the filter). They were reasonable, though I get audiologist work done at cost (from family member).
http://www.etymotic.com/customfit/faq.html

nice
they must be new because when i was looking they only had one model that worked and had discontinued them because of an issue with the molds not working correctly after a short period of time
looks like they are completely reworked though from the info
i might have to check these out closer now

thanks