Been wanting to try in-ear monitors for DJing (mainly to save my hearing and be able to hear things more clearly), but I don't really know where to begin. Does anyone have experience with them? Is it worth it? I saw Liadback Luke and Satoshi Tomiie sporting white ones the last time they played but I couldn't tell what kind they were. If anyone has any specific recommendations my budget would be around $300, otherwise any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated, thanks!

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Here's the ones Luke uses:


http://www.laidbackluke.com/forum/v....php?f=4&t=2019

Did a search and the ones he uses look to cost around 899 euros, if you scroll down he mentions another pair that someone else uses on his forum and says they are great. Probably would be a good alternative.
-Wayde Rafnel-

EDIT:

On a 2nd note, these don't look half bad.
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Shure-SCL4-Sound-Isolating-Earphones-w-Bass-Port-104607130-i1373612.gc

I haven't had any experience with Shure though besides mics. Im a Sony fanboy haha

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http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/10/...n-ear-monitors/

Great thanks guys! Think I'm gonna give it a shot and see if I dig it. Decided to get the Westone UM3X since they were highly recommended on head-fi.org forums for their sound quality, seal, and flat freq response (plus they were in my price range for $380). Would def love to get into some customs but I'm afraid that'll hafta wait for a bit... Will let you guys know what I think once I give em a whirl!

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Let me know how it is compared to headphones please would love to know! Thanks!

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Played my first gig with in-ear monitors last night and I must say I'm a fan! You can hear everything A LOT clearer than with headphones to the point that you can fine-tune subtle difference with ease. Also love the fact that I don't have to blast my ears to hear it! One downside is that you can never really take them out which was a little weird for me since I couldn't hear how loud the floor was - just had to trust the levels on the mixer. It also made talking to people a little trickier since you can't just pop them off you have to turn down the volume every time someone comes over. For mixing itself it was great, you can really mix as cleanly as if you were at home. For cuing I thought it was fine too I just used my cue / main fade on the 800 to switch over to cue tracks to preview em. Once again you've gotta pay close attention though since you can't hear the main floor, so if you're not careful and you accidentally have a cue track potted up you'd never hear it on the mains! Overall I would highly recommend giving them a shot if you're interested in more precise mixing, or are concerned about saving you ears (which you should be lol). Already the pros far outweigh the cons for me, and everything else is really just a matter of getting used to.


Btw my thoughts on the Westone UM3X which I used -
They're good headphones but honestly I think you can get something comparable for cheaper. It's not that they're bad I'm just not blown away by he sound for the money. And even though these are supposed to be really uniform on freq levels they're really not - the bass has a bit of a spike in the upper freq and the treble is even a bit muddled (which I hear comes from the stock foam tips thogh - sooon to be replaced by Shure Olive tips which I hear makes worlds of difference). The fit is great and I get a good seal which is sweet, but I think you can spend $150 - $200 and still get something just as good.

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Last edited by BradMiller on Nov-21-2009 at 23:28

I was using my seinheiser ear phones while I saved for a new pair of HD-25's. They cost me about $80 here. I just didn't like not being able pull them off and put back on quickly to hear the master on the floor. They work well for isolating the sound of the cue/monitors but just too fiddly and annoying compared to headphones imo.

quote:

Originally posted by Teezdalien I was using my seinheiser ear phones while I saved for a new pair of HD-25's. They cost me about $80 here. I just didn't like not being able pull them off and put back on quickly to hear the master on the floor. They work well for isolating the sound of the cue/monitors but just too fiddly and annoying compared to headphones imo.

Definitely a down side I agree with, probably my biggest gripe all night was that I couldn't hear the floor itself :\ Hell you could have the master down all the way and never even know it! Kind of a scary concept..

Personally for me though this is more about saving my ears than anything else (since I already have terrible tinnitus), so I think it's just something I'm gonna have to get used to...

There's pros and cons on both for sure (headphones definitely look cooler lol), but I think it's still worth giving a shot for those interested.

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Brad what is a good pair you recommend buying of the same quality? Thanks man!

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Uhhh ya got me.. it's hard cause you can't really try them out so the best way imo is to just read a ton of reviews and bite the bullet at some point. I'd recommend going to the HeadFi forums (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/) and doing lots of research first. People have pretty much gone over every scenario and price range possible over there. I can tell you the other ones I was looking at were:

Westone 3
Ultimate Ears Triple Fi 10
Sennheiser IE8
Livewire Triples (company changed names to In Ear Solutions I think..)

Personally I don't like custom fit ear pieces since they've never sealed out sound as good as the foam tips do for me (which is a primary objective).

Btw I also got my new Shure Olive tips in the mail and they definitely made an improvement to the sound on my UM3X's. They sound great, but I do think you can still get somewhere just as close for cheaper. After a point you're spending more and more money for smaller and smaller improvements..

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+1 on headfi

i ended up with some Soundmagic PL30s for $28. love em! they have a setting for increased bass which may help for djing.

quote:

One downside is that you can never really take them out

How come? Please explain, thx

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