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In ear headphones for booming?


TRCS

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I tried searching but wasn't able to find anything- probably because it's not suggested! But I thought I'd ask anyway.

I'm heading on a back packing trip and planning on doing a bit of documenting while there and we're trying to keep everything as light as possible. Instead of taking my AKG K271s, I was hoping there would be a more portable option that could save me some space... Maybe even a pair of over the ear headphones that fold up nicely, or in ear headphones that can give me an accurate picture of what I'm booming and hopefully cut out noise.

Any suggestions?

Thanks guys

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I will always prefer OVer Ears for Two and a half reasons: 1) They work well as ear warmers. 2) Great for listening because it puts the sound/music into your ear and not on them. I do use in-ears when i'm using more than one head set (ask why later) because the boom can be a little soft at times so putting the feed "onto your ear"could be a good option.

Bottom line: I like over ears. Hope you enjoy your trip!

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The greatest downfall of in-ear monitoring is damage to your ears from sudden spikes in sound. For non-music applications, this is a distinct reality, as your environment is not controlled. If you engage limiters, and such, you can avoid injury, but not abuse.

But if you must, then something like the Etymotic ER-4 is a great choice, and it's brilliant for music and noise isolation, and good for ear protection in noisy environment when used like an earplug.

Robert

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Will you be working alone ?Ii mean, documenting audio for ambiances, etc... ? Cause when I tried wearing in-ears a few years back, what I found the most annoying thing is being cut from communications with others on the crew (except if I used my mic to hear them). Getting these in and out constantly made me ditch'em in the case after a day of use. I have them as backups in my kit and in my hand luggage for planes now.

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Yeah, I can definitely see it not being ideal... I'll be working with the audio alone- my brother will be shooting the video. I'll probably just take the hit on space and bring my AKGs. Saves me some money too... Heh.

Thanks for the insight guys

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But if you must, then something like the Etymotic ER-4 is a great choice, and it's brilliant for music and noise isolation, and good for ear protection in noisy environment when used like an earplug.

Robert

Ditto on the Etymotic ER-4!!! Incredible ear phones! I've been using mine for 9 years in addition to Sennheiser HD 25-1 IIs, Sennheiser HD 280s and a Westone custom molded earbuds. Just be sure to pack a couple of extra sets of the Etymotic green ear filters and a filter changing tool. The ear filters can eventually become covered or clogged by ear wax and diminish perceived output. It only takes a couple of minutes to change out the filters.

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Man, I dunno. I have a pair of the Etymotic ER4's, and my problem with them is that the cables are incredibly microphonic. One bump, and you hear a really, really loud thump. As long as you can anchor the cable firmly and you're not moving around a lot, I think they could work, but I can't even wear them and walk down the street.

The other issue for me is that the super-isolating in-ear phones really cut you off from the outside world. This is fine for a long-term thing, but in the real world, if you need to talk to people every five minutes or so inbetween takes, it's not convenient to yank them out of your ear to have a conversation and then jam the plug back in.

Strictly IMHO.

--Marc W.

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There's a good article on headphones in the Cinema Audio Society Quarterly magazine, from Spring 2010. I'll try a link.

http://www.cinemaaud...SSpring2010.pdf

I can only get the link to the home page of the Cinema Audio Society, so on the left side click on QUARTERLY and that will take you to the page displaying all past issues of the CAS Quarterly magazine. Go down to SPRING 2010 and in that issue is the story on "headphones."

Very interesting results from the extensive testing done.

Cheers,

Rich Van Dyke

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There are all sorts of small, lightweight earphone/earbuds from lots of manufacturers, including Shure and Sennheiser that are not as isolating as earmold models, and may well suit your needs

And some of the Shure earbuds sound pretty swell, without the microphonic cable Marc mentioned above. But I used my Etymotic ER-4s occasionally for years. Being able to wear a balaclava, stocking cap AND parka hood on a day when the high temperature was 16 F. (and that was just before sunrise) can make up for the shortcomings like the cable noise. Or being able to wear a wide brimmed hat on a very rainy day....

Best regards,

Jim

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I've been fortunate in that I've never had any cable noise whatsoever with my Etymotic ER-4s. But I agree that they can be a pain on set if you're having to take them out every time you need to speak to the crew. But for backpacking--especially if you're counting ounces--they'd be my top pick.

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The ER-4 review on Headphone.com also mentions the microphonic cable noise problem, but notes you can use a clip to isolate the cable and avoid it. I'm clumsy but move fast, so no doubt I'm exacerbating the problem.

They are the best-sounding in-ear phones I've ever heard. But it is a little unnerving to shove the phone tips really, really deep in your ears. At some point, you think it's gonna dig into your brain (not that this would affect me much).

--Marc W.

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I bought a 3rd party ER-4 cable on Ebay and it has almost no microphonics. I almost always use either Ultimate Ears UE10-Pro IEM's or Starkey Tunz http://www.trytunz.com/musicians.html

Starkey is a large hearing aid manufacturer and their IEM's are amazing. I can wear them all day with no fatigue or discomfort, the isolation is superb and the transparent audio quality is spot on. I'll never go back to traditional headphones.

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Have you tried Ultimate Ears? You can also get special molds made to hold them in. Expensive,

I had a set of UE5's from a while back that were great.

Jerry and Mindy Harvey split a few years back and Mindy kept the company.

She has since sold it to Logitek.

Jerry has a new company called JHAudio.

If you're looking at custom molds, I would highly recommend the ones he currently makes.

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