alright. in efforts to make an ipod a viable music device, i took another turn.

so far-- here's the rig- ipod touch 3, beyerdynamic mmx100 in ears (or grado sr80s, or beyer dt770pros- but those have no bearing on today's blurb), and a fiio e11 amp with a LOD.


THUS FAR, with this stuffs-- there's a lot of promise- having ousted the opamp in the ipod,, and generally just using good phones. since i'm cheap too, i got my in ears for like $40.. they were about $100 originally.. but i found the 'last years model' and got em for cheap. they're... uh... exactly the same as the new ones. huzzah for internetz sales.

TODAY. last piece of the puzzle for in-ears. dig this:



not much to look at. they're comply t400 foam tips. i know, snooze fest. but y'know those stupid rubber tips they give you with in ears? they bruise my ear-insides, and they never fit right. they loosen up, bass goes away, they fall out, and fuck.. they HURT. these things are that foam they make earplugs out of- so they warm up and expand. and they stay the fuck put.

please lemme tell you how ridonculously different these things work. they actually seal your ear canal and give you full stop outrageous bass to the center of the earth sorta bass if it's there. and since you can get them actually aligned with your ear canal-- super clean top end, and right on midrange. best part: i can't even feel them in my ears. and they DO NOT move, even if you sweat or move your head. and isolation is impossible.. like easy 30 db. not kidding. so far-- i've had 'em a day, and i'm a little giddy with the revelation of non-suck. and non-hurting ears.



i have new recording cans, first off. you can't miss a freakin' detail THIS close to your eardrum. they're comfy. and they isolate better than anything i've ever put on my head OR in my ears. so for tracking? uh.. yeah! instant iso, and i can well imagine dead silent vocal tracking, yuh huh. many pluses.

but the whole deal is, this setup sounds like music whether i'm running or changing air filters in an air handler or whatever. and reviewing mixes on it-- i actually would trust that this sounds like music and what i recorded. THAT is a mega bonus. it's a little prettier than what i probably recorded.. so even better

anyhow-- these comply tips are like $15 for three sets.. so not heinous for all the plusses. downside: my ears are grody. earwax.. yeah, yuck. it sticks pretty good to them. so i clean my ears. sorry for the TMI.. but yeah. you wash them off... no biggie, really.

i dunno-- it was a pretty circuitous path to getting decent sound in far abroad places from my home setup-- but this works out alright! i was pretty doggone sure i wasn't gonna use the ipod my wife gave me.. but hell.. it's working out alright-er than i planned.

Noted. Now, I have no issue with the rubber bits on Etymotics, but to be fair, those are pretty well identical to their plugs (they make those as well as headphones), of which these are the cheapie version (and also the plugs I normally use):



Do the foamy ones affect the top end at all?

the foamy ones have a similar insert in them to the rubber ones-- which is to say- there's a harder rubber 'tube' through which they send the sound to yer ear. it snaps around the driver's 'throat' and holds the thing on-- so basically-- the innards are identical to the rubber ones. the only part thats different is the schmata foam goo that holds it in yer ear. far as i can tell-- it actually HELPS with highs, because you can squish it into direct trajectory with your eardrum- which i couldn't ever seem to get right with the rubber ones cause they kinda have shape memory from their casting, if that makes sense-- so they go back to their default shape. which isn't the shape of the inside o' my ear. the foamies stay where you put them if you hold them for a second, because the foam just expands outward to fill yer earhole.

i hear ya on the ety's-- i love their plugs after i put mineral oil on 'em so they don't itch-- but they do the same thing after a while and start to hurt a lil bit.

if you use IEMs though-- man-- you GOTTA try these things. i could seriously fall asleep with them in because they're that soft on yer ears. if i actually played for a living, i'd have these things on mine, fo sho.

hmm very interesting, I started using IEM's a few weeks ago, I would like to try these out. I love the iems. i will never play without them now.

As long as you have a competent soundperson, they are the mostest bestest.

Which, around here, means "bring your own guy" because most of these d00ds shouldn't be anywhere near a mixing console. They are totally baffled by the concept of an aux and setting up a monitor mix. Never mind the guys who have no fucking clue what to do with a DI from a synth and get agitated at the prospect. (!) For fuck's sake, man, it's a 1/4" line out. What do you do with it? NOTHING. You leave it alone. Push up the fader. Is this too hard to comprehend? Seriously, I want to slap a bitch sometimes. [/rant]

Yeah, that usually doesn't happen so when we do our sound I have no problem, I can send anything I want to my IEM's when I have to deal with house sound guys (more often than not) I do the one in one out method, I run my vocal mic in one input and my guitar through the other input (using a guitar DI with cab sim) and put in one ear, leave the other out for hearing everyone else. Sux to do it that way, but at least I can hear what I'm doing all the time.

OK I'm going to pick these up today and try them out tonight, just found the local Radio Shack has them so I will give them a shot

nice! man-- had mine on all morning listening to REALLY familiar recordings and was hearing stuff i never heard like the squeaking of piano pedals onstage, and conversations in the crowd of a live gig (!!). WTF?!

volume wasn't super high either. crazytown. and the ears no hurt, which is a mega bonus.

report back!

Highly approve of this apparati. They should change the name to Comfy Ears......

Used the one in one out method last night. Bad thing in that, is the one out ear had ringing all day since we play as loud as GnR.

Thanks on this tip Dan.

no worries- glad to pass along The Good Shit.