Trying to find a good noise cancelling earphone for a drummer to listen to a click

[beau_mckee]

Does Anyone know a good noise cancelling earphone for a drummer to listen to a click track? I want one that can be used as an earplug to protect my ears, but also use them for playing to a metronome or click track. I would really prefer them to have the christmas tree plugs on them because they are the most comfortable for my ear.
It doesnt need to have awesome sound quality.

Please help me if you can!

[EnzoTen]

Etymotic IEM's mostly use the christmass tree design. But from what i have been reading people say that the Ultimate Ears are more comfortable and more durable.

[dfkt]

Etymotic ER-4 have the best sound isolation of any non-custom IEMs (~30-40dB). They're very analytic (harsh, IMO), though, and don't have much bass.

Ety ER-6 are cheaper ($100) and also isolate very well (20-30dB).

Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 Pro (or EB) sound a lot better to my ears, though. The 5 Pro have similar isolation to the ER-6, the 5 EB have a little less.

[ColdFire]

I highly recommend the Altec Lansing iM716, which are about as good as the ER-4P, but only cost $70 at amazon (vs $180).

Edit: about the UE Super.Fi 5 Pro and EB, they do have more bass than the ER-4/iM716, however, nothing beats an Ety for clarity in mids and treble.

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by ColdFire

I highly recommend the Altec Lansing iM716, which are about as good as the ER-4P, but only cost $70 at amazon (vs $180).

More like the ER-6, which are about the same price...

[ColdFire]

Originally Posted by dfkt

More like the ER-6, which are about the same price...

I would have to disagree, The ER-6 is more like the iM616, but I guess it is subjective.....

[dfkt]

Oh, sorry for the confusion, yes, I meant the 616 - haven't heard the 716 yet...

[fanboyism]

The iM716 is great! Only problem I could find with it was it was ridiculously difficult to drive for a 16-ohm impedance monitor. I had to drive my volume up beyond KSC75-out-in-busy-streets levels in order for it to give an output of decent magnitude!

[beau_mckee]

So far the iM616 looks good, and so does the iM716, is there any difference between the two specs wise? and will these put out enough volume to hear the click track while im rocking out with the whole band?

Thankyou heaps for all your feedback!

Beau

[dfkt]

And now for something completely different: Beyerdynamic DT 770 M - specially designed closed, isolating headphones for drummers.

I intend to buy the "Pro" version of the 770's, they're one of the best bass reproducing headphones out there...

And here's another one I never heard of: Direct Sound EX-29...

[ColdFire]

Originally Posted by dfkt

And now for something completely different: Beyerdynamic DT 770 M - specially designed closed, isolating headphones for drummers.

I intend to buy the "Pro" version of the 770's, they're one of the best bass reproducing headphones out there...

And here's another one I never heard of: Direct Sound EX-29...

Lets not turn this into another Head-Fi here.

BTW, the iM716 is different from the 616 in the fact that the 716 has the volume control with "Bass" and "HD" settings as well as having different drivers(some debate this).

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by ColdFire

Lets not turn this into another Head-Fi here.

Pray tell me what's wrong with my post? I just showed the OP another way of doing what he wants to get done... there was no flaming, no saying that this is better than IEMs... just a different option.

[ColdFire]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Pray tell me what's wrong with my post? I just showed the OP another way of doing what he wants to get done... there was no flaming, no saying that this is better than IEMs... just a different option.

I apologize it sounded offensive, I meant head-fi in the way of subtle budget stretching I assumed that since the OP was leaning toward the iM616/716 that his budget was <100ish. Again I didn't mean anything "bad", I was just joking about it, I guess its difficult for me to convey this tone online.

Edit: I probably should use the smilies in the future.

[dfkt]

No offense taken - I saw the Beyerdynamics for 139 Euros today, so I didn't think it was in a too phantastic price range... true, the OP was set on buying IEMs, I was just excited that I had to find out exactly today that there's special cans for drummers.

[beau_mckee]

thanks guys, i ended up choosing the ER-4Ps, because they have really good isolation and have a low impedance. The best thing besides buying moulds i believe.

Thanks!

[Watanabe]

Anyone tried AudioTechnica CK-7 before?