Well, the title says a lot. Looking for the best value I can find, used or otherwise. Currently wired but want to know switch to wireless ASAP. I’ll be responsible for my own sound so it will only need to work for me on stage. I generally play gigs ranging from bars to auditoriums 500-2000 people. The drummer is on wired IEMs and the singer/guitarist prefers traditional wedge monitors.
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Best Entry Level Wireless IEM System
- Thread starter confuoco
- Start date
Not a good idea to cheap out on wireless. Thus, the best value will be something used form Shure, Sennheiser, and the like.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
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Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Official Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Official Heartfield Club #36
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Official Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners Club
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide
I'll join the echo chamber. Some things you can cheap out on. IEM transmitter/receiver is NOT one of them. Save your pennies and buy one of these:
Shure
MiPRO
Sennheiser
I have the Shure PSM300. It was expensive, but it's been absolutely flawless for like 8 or so years now. It's easily paid for itself. No experience with MiPro or Senn - but those are the big 3 that get universally great reviews.
That's it. Buy one of those and be done. If you want to save some money - buy KZ earbuds, the ZS10 Pro. About 50 bucks, and 95% of the quality as any other brand (excluding molded/custom IEM - that's a different ball game)
Shure
MiPRO
Sennheiser
I have the Shure PSM300. It was expensive, but it's been absolutely flawless for like 8 or so years now. It's easily paid for itself. No experience with MiPro or Senn - but those are the big 3 that get universally great reviews.
That's it. Buy one of those and be done. If you want to save some money - buy KZ earbuds, the ZS10 Pro. About 50 bucks, and 95% of the quality as any other brand (excluding molded/custom IEM - that's a different ball game)
I've been using the Xvive U4 system for years now and it's been great. Not super cheap, but not exorbitant. I'll also join the "don't cheap out on IEM" crowd. This is what you will be hearing while you're playing, you don't want to risk any issues or low quality on that. The better things sound in your ears, the better you'll feel while you're playing.
Give yourself a budget and stick to your budget. If you can afford a Sennheiser, Shure or MiPro system, more power to you. I can't afford it. My 'cheap' wireless units work fine for me. NuX and XVive are middle ground and work fine. More sub $200 systems are popping up every day.
s0c9
Supporting Member
I've used the following IEM systems:
- Shure PSM200 (hated the SE215's)
- Senn G3
- Mipro 909
Value for $$ was the driving factor + the larger frequency coverage.
I will be using the Mipro tonight while opening for a major national act on a LARGE stage.
FWIW - I have NOT EVER used the included buds (except the PSM200) as I can't use universal fit and have been using 64Audio customs for at lest 10 yrs now.
So, wireless bass into pedalboard (JHS Punchline) then out from Khan VTDI to House.
Senn wireless mic into House
House has drop snakes, so pretty short cable runs.
Wireless IEM's via Mipro from stage IEM mixer.
Feeds to the stage mixer are form a House split.
All I need is 3 XLR cables and some AA batteries.
Easy setup. Gonna be fun!
My backup IEM system is a P2.. takes seconds to take the Mipro XLR feed and connect to the P2.
ALWAYS have a backup.
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Another vote here for don't cheap out on wireless.
Among many other reasons I'm guessing one of the reasons many people will not use IEM's is from a first time one time trying them with a cheapo system and having drop outs, noise, ect.
Do not even think of buying the Behringer wireless IEM system, total crap, they sound like ass and for extra fun if there is no audio detected being sent to them for about 20 minutes they power off with no way to turn off the auto power off function. Just did some work at a church that had six of those!
Among many other reasons I'm guessing one of the reasons many people will not use IEM's is from a first time one time trying them with a cheapo system and having drop outs, noise, ect.
Do not even think of buying the Behringer wireless IEM system, total crap, they sound like ass and for extra fun if there is no audio detected being sent to them for about 20 minutes they power off with no way to turn off the auto power off function. Just did some work at a church that had six of those!
This topic has been covered a few times on this forum. Entry level, i.e. cheap is a waste of your time and money. I highly recommend the Audio-Technica 3000 series. I wouldn't consider it entry level but it super reliable and has the most features for the money. The KZ monitors from Amazon are also hard to beat.
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s0c9
Supporting Member
Seems like the best entry-level wireless is a wire 
I’ve been using the Xvive U4 and have had lots of interference issues to the point that I turned it off. But recently I connected my transmitter via an XLR cable and hung it in an out of the way place near my corner of the stage and it was much better. So I may be able to squeeze some more life out of it yet. Otherwise I’ll bite the bullet and go with a Shure PSM300, Sennheiser G4 or Audio-Technica ATW-3255.
I’ve been using the Xvive U4 and have had lots of interference issues to the point that I turned it off. But recently I connected my transmitter via an XLR cable and hung it in an out of the way place near my corner of the stage and it was much better. So I may be able to squeeze some more life out of it yet. Otherwise I’ll bite the bullet and go with a Shure PSM300, Sennheiser G4 or Audio-Technica ATW-3255.
Seems like the best entry-level wireless is a wire
The Xvive U4 works with the 2.4 GHz band, which is more likely to suffer from interference.
s0c9
Supporting Member
Also.
the transmitter side of the U4 is designed to connect DIRECTLY to the AUX out XLR side of a mixer.
This is not always line-of-sight to the receiver.
If 2 or more U4's are being utilized then short XLR cables to extend the xmitter away from the mixer direct-connect can also work - to reduce interference, coupling, etc.
Changing the assigned 2.4G channel is another approach to minimize interference.
But it's 2.4G and that is extremely cluttered.
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First, just want to note that “best value” might be subjective. I understand what you’re asking though. What works well for YOU is where you try to get to—and may become your best value. I hope you will find that place relatively easily! My journey includes owning/returning the following:
XVive U4 ($250). Started with this and gigged with them for a couple years. Are they “the best”? Probably not. Still, surprisingly less hissing noise than some of the more expensive units. Are they subject to interference? Depends. I gig in clubs ~300-500 people, some more cramped than others and have never had any dropouts. I was outright scolded by a sales representative and got the “you’ve been warned” speech by the same on more than one occasion when buying a second unit for our band (“It will never work and you will be sorry”). We now have two identical XVive U4s in our setup (on different channels)—and still no issues. Just ran a 10’ XLR away from the other. I understand that we may be getting lucky. As an entry point for IEM, it’s relatively budget friendly—but by no means top of the line, and maybe it won’t work with more (i.e. 500-1000) WiFi users around.
Galaxy Audio ASD700 ($250). Tried this for the simplicity of plug/play on UHF. Horrible to my ears. Returned.
Galaxy Audio AS1200 P4 ($400). Just super noisy (again, to me) for the money. Returned.
Shure PSM300 ($800). I found it to be noisy for the price, yet some will swear by its high quality—and use them in all different types of situations. I believe them! But they weren’t for me. Returned.
Audio Technica ATW3255 ($850). It was okay, but for the price, I was expecting higher quality. Like the others, a persistent hissing noise. Not the quality I was willing to pay that much for. Returned.
Sennheiser G4 ($900). I recently upgraded to this—and this is where I’m at today. I couldn’t be happier! Like, no noise. Clean, clear. Easy setup. I switched from the XViveU4 for several reasons. 1. Wanted something higher quality. 2. We added a vocalist who is coming in at entry level—and wanted the XVive because of the price point. 3. It was an opportunity for me to move out of the WiFi frequencies as well as into stereo monitoring. 4. Had disposable income from playing out—yay!
One thing I learned is that everyone’s ears/hearing is different and subjective—Where I might hear hiss, others don’t. Where some have interference issues, others don’t. What some find simple, others find cumbersome. So what system is “ best value” for one, may be “worst” for the next. I suggest trying several systems in your price comfort zone—because they aren’t all the same—but YOU will learn what is acceptable and what isn’t—for you.
A second thing I’ve learned with IEM is that the seal of the earbuds themselves—into your ears—can really make a difference—particularly for bass. I’ve been through several variations of drivers and foam inserts—and have finally found a reasonable solution that works for me yet isn’t a customized mold (KZ ZAR/ Sonic Care). Again, quite happy with where I’m at, though with a few more jobs, I may ultimately go full customized IEM. Something to work towards.
Good luck with your journey!
XVive U4 ($250). Started with this and gigged with them for a couple years. Are they “the best”? Probably not. Still, surprisingly less hissing noise than some of the more expensive units. Are they subject to interference? Depends. I gig in clubs ~300-500 people, some more cramped than others and have never had any dropouts. I was outright scolded by a sales representative and got the “you’ve been warned” speech by the same on more than one occasion when buying a second unit for our band (“It will never work and you will be sorry”). We now have two identical XVive U4s in our setup (on different channels)—and still no issues. Just ran a 10’ XLR away from the other. I understand that we may be getting lucky. As an entry point for IEM, it’s relatively budget friendly—but by no means top of the line, and maybe it won’t work with more (i.e. 500-1000) WiFi users around.
Galaxy Audio ASD700 ($250). Tried this for the simplicity of plug/play on UHF. Horrible to my ears. Returned.
Galaxy Audio AS1200 P4 ($400). Just super noisy (again, to me) for the money. Returned.
Shure PSM300 ($800). I found it to be noisy for the price, yet some will swear by its high quality—and use them in all different types of situations. I believe them! But they weren’t for me. Returned.
Audio Technica ATW3255 ($850). It was okay, but for the price, I was expecting higher quality. Like the others, a persistent hissing noise. Not the quality I was willing to pay that much for. Returned.
Sennheiser G4 ($900). I recently upgraded to this—and this is where I’m at today. I couldn’t be happier! Like, no noise. Clean, clear. Easy setup. I switched from the XViveU4 for several reasons. 1. Wanted something higher quality. 2. We added a vocalist who is coming in at entry level—and wanted the XVive because of the price point. 3. It was an opportunity for me to move out of the WiFi frequencies as well as into stereo monitoring. 4. Had disposable income from playing out—yay!
One thing I learned is that everyone’s ears/hearing is different and subjective—Where I might hear hiss, others don’t. Where some have interference issues, others don’t. What some find simple, others find cumbersome. So what system is “ best value” for one, may be “worst” for the next. I suggest trying several systems in your price comfort zone—because they aren’t all the same—but YOU will learn what is acceptable and what isn’t—for you.
A second thing I’ve learned with IEM is that the seal of the earbuds themselves—into your ears—can really make a difference—particularly for bass. I’ve been through several variations of drivers and foam inserts—and have finally found a reasonable solution that works for me yet isn’t a customized mold (KZ ZAR/ Sonic Care). Again, quite happy with where I’m at, though with a few more jobs, I may ultimately go full customized IEM. Something to work towards.
Good luck with your journey!
If you go on the cheap, I'd recommend finding a used Sennheiser rig, as long as it is still in a legal bandwidth. I still have the G1 that uses a 9v. Never a dropout or glitch.
My last band used XVive units for IEM fed from sends from an X16 mixer. We could all control our own mix. used them for a few years. Did not have any issues
100% agree with the point about a proper seal with your buds. The better the seal the better the bass response. I re-seat mine every few songs to make sure I have a good seal. I think they can work their way loose when singing and talking. Also probably just a nervous habit.
Regarding the hiss…I haven’t experienced this on my Audio Technica unit. I suspect it could be related to a setting or the frequency it was on. Just a guess though.
