I'm using an Audio Technica M3 Wireless system for my In-Ears now, but I am wondering what other people are using. I feel that since newer technology such as digital broadcasting has made great strides in recent years there might be some new products on the market that may work better than what I currently use. The M3 is a great wireless system, but there are times depending on the room and interference when I get pops, radio noise or drop outs. So whats the consensus?
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In-Ear Wireless Systems... Old Analog vs New Digital
- Thread starter rebuh687
- Start date
no idea how it works for iem's but i'll never go back to analog wireless for bass. however, it's not immune to dropouts. i think it's immune to pops and radio signals, though. i've never had any in the 3 years i've had my x2's.
i just asked this very question on PSW (where they really know this stuff), and so far Link Removed is the answer i've gotten:
my question:
slightly OT, but since we're talking about bar-band IEMs, i have a question:
i've been nursing a beat-up psm400 system for a few years now, and it's getting to be a bit long in the tooth.
digital wireless is the hot new thing (the line 6 relay guitar stuff is getting good grades as far as i can tell, with no companding and thus a more transparent sound), and between that and scary government bandwidth allocation issues, i'm hesitant to just buy a nicer "regular" IEM system. is there going to be a moderately priced (<$1k) digital solution in the near future?
the answer, from someone who apparently provides this stuff for a living:
Digital may be the "hot new thing", but that doesn't necessarily make it a better solution for a particular application. In fact, there are very few digital wireless mics in use in the professional environment. (The notable exception in this country being Zaxcom employed in the TV/film industry, though they by no means have the majority market share, and a rare, specialized application in Broadway/professional theater. Sony has decent presence in ENG applications in Asia and Europe.)
The added latency and inferior propagation characteristics compared to like analog units mean digital IEMs will likely not be devloped and accepted for quite sometime, certainly not sub $1k offerings.
Further, when there finally is a new spectrum re-allocation and/or additional shared services introduced, harmful interference is harmful interference; digital will suffer just as much as analog, likely more so given comparable RF power levels. The only difference is the digital units would go completely silent while analog can get noisey before muted by squelching.
Henry Cohen
Production Radio Rentals
my question:
slightly OT, but since we're talking about bar-band IEMs, i have a question:
i've been nursing a beat-up psm400 system for a few years now, and it's getting to be a bit long in the tooth.
digital wireless is the hot new thing (the line 6 relay guitar stuff is getting good grades as far as i can tell, with no companding and thus a more transparent sound), and between that and scary government bandwidth allocation issues, i'm hesitant to just buy a nicer "regular" IEM system. is there going to be a moderately priced (<$1k) digital solution in the near future?
the answer, from someone who apparently provides this stuff for a living:
Digital may be the "hot new thing", but that doesn't necessarily make it a better solution for a particular application. In fact, there are very few digital wireless mics in use in the professional environment. (The notable exception in this country being Zaxcom employed in the TV/film industry, though they by no means have the majority market share, and a rare, specialized application in Broadway/professional theater. Sony has decent presence in ENG applications in Asia and Europe.)
The added latency and inferior propagation characteristics compared to like analog units mean digital IEMs will likely not be devloped and accepted for quite sometime, certainly not sub $1k offerings.
Further, when there finally is a new spectrum re-allocation and/or additional shared services introduced, harmful interference is harmful interference; digital will suffer just as much as analog, likely more so given comparable RF power levels. The only difference is the digital units would go completely silent while analog can get noisey before muted by squelching.
Henry Cohen
Production Radio Rentals
i don't know what he's talking about with latency. there's very little latency with digital bass wirelesses, so little as to be imperceptible. however, i must admit that i never see digital wireless mics on any pro stages i'm on, so maybe there's something to it.
The latency he is talking about is the AD/DA converters. In analog units there is no conversion. It's a "get what you pay for thing".
I've measured the latency of an X2 digital wireless. It's 4 milliseconds. That's the same delay you'd get by standing 4 feet in front of your amp. You won't hear that delay.
4 more feet away from your amp. And pretty much irrelevant. But one has to keep the entire signal path in mind. 4ms for the wireless, 2-3 ms for the digital console, 2-3ms for digital IEMs - now the signal that's hitting your ears is 8-10ms behind what your fingers are doing. Some players will notice this.
To the OP: Keep your M3s - they are good units.
then these digital IEMs should be receiving digital inputs from USB ports on the digital board! it's 2010, and i want my flying cars and robot maids!
