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[Dick Rees]

Silas....

There is no cheap solution when it comes to headphones or IEM's.  Repeat after me:

"There is no cheap solution."

By the time you experiment with various "cheap" solutions you will have spent just as much money as one of the proper solutions  and endured a lot of frustration on the way.

Here is a link to the 'phones I use:

http://www.gk-music.com/ultraphones.htm

If you click on the "home" tab on Gordy's site you'll get an idea of who uses these and why.

The salient point here is ISOLATION. The material in the cans will be severely compromised by any leakage from the stage sound and just turning it up will destroy the users ears.

Whether you use isolation headphones or IEM's, your success will depend on the mix.  This gets into the area of art as do most critical technical matters.  The usual approach is a stereo mix with some "ambient" sound mixed in so it will have a more natural sound.  But none of this works as well as it should without ISOLATION.

Did I mention isolation?????  

[Timothy C. Lee]

I would recommend the vic firth headphones, or the metrophone type.  Which are basically rifle/gun ear protection with speakers inside.  The regular open-ear type headphones from all the manufactuers will have so much external sound leakage that the drummer will have to turn the headphones up so loud just to hear them.  I think this would be something that each drummer should invest in and it is really not the churches responsibility.

Tim

[Tim Padrick]

The Extreme Headphones EX29 also have very high isolation.  They sound quite good - a little polite in the highs perhaps, but I prefer that to the usual steely top end.

[Lee Buckalew]

I think that the EX25 sounds better than the EX29 (although both sound good).  Both exceed the sound quality of the Sony 7506's that have become a low cost standard.  Also, The EX25's cost about $10.00 less per pair than the Sony's normal street price.  Also, the Extreme Isolation products are assembled in the U.S. (in St. Louis actually) and shortly will be manufactured here again as well.

His,
Lee Buckalew
Pro Sound Advice, Inc.

[Tim Padrick]

Lee Buckalew wrote on Sat, 22 January 2011 10:34

I think that the EX25 sounds better than the EX29 (although both sound good).  Both exceed the sound quality of the Sony 7506's that have become a low cost standard.  Also, The EX25's cost about $10.00 less per pair than the Sony's normal street price.  Also, the Extreme Isolation products are assembled in the U.S. (in St. Louis actually) and shortly will be manufactured here again as well. His, Lee Buckalew Pro Sound Advice, Inc.

Do you know which versions you've heard?  I don't know about the 25, but there have been three versions of the 29.  I upgraded my V2 to V3, and the sound is much better.

[Lee Buckalew]

I heard the most current version of each.  Had not heard them since the very first model was introduced.  Then the sound quality was not great but the isolation was really good.
Now, the current models have very good sound quality and isolation.  I'd put the sound quality above the Sony 7506 in the EX25 and on a par or slightly better with the EX29.
I preferred the EX25's but...

His,
Lee Buckalew
Pro Sound Advice, Inc.

[Tim Padrick]

Lee Buckalew wrote on Sun, 30 January 2011 14:43

I heard the most current version of each.  Had not heard them since the very first model was introduced.  Then the sound quality was not great but the isolation was really good. Now, the current models have very good sound quality and isolation.  I'd put the sound quality above the Sony 7506 in the EX25 and on a par or slightly better with the EX29. I preferred the EX25's but... His, Lee Buckalew Pro Sound Advice, Inc.

What is it about the sound of the 25s that you prefer?  By chance have you heard the M-Audio IE10 to be able to make a comparison?  (I have 29s and 10s, and much prefer the 10s - more extended top, less "artificial" sounding in the upper mids and lower highs.)

[Lee Buckalew]

The EX25's, to me, sounded more accurate.  My recording partner also agreed.  We we had Extreme Isolation in to do a presentation for the St. Louis AES chapter meeting.  There were many who preferred the sonic quality of the EX25's.  There may be applications where the extra noise cancellation would win out for the EX29.  
That said, I don't think the EX29's sounded bad.

His,
Lee Buckalew
Pro Sound Advice, Inc.

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