You know the drill. Someone took your keys, you look up at the ceiling, trying to remember. Your head is pounding. And your ears hurt. Why do they hurt? Slowly, you claw your tingling, numbed arm from under your body, where it has been caressed all night by the moist, beery carpet. There is a funny smell in the room.
You force the numb fingers to your aching ears. There’s something there. Not just the usual fur you try to trim off to impress the ladies. You pull, and you feel a cord and SOMETHING comes out of your ear. Ahhh the relief. You look at it. It’s a cheap IEM. You weakly throw it away and clutch at your other ear. If you could get to your feet you would stamp on these things.
You close your aching, bloodshot eyes. An idea forms, half-baked, in your head. CHEAP IEMS that HURT!!! If only these had been ???-??? that are so comfortable you could sleep in them. And sound good too. The effort to think is too much.
Please friends, fill in the ???-??? with your recommendations for IEMs that sound good and are so comfortable you can fall asleep in them and not regret it in the morning.
Sonic preferences notwithstanding I might recommend the ADV M4 or, for a bit more cash, the Ortofon EQ5. Both are mids-recessed (the M4 has a bit of an 8k spike that may or may not bother you at higher SPLs), but I find that signature agreeable for low-volume listening out-of-doors. Moreover, as someone who’s always had issue with IEM fitting these two are compact enough that I don’t believe I’d have trouble rolling around with em.
Do note that both use fixed cables and that the one on the Ortofon doesn’t seem nearly as hardy as the one on the ADV.
Interesting. Low volume levels would be important. I have things with good sound quality. This would not be for critical listening, but streaming quiet stuff, or even news before I fall asleep. As a side sleeper, headphones don’t work.
(preemptively hit send, my bad)
To elaborate upon my comment about preferring recessed mids, I’m not sure whether it’s Fletcher-Munson’s fault but the sound just sounds significantly less awry at lower volumes. As a bonus one needn’t necessarily sacrifice SQ when going for non-neutral tunings, and my ears thought the Ortofons quite nuanced during the time I spent demoing them. Caveats about its having a frighteningly thin cable still stand, though:
This reply both to you and @TylersEclectic. I try to make my posts interesting. I had a lot of NSFW content in my head that my internal editor artfully removed. Yes, many problems - like “How often do you sleep on your arm?”
and “Someone took your keys? Did you look down and check your pants to see if [anything|anyone] else is missing.” Or even, “As a still-working 64 year old coot, don’t you have better things to do than try and entertain the young’uns with mis-remembered stories from your youth?” “Took your keys? The way you told it the first time, it was pre-automobile, and they un-hitched your horse.”
I’d certainly agree with your graph in regard to many things as I get older, but other things hold much more significance as time passes.
Although I’m not sure quite how to indicate/display this sentiment in a graph
So I went for the WIRED version of the “bedphones” at $59 list. They give you a 15% off coupon. I forgot to apply it before going to Paypal, so I cancelled the order. Then they flash me a 20% off coupon (I was going to re-order with the 15%) Sweet.
I hope the headphones are OK. The idea is comfort, not sound quality. But there is nothing about AAC or AptX in their ad, so I figure wired is going to be better. And cheaper is better. They want $99 for the bluetooth version.
Now if someone wants to go back to my starting post, and set some Oculus Rift VRs on top of my aching eyes, and transport me into another world . . . .
If the IEMs that I’ve owned/tried, the Klipsch X10 is the most comfortable, followed closely by the Shure SE425 and SE846. If you want to go up to TOTL level, the Effect Audio+Empire Ears Arthur is real comfy as well. Speakers probably work best for comfort; just turn down your partner’s hearing aids.
My go-to IEMs are Sony SBH 80’s. Bluetooth and small transducers. Very comfortable with the right tips. I’m a side sleeper, too. My second choice is the Apple buds that come with the phone. Also comfortable for a side sleeper because of their design.
Well I’ll report on the funny bedroom not-IEMs. If they don’t do the trick, I may look further.
“Anything further Father? Further Father? That can’t be right” - Groucho Marx
