A6t

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Last night I placed an order for the 64 Audio A6t. I just can't personally justify spending more than that for my 50-60 shows a year in small to mid size venues. The A6t pair will be an upgrade over what I had before. As a drummer, I try to be "of service" to what I affectionately call "the talent." At a sound check, I try to take as little time away from the other band members as possible and pretty much accept the mix I'm given after a brief conversation with the sound person. At my level, the acumen of the sound engineer varies and changes every other gig. An overheard mic is something I have to experiment with more and try and incorporate. Because the FOH/monitor person isn't using IEMs it is often difficult to get on the same page (quickly). I have a Porter and Davies throne now, which solved the other noticeable challenge of drummers/iems.

I'm about 15 shows in and have numerous hours of music listening. They are very comfortable, and the sound is excellent. The build quality is flawless. It's a big investment, given you can't try before you buy; nor shop around; but thus far everything has met my expectation.

IEMs from 64 audio (A6T) blow any over the ear headphones out of the water Ive experienced

I used these for 6 years before I got some custom molded IEM’s from 64audio. IEM’s are insane but expensive unfortunately. If someone’s on a budget the 990’s are a solid option too

I was writing a long comment but tldr:/ is get 64Audio A2e, the cheapest CIEM from 64Audio is the best thing under $1000 you can get for female vocalists specifically, it's $550 but slightly better than $900 A3T for female vocalists which would be my #2 pick, ye A3T is better overall with slightly better clarity but it won't be better for your usecase on a side note UE5 is great for electric guitars but pretty bad for female vocalists

it lacks treble extension but sound balance is shifted more towards what you need as a female vocalist, A3t is overall better but for this specifically I'd take A2e over it

These KZ’s are super standard for entry level in-ears. I know some pros who use them and actually prefer them to $$ custom molded ones, just because they don’t have to worry about babying them compared to the super high dollar stuff. I’ve used them a little and i think they’re great; it’s a great stepping stone until you can afford some real nice custom stuff from a company like 64 Audio. My daily drivers for in-ear gigs is the 64 audio A6t, and I love them - and man oh man do they sound good plugged straight in to synths too. Just be careful with that gain 😬

KZ in ears are the standard affordable ones, sometimes listed with their parent company Linsoul. [Here’s one of their models.](https://a.co/d/hFhN4YO) They work great if you’re one of the lucky people that can wear regular earbuds, and their models range from $40-$100ish. If you’re like me and pulled the lucky straw of having weird shaped ear canals that don’t agree with standard earbud fittings, get a custom molded pair from [64 audio](https://www.64audio.com/pages/design-customs?model=A6t) and try not to cry at the price. And just so you’ve heard it - *be careful with volume with in ears!!!* You can do real damage with sound getting pumped right into your ear, especially over long periods of time. Please keep the volume low.

I think it depends how you buy your IEMs right? When I'm looking for something new I'm looking for something that actually has physical hardware differences. My first pair was just a good all rounder, a nice baseline and a huge upgrade from anything else I had at the time. My second pair had bone conduction drivers which immensely improves the low end. While testing that bone conduction set I also got to try out some of the 64 audios with Apex porting. They're so comfortable to listen to. They're significantly more expensive but I would still consider them noticeably better. On the flip side I also got to try the Sennheiser IE900s at the same time and I think they're absolutely garbage for the price. It's mostly gonna be down to personal preference but if you keep buying IEMs that are essentially the same thing repackaged a new way, sets that aren't doing anything drastically new or different, the fall off is probably going to be closer to $300-400.

Unfortunately in my situation, I need to be able to hear everyone in the band plus backing tracks as I monitor everything while performing. Ideally I’d do the U6T custom molded but might have to go this route for now.

Just get some CIEMs from 64 Audio and call it a day.