U4

IEMs aren't necessarily more complex, but I do feel more isolated from the audience. We use Xvive U4s for our full band. If you have multiple monitor sends from your mixer, then each of you can get your own mix. In the end, just rent some equipment and go to a decent sized room and test various options.

I use IEM for our full band; necessary evil when playing at full volume. With my acoustic duo, I refuse to use IEMs as I feel less connected in a quieter and more intimate setting. If it were me, I'd get a second line array and put one on each side. If you need more, maybe look into a small Bose S1 or similar product to put in front of the three of you.

Just remember that you're mostly considered background noise at these gigs. People are there mostly to talk to each other, so you're volume can't be that high. Do what works for your objective without making it complicated. At these quiter gigs, I can easily hear my guitar unamplified as well as the singer's voice beside me; same for her. The PA is there is mainly for the audience and to give us a bit of monitoring. Make these acoustic gigs as light and simple as possible. I like them for this reason. Transporting, setting up and breaking down gear for our full band is a huge pain in the ass.

You can't turn down the drums, this is an age-old constraint. Get some IEM (in ear monitors), they will save your hearing and allow you to hear yourself. If your band rehearses through a mixer then capture the signal from the board with a product like XVive Audio U4 Wireless IEM. If your band does not do that then capture the signal from your mic, there are "through" devices that allow you to mix right from your mic stand, like ART Pro Audio MYMONITOR II Personal Headphone Monitor Mixer

I know it’s just one case, but I bought an Xvive system to try and I haven’t had any issues with dropouts or interference with around 200 people in the audience.

There are levels to IEM’s for sure. PSM 300 is tremendously better than X Vive. If PSM 300 is garbage what is the cheap stuff like x vive?

We used the Xvive in my last band to go in-ear, and we all loved it, every player of every instrument. 

Same here. 90% of the time, there hasn't been an issue. But that other 10% is why as a band we still keep an old powered monitor around to toss up when it does start acting up. Give the Xvive long enough (4ish years of weekend gigs) and the headphone jack will start to crackle and you'll have to wiggle it around to get it to be a solid connection again. Then as soon as you try even a Shure PSM300 system, you'll never want to go back. The bass player for my band now hates his Xvives after using my PSM300 for a few gigs.

I have the Xvive wireless and it's working well for us. 6 of us, using it for practice and gigs for about a year. Two transmitters so lead guitar can have his own mix but the other 5 of us share a mix. Been pretty cheap and easy to use, reliable so far.

We use an XR18. I use the xvive u4 myself so I can be wireless (I bring it to shows sometimes and try to use it if it's not a hassle for the system/sound guy), but the other guys just use the behringer P1's. It's great, no PA speakers or anything. You can either get IEM's or just use headphones (ones that at least block out some sound otherwise you're getting the worst of both worlds). Our drummer uses headphones but the rest of the guys bought IEM's of their own. So yeah, bit of an investment. If you don't have speakers already anyway, I'd say it's probably not much more expensive than that. Plus you can use it as a recording interface if you don't already have one. I sold mine after we got this since there was no real reason to have a dedicated one anymore. None of use the mobile app though, I will say. My computer is in the office and I just adjust for people as needed...not like we're changing it often.