If you really want to improve the sound of your live show, then picking up a set of the best in-ear monitors can go a really long way to improving your tone, certainly more than a new guitar or pedal will. IEMs can be notoriously expensive, though, so if you want to dive into better on-stage sound, you should go check out the Thomann In-Ear Days sale, which features up to 30% off a range of in-ear monitors.
With offerings from Shure, Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Audio-Technica, and plenty more, all of the big manufacturers are represented, allowing you to save money on everything from budget options to pricer professional-level IEMs. The sale runs until September 7th, so you haven’t got loads of time if you want to level up your live performances.
If you’re just looking to get started with IEMs, then in my opinion, there’s no better option than the Shure SE215s. They’re brilliantly priced anyway, but have a decent £18 discount in the sale, taking them down to just £91 for a pair. That includes plenty of different tips to ensure a good fit, and a handy carry case to make sure everything stays together on the road.
We love that they allow a small amount of ambient noise to come through, which keeps you connected on stage to the other players around you, particularly good for those noisy rock shows. It means you don’t feel cut off from the rest of the band, which is always a good thing for ensuring you perform cohesively together as a unit.
One of our favorite options, particularly for bass guitar players, is the Ultimate Ears UE 11 Pro, which delivers superb low-end reproduction. They’re not cheap, but a huge £177 reduction goes a long way to making them more affordable for guitar players, and if you play bass, they’re a great option for improving your on-stage sound.
In our Ultimate Ears UE 11 Pro review, we found they sounded amazing on a huge variety of sources, whether it was as live sound monitors or just for general-purpose listening. The bass response was so good, feeling fast, robust, and accurate enough to make playing on a noisy stage an absolute breeze, and the fit was absolutely perfect, almost disappearing once we got them inserted.
If you want a mid-range option between the two we’ve mentioned here, then you should have a look at the Beyerdynamic DT 70 IE. They’ve currently got a huge £211 reduction in the Thomann sale, bringing them down well below the £500 mark. They’re really good if you want to hear the mix in detail, and a great choice for engineers who want to examine the mix.
The sound isolation is excellent, passively offering up to 39dB, which keeps you focused on your mix. The frequency response is super balanced, and not hyped in the mids or high,s which can often be the case with IEMs, which is another tick in the box that makes them great for hearing everything in great detail. Add in five silicon tips and three foam ones, and you’ve got a pretty much guaranteed perfect fit, too.