[the chemist]

My question is somewhat limited to my work situation. I am pretty much restriced to earbuds and IEMs. I will also be using only one ear. There are times where I will have both ears plugged but the majority of the time I will need to hear the enviroment out of the other ear. I have even considered switching my files from stereo to mono.
 
Musically, I like  worship music and rock and roll. I have some grado 225s that I enjoy when at home. My budget is flexable but I would prefer something around $300 or less.

 

[Jazzyfi]

You can get an UE 1 pro. Its outside your budget.. but its exactly what you are looking for. A stereo (2 left driver and 2 right driver) in one ear.
 

 

[jaw2ek]

What source do you use?  Rockbox firmware allows you to play mono, so you could use any iem.

 

[kmhaynes]

Earbuds, like the Sennheiser MX-580 at moderately low volume lets you hear outside noises.  You can wear them in both ears, and keep the volume at whatever level allows you to hear what you need to hear around you.

 

[the chemist]

Quote:

You can get an UE 1 pro. Its outside your budget.. but its exactly what you are looking for. A stereo (2 left driver and 2 right driver) in one ear.
 

Well, I am ok on flexing my budget if it really does meet my needs. I did not know that they had IEM's with stereo in one ear. Thank you for your input!!! The information you have suggested really excites the possibilities for me!

 

[the chemist]

Quote:

What source do you use?  Rockbox firmware allows you to play mono, so you could use any iem.

portables are new to me. I will pick up either a 5th gen ipod, S:Flo or hifiman 801. I doubt I will get the 801 with ultimate ears unless I wait for the cheaper 601's.
 
Ideas? I asked in the source forum without much luck. obviously if I could afford the 801 it would be a no brainer. lets conclude I settle on UE1s for now.
 
Quote:

Earbuds, like the Sennheiser MX-580 at moderately low volume lets you hear outside noises.  You can wear them in both ears, and keep the volume at whatever level allows you to hear what you need to hear around you.

that may be a good idea too! I hesitate somewhat as I don't want to give a bad rap to headphones at work. Even if I can hear, others might look down on me having both buds in. Food for thought...thank you

 

[JackKontney]

Sensaphonics, Model 221. The original single-sided stereo IEM, developed for musicians with severe unilateral hearing loss.
 
http://www.sensaphonics.com/prod_221.html

 

[ccfoodog]

 
Another approach would be to get a set of IEMs that has detachable cables and re-work the cable so it is only a "single".  The upside is you could have your new "single" cable hooked to both L&R, creating a mono cable w/o need to change your source files.  If you aren't up to creating re-working or creating a custom cable yourself, I'm sure you could find someone on head-fi that would be willing to build you one for a fee.
 
This is actually what I did (post #59), although in my case I didn't use an IEM with a detachable cable, but rather created a franken single IEM.
 
But, you don't need to go to this extreme, and I suspect a well built single cable, esp. if it has an over-the-ear style, could just about disappear.
 
-john