IEM's with a Bluetooth option...

[morrisericd]

Hi - I work in a noisy wood shop and need some new IEM's with passive noise canceling. I'd also like the ability to use them as Bluetooth when the wires get in the way (moving around a lot, or even running outside, etc.).

I received the Shure Aonic 215's for Christmas and after three days in the shop, while I like the sound, the Bluetooth does drop quite a bit even when my phone is in my pocket or even on a table less than one foot from them. Have others experienced this with the Aonics? My AirPods Pro (sound okay, not great - with Comply tips have okay passive noise canceling) have perfect bluetooth - I can leave my phone in my jacket and walk around and never experience drops.

Headphones I've listened to / owned:
Shure 215's. The bluetooth drops really get in the way of the sound, but they sound good if a little flat. Not great noise canceling - maybe as they do not extend very far (like the Fenders below) into the ear canal.
Aurisonic Rockets: great sound, hard to wear with the "sticky" cables always catching on stuff. Very good noise canceling with Comply tips as they go way down the ear hole!
Fender IEM's. Not sure of the model - around $300 and were replacements from Fender when they bought Aurisonic and I had and issue with my Rockets. Listening to them now with the Aonic bluetooth connectors. Great sound, very full. Great noise canceling with Comply tips - they seem to fill my ears more, blocking more of the sound.
Airpods and AirPods Pro. Great Bluetooth, not great sound. Noise canceling is just okay with Comply tips.
Sony WF-1000 XM3's. I had a set of these for a short time and thought the sound was good / great, but not quite my signature. Noise canceling and fit wasn't great. These get recommended a lot here, they are just not my sound for some reason.
Bose Quiet Comfort's. About the same as the Sony as far as not fitting and not great noise canceling, but worse sound.

I have a set of Bowers and Wilkins PX7's that I really love. Have had Sennheiser wired closed cans and my son has a set of $500 open Grado's that sound awesome.

Noise canceling is really important. I'd like to spend $500. I'd also love suggestions of other bluetooth options. Either using something like the Aonic's with another set of IEM's or something that's already bluetooth. How about a set of Ultimate Ears UE5's with the Aonics, or the Ultimate Ears bluetooth UE Fits? Moondrop Blessing (just heard of these on another thread).

Thanks - I really appreciate it!

 

[morrisericd]

Forgot to add - I just saw the Fiio UTWS3's - that may be an option for better Bluetooth than the Shure's. Not sure if it matters, but I'm using an iPhone.

 

[baskingshark]

U can ask the rest more in the dedicated TWS thread: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/going-fully-wireless-iems-too-soon-or-are-we-there-yet.861024/

Some modern day TWS IEMS come with Active noise cancellation too.

Or u can consider a bluetooth adapter like TRN BT20, TRN BT20S, TRN BT20S pro, iBasso CF01 or the Fiio UTWS3 you mentioned.. Basically they let u reuse a detachable IEM with the dongle, so u can preserve the sound signature of the IEM u like on the go. Also since TWS stuff generally degrade in battery life with each charge (and may become obsolete very fast with new codecs/BT tech), it kind of allows u to keep the IEM in case the adapter is rendered obsolete.

Good luck with your search!

 

[bl1ndmanonac1d]

Shure 215's. The bluetooth drops really get in the way of the sound, but they sound good if a little flat. Not great noise canceling

Isolation greatly depends on the tips you use and that you insert them correctly in your ears. The SE215s can give excellent isolation with the "olive" foam tips included and even better if you buy some Comply P-Series tips. AFAIK if you need even better isolation than that you'd need to use the Etymotic deep insertion IEMs.

When you write "not great noise cancelling" with the 215s I'm strongly suspecting you're not using them correctly.

I use the 215 with a very cheap bluetooth cable TRN BT10 when on the go and I'm surprised at how good the connection is, and the quality kinda reflects that of the 215s as far as I can tell.

 

[silent-circuit]

Etymotic and the UTWS3. Shove them in your brain, good to go.

 

[morrisericd]

Thanks guys. I get great sound isolation with the Fender FXA2 and Comply tips due to it's deep insertion. Same with the Aurisonic Rockets. I listened to the 215's for awhile yesterday and they are too "bright" for me. The Fenders are a bit too muddled. So - I ordered a pair of Fiio FA9's from Amazon - they are supposed to be here today. I will wait for Amazon to get in the UTWS3's and then try them out.

 

[tmb821]

I run my iems with a qudelix 5k or a Fiio btr3k. Still have a wire, but I am able to clip the dongle to my shirt and get most of the wire to disappear. Or I run a super short cable from the dongle to the iem.

 

[morrisericd]

I've had the FA9's for a couple of days now and am really enjoying them. Great sound isolation with the memory foam tips, comfortable, good sound, etc. I just ordered the Fiio BTR5 to play with the option of having a wired DAC and to see how it performs in Bluetooth mode. I've been doing a lot of reading about Tidal (signed up for - $4 for 4 months for HiFi!) and streaming bluetooth options with an iPhone. Without breaking the internet, will most people be able to hear the difference between Apple's AAC and "better" compression options like aptX and LDAC? When streaming via bluetooth, is Tidal's quality vs. Spotify's apparent? I took the NPR compression test (https://www.npr.org/sections/therec...audio-quality?t=1593428293065&t=1609773053190) and was able to pick out the lossless or at least high compression on each of the 6 songs using my FA9's plugged into my iMac and using my wired Audio Engine 2's.

I will perform some tests myself on the bluetooth vs. wired sound when the BTR5 arrives. The BTR5 comes with USB 3. I've read you need the camera lightning to USB 3 adapter from Apple. Has anyone used something different? I'm looking for less wires and cable, not more! Maybe I should (as I read in another post) take advantage of Amazon's liberal return policy and buy a DAC that can be directly connected into my lightning port. Thoughts? Thanks.