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edknuff
1
May 8, 2019
This item is not an "in-ear monitor", it's an earbud.
CEE_TEE
3480
May 8, 2019
edknuffHey edknuff, The way I delineate "earbuds" vs. "in-ear monitors" is whether they seal + isolate. In-ear monitors were developed as a replacement for the large "wedge" speaker monitors on the stage that blasted a musician's sound back at them. These wedges were causing hearing damage. An in-ear monitor could block out the other sound on stage, giving a musician a quieter environment plus the exact mix of sound desired by each member of the band (including some of the audience sound). Whether that is custom-fit or "universal-fit" using replaceable silicone ear tips to get a seal and isolation, we generally refer to this type as an "in-ear monitor" or "IEM". Though originally developed for professional use, audiophiles found out about them and slowly started to adopt them and become a large part of the IEM business. Earbuds like the Apple iBuds don't create a seal, they just sit in the ear and let external sound in. Lots of earbuds come with a small foam sleeve to fit over the plastic, but there is no seal. In this case, since the form factor and tech is not specifically a professional monitoring set-up...you could make a case for calling them earbuds instead. Also, earbuds probably make sense to more people. However, we do sell Venture Electronics Monk Plus earbuds as well. So, in this case we are using "IEM" in reference to the seal vs the professional audio use case for sure.
CEE_TEEI would agree with you here. Simply put, does it go in your ear canal? If yes its an IEM. If it just sits there pressed against your concha cavum then its an earbud. But honestly its semantics, but I do love me some naming consitancy, so I 100% overthink this stuff. But there are also lots of kinda in-between options like the PANASONIC ErgoFit, and these do kinda fit between both. Which is why I tend to just say Earphone. But from a marketing perspective, IEM comes off more prosumer and "audiophile", while ear buds comes off cheap and consumer grade but is a more recognizable term to more people. So it comes down to your target audience. For me the Move comes off confused on who its target audience is.
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