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- Verified Buyer
I am a keyboardist at my church, and I needed a good pair of in-ear monitors (IEM) to replace the OEM pair that came with the wireless receiver/transmitter hardware I purchased for my personal monitor mix. I had just bought a Nord Stage 3 HP keyboard, and I needed a monitor mix better than what our floor monitors delivered.- First, I tried the Mackie MP-120 IEM, thinking I could get by with an $80 purchase, and hoo-boy, I was WRONG. They sounded okay but had *way* more bass EQ than I could tolerate...if a pile mud had to listen too its monitor mix through an MP-120, even it would think the mix is too muddy.- Second, I tried the Mackie MP-220 which was much, much better than the MP-120, but lacked the high-end EQ I really needed.- Third, I gave the MEE Pinnacle P1 IEM a try. They sounded similar to the Mackie MP-220 set, but the problem was that the audio would cut out on the left channel. After some research, I found that others had the same issue. In my book, this flaw put them below the MP-120 pair since at least those muddy IEMs never cut out.- Fourth, I tried the Bang & Olufsen H3 ANC IEM; while they sounded better than the MP-120, the ANC really messed the sound up, and I had to take them out after using them on stage for less than 2 minutes.- Fifth, after trying to stay around the $150 price point and getting discouraged, I bit the bullet and spent $199 on the Mackie flagship MP-240 IEM. At the time, this was my fifth pair of IEMs, and I was pretty discouraged. I used the included memory foam earpieces to replace the factory-installed ones, plugged them up to my wirelesd pack, and I started playing a song with the band. I was so surprised that I stopped the band and played the whole song by myself just to be sure. Wow...just...wow.The MP-240 IEMs sounded absolutely amazing, and I can't believe they were only $199. Except for a slight dip around 2-3kHz, the EQ sounds pretty close to flat. Being so snug in my ears with the included memory foam and sounding loud & full, I can't hear someone 5 feet away and can't hear the electric guitar player's amp that's nearly pointed right at me. One of the main reasons I needed an IEM was because the lead electric guitar player is old & plays very loudly.They aren't as good as my studio headphones, but I also spent way, way more on those than thes MP-240 IEMs. At $199, the sound quality, physical build, and accessories are all top-notch; additionally, at the time of this writing (12/23/18) they are only $159, and if the price-to-performance ratio wasn't good enough before, it's practically criminal at this point. I'm so blown away with the quality that I got for $199 that I'm not the slightest bit mad that it's 20% cheaper now.TL;DRAt $199 you won't find another IEM that sounds better than or equal to the Mackie MP-240, and priced at $159 today, it just set the bar even higher. The only downside is a slight -2dB dip around 2-3kHz, but otherwise it has a nearly flat frequency response. The purchase comes with 6 sets of ear pieces that go over the drivers to create a better fit in your ears. I've recommended these IEMs to every musician I spoke with in the past 2 months and will continue to do so. I would totally buy again if I needed more than one pair for some reason, LOL.
