Hello! I was looking through the sidebar's list of recommended earphones, and after clicking through some of them, I've realized that I actually don't know if that's a list for me, a consumer looking for something to jack into my phone.
I've tried quickly looking for differences between IEMs and headphones, but didn't managed to reach a conclusion. I've vaguely familiar with the term "monitors", since I do help out from time with band shows, but I never actually dealt with audio equipment or audio setup (aside from carrying it to the stage). From what I assume based on what I've seen, monitors are the the speakers that play on stage, so the band can hear what they play. And IEMs are earbud versions of monitors that the band uses instead.
I've always assumed that they are basically headphones/earphones, just connected to some kind of transmitter, and calling them IEMs just makes it easier to find earbuds focused on audio quality, because the term is not as mass-marketed as earbuds are. But judging by the cable connector I've seen on some of the IEMs I've looked at, it's probably not a jack.
So, what are the differences? Is it a different tech all-together, or are they really just a higher quality earphones with better connector? Would looking for IEMs instead of earbuds make it easier to find better earbuds for regular use, or are they meant only for studios and I'll have a hard time even connecting them without aditionall equipment?
Thank you for any reply or explanation. I realize this question may seem pretty basic, and I hope it's not too out of place - I have almost zero experience with audio, but I did start recently DJing (where all I needed so far was to be able to connect RCA into a mixer) and helping out with setting up band shows, so I'm asking this question not because I'm shopping for earbuds, but because I'm honestly interested in learning something new about how different tech around music work and what's the common language around it.
To expand on this, there are a few subcategories:
Headphones can be split into two main styles: open-back and closed-back.
Closed back headphones are probably what most consumers will ever see, like the Airpods Max, Sony WH1000XM5, Beyerdynamic DT770, AudioTechnica M50x, etc. They form a seal around your ears, and do not leak sound to the outside. If you are DJing or studio monitoring, you probably would want this type of headphones.
Open back headphones like the Sennheiser HD600, HD800, and Hifiman HE400 expose the back of the driver to the outside, which means sound gets in and out of the headphones, but what they provide in return is better soundstage than closed back headphones. Higher-end heaphones are usually open backed.
IEMs also have a subcategory called CIEMs, C stands for custom.
Typical IEMs have a rubber eartip that you stuff in your ear canal to form a seal. Usually they also offer multiple different sizes of eartips to fit different sizes of ear canals, but for some, they still won't fit or don't provide the best seal.
Custom IEMs on the other hand, provide custom molds of your ear canals, so when you receive your CIEM, it would have the shape of your own ears to give you the best seal. They are typically used on stage for the best sound isolation and have the benefit of not easily falling off. Brands like 64 audio, FitEar offer these types of IEMs, and are usually very top of the line. Also good for DJing I would imagine.