Wireless IEMs: Xvive U4 & alternatives

[dave_bass5]

I thought  we discovered  its not the output of the desk, as we got the noise through the Xvive when it wasnt connected to the desk, just close to it. Once we turned the desk off the noise went. This was when the transmitter was plugged in to my desk with the receiver close to the Zoom desk. 

 

 

[EBS_freak]

It’s something in the desk that is emitting emi. You could probably get an idea where it is by moving the xvive over the desk and get stronger and weaker levels of interference. I only said output as there will be amps there (that can be a source of EM) to drive the headphones. It could be anywhere though really.

[Bassfinger]

Just stumbled across this thread by chance.

 

I'm a U4 user, tending to use it at gigs where space is tight and there isn't really space for floor monitors.  These are the sorts of places with WiFi, wireless card readersm and all sorts of RF dirty kit knocking about.

 

The transmitter sits on our digital mixer, and latency is undetectable to the ear. Despite what any electronic nerds may tell you an undetectable latency is, by any practical usage of the term, low.

 

Once or twice I've had hum or high pitched whining issues but changing to another channel had always sorted it immediately. I do suspect that yours may be faulty.

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

Once or twice I've had hum or high pitched whining issues but changing to another channel had always sorted it immediately.

 

I had that, but turned out to be my singing.

[Al Krow]

4 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

Just stumbled across this thread by chance.

 

I'm a U4 user, tending to use it at gigs where space is tight and there isn't really space for floor monitors.  These are the sorts of places with WiFi, wireless card readersm and all sorts of RF dirty kit knocking about.

 

The transmitter sits on our digital mixer, and latency is undetectable to the ear. Despite what any electronic nerds may tell you an undetectable latency is, by any practical usage of the term, low.

 

Once or twice I've had hum or high pitched whining issues but changing to another channel had always sorted it immediately. I do suspect that yours may be faulty.

 

Thanks for that.  But if you follow through the posts the high pitched hum issue we were having was only there with a particular digital mixer I was using and not with another mixer I tested with @dave_bass5with 3 separate U4s. I don't think there's any fault with the three U4s we tested and I've not had the whine with an Allen & Heath mixer we've subsequently used live. So the issue, in general terms, seems to simply be the interaction of the U4s with the lack of shielding on some mixers.

 

But it's good to know that you are yet another contended U4 user! 

Edited February 6, 2023 by Al Krow

[Greg Edwards69]

Me and one of the guitarists have recently bought a U4 set with an extra receiver. Only had the chance to use it twice at a gig. First time was "experimental" as we hadn't properly planned out the optimal channel to use to avoid clashing with other wireless devices (such as one of the lead mics and the other guitarists U2) so we had a bit of interference throughout.

 

However, once we worked out what everything else was running on, we set it up again for this weekend's gig and it performed flawlessly. Possibly the best monitoring I've ever had. Only a couple of issues.

1. My shirt kept nudging the volume knob down, so I had to tuck that part oƒ my shirt behind it.
2. Whilst the sound was quite clear, we both set it was a little too bright and shrill at the top end, but upon investigation. this is possibly more to do with our KZ ZS10 earphones than anything.

I've never had the chance to use these earbuds with a decent system before, so I was quite surprised by the brightness (although I do occasionally use them with me helix at low volume for home practice, and I recall them sounding a little bright, but I wasn't sure if it was the headphones or my patch settings). I need to experiment with this further.

 

It's also made it clear we need a "'technical rehearsal" soon to iron out some issues. For example:

• We need to tweak the other guitarists (who doesn't use IEM yet) solo boost level as his rhythm volume was slightly too low and his lead was slightly too loud. I've noticed and mentioned this a number of times in the past but this made it more apparent. If he gets on board with the IEM solution he'll likely notice it more too.
• The two lead singer are using the older cheaper G4M IEM system which struggles with a full mix, and the drummer has recently started using a wired IEM. However, our desk only has two pre-fader aux outs with the other two being post fader. So any monitor outs taken from the latter are to volume changes.
• We've also just gotten a subwoofer at last within the last week. So we've only been able to try it at one gig. We definitely need to spend time learning how to balance it with the tops, at my sound out front at the weekend was very, very different to my FRFR (took it just in case, but hoping not to need it soon) speaker and IEM.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Greg Edwards69

[Greg Edwards69]

An update on the Airpods idea.

 

I recently succumbed and bought a set of Airpods Pro 2 (amazon deal - pay over 5 months 0% - sometimes Amazon isn't so evil), and had our first rehearsal since getting them last night.

 

As digital earplugs they actually work quite well.  The transparency mode produced a very clear sound, much clearer than any other musicians earplugs I've used over the years (including Etymotic, Earasers, Elacin custom moulded, Docs pro plugs amongst others).  And at a comfortable level without any noticeable latency.

 

One of the features of transparency mode (and why I wanted to try them as earplugs in the first place) is that any noise over 85dB is automatically attenuated back down to that level via compression. Fantastic you might say. However, one of the first instruments to get compressed (possibly because I was standing so close to my frfr) was my bass. It was still clear, but just not as present in the mix.  It was almost as if I had the opposite experience of passive earplugs that attenuate the top end - the airpods attenuated the low end.

 

I reckon if I move my speaker to the opposite side of the room next time, then the airpods may fare better. But so far, so good!

 

 

[JPJ]

After another gig hemmed into the corner of a gig with a crash cymbal immediately behind my right ear, I think it’s time I moved to IEM’s. I’ve been dabbling with some ZX10’s and an old T-Bone UHF set but the T-Bone has been commandeered by our singer, and I’m being sorely tempted by the X-Vive both in terms of price and form factor. Having read the comments about interference, I was wondering whether anyone on here has real live gigging experience of using the U4’s with the Behringer X-Air XR18?

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, JPJ said:

Having read the comments about interference, I was wondering whether anyone on here has real live gigging experience of using the U4’s with the Behringer X-Air XR18?

 

yes that is what I have been doing for over a year now, never any interference if you are not using the internal Wi-Fi of the x18 - you can't use them together

[AxelF]

Yeah we regularly use three U4s with our XR18 mixer, plus one of the guitarists uses an XVive wireless bug for his guitar too, never have any issues. We use an external router for the mixer though as Woodinblack says.

[Al Krow]

10 hours ago, JPJ said:

 Having read the comments about interference, I was wondering whether anyone on here has real live gigging experience of using the U4’s with the Behringer X-Air XR18?

 

I think the interference issue was due to the lack of adequate shielding on my former Zoom L8 desk, which is a budget and plastic housed desk. Not had any interference issues with the Xvive U4 with several other desks including Mackie, Allen & Heath or our own replacement Soundcraft desk.

 

FWIW the lack of shielding, on the otherwise really good value Zoom L8, only seemed to be an issue with wireless i.e. nothing equivalent with the usual wired set up which most BC owners of the L8 / L12 range seem to be using. 

[vsmith1]

8 hours ago, AxelF said:

Yeah we regularly use three U4s with our XR18 mixer, plus one of the guitarists uses an XVive wireless bug for his guitar too, never have any issues. We use an external router for the mixer though as Woodinblack says.

Agreed.

We use an XAIR with an external WiFi router, and have set that to only 5GHz WiFi and the iPad, Android tablet can use 5GHz WiFi. Then the U4 uses 2.4GHz WiFi without issue and interference with the vocalists Shure wireless mic, my Boss WL-50 wireless bass and the guitarist's Boss WL-20 wireless. 

[Chienmortbb]

On 15/05/2023 at 09:51, Greg Edwards69 said:

An update on the Airpods idea.

 

I recently succumbed and bought a set of Airpods Pro 2 (amazon deal - pay over 5 months 0% - sometimes Amazon isn't so evil), and had our first rehearsal since getting them last night.

 

As digital earplugs they actually work quite well.  The transparency mode produced a very clear sound, much clearer than any other musicians earplugs I've used over the years (including Etymotic, Earasers, Elacin custom moulded, Docs pro plugs amongst others).  And at a comfortable level without any noticeable latency.

 

One of the features of transparency mode (and why I wanted to try them as earplugs in the first place) is that any noise over 85dB is automatically attenuated back down to that level via compression. Fantastic you might say. However, one of the first instruments to get compressed (possibly because I was standing so close to my frfr) was my bass. It was still clear, but just not as present in the mix.  It was almost as if I had the opposite experience of passive earplugs that attenuate the top end - the airpods attenuated the low end.

 

I reckon if I move my speaker to the opposite side of the room next time, then the airpods may fare better. But so far, so good!

 

 

Are you using the AirPods as IEMs?

Edited May 24, 2023 by Chienmortbb

[Greg Edwards69]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

Are you using the AirPods as IEMs?

No, just as 'digital' earplugs. I use the Xvive U4 and KZ ZS10s as IEMs.

[Chienmortbb]

4 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

No, just as 'digital' earplugs. I use the Xvive U4 and KZ ZS10s as IEMs.

Ah.

[JPJ]

Thanks everyone for the comments - I’ve pulled the trigger on the XVive U4 from GuitarGuitar and it should be with me tomorrow (Friday). I’ve got a few weeks before my first gig using my PA rig so time to play around and get things set up properly. 

[JPJ]

So my XVive U4 arrived on Saturday but for various reasons, it was today before I got a chance to try it out. 

 

My setup is a Behringer XAir XR18 'desk' with an Apple Airport Express running in bridge mode as the access point. As recommended on here I disabled the 2.4Ghz signal using the Airport Utility. The test environment was my office, with a separate Apple Airport Express running for internet, my pedal board plugged straight into the XAir, my bass running wirelessly over a Line 6 G30. I am using the U4 with ZS10 Pro in-ears with memory foam tips. 

 

First impressions are everything and the XVive did not disappoint. I spent a bit of time setting the gain of my bass channel and creating a mix on an unused Aux. Plugging in I got my bass, sounding like my bass, straight into my ears with no background noise whatsoever. One thing to mention is how robust both the transmitter and receiver feel. The only negative is that because of the orientation of the aux out XLR's on the XAir, the transmitter is effectively 'face down' meaning you cannot see the channel or battery lights, although this will be easily remedied using a short XLR lead. First gig using my rig is still a couple of weeks away, so expect an update later in June. 

[Al Krow]

Was just using my Xvive U4 plugged into my Zoom B1-4 for some "silent" practice while away from home, and was getting a high pitched whine which disappeared when I touched the input jack adapter. 

 

Seems to be a clear cut earthing issue? There's no Ground Lift switch on the (budget) pedal. 

 

Any straightforward hacks you can recommend / suggest to solve? 

[EBS_freak]

Try putting a Boss pedal in between - if the pitch goes, a buffer will solve your problem. 

[Al Krow]

49 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Try putting a Boss pedal in between - if the pitch goes, a buffer will solve your problem. 

 

Thanks Russ.

 

I think the difficulty there is potentially the Zoom B1-4 doubles up as a headphone amp. I'll give your suggestion a go when I get home, but won't putting a non-headphone amp pedal in between have the ability to drive the IEMs in the same way? 

 

Was wondering if there's a grounding hack or piece of hardware available to achieve the same as just touching the jack?

[Chungalin]

On 27/01/2023 at 10:58, Woodinblack said:

Maybe a ferite bead or something - but it seems more like maybe it is the output of the desk that has the hum (or it is a capacitance issue). If not, maybe a bigger lead.

 

As to directional, the aerial in the U4 is a little bit of bent wire. Actually...

Can you please explain how did you start to open U4 Transmitter? I can see 4 screws under the sleeve, but how to remove the sleeve? Is it that ring that has 2 status LEDs? Thank you.

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, Chungalin said:

Can you please explain how did you start to open U4 Transmitter? I can see 4 screws under the sleeve, but how to remove the sleeve? Is it that ring that has 2 status LEDs? Thank you.

 

Well, dont' have one on me to look at the moment, but its the other end.  The xlr socket and eject button are on a board that are held by (I think) 4 screws on 4 pillars. That comes off the other end to the aerial, and enables you to slide the board out and all the other plastic just comes off. make sure you don't lose the switches they are just little bits of plastic that press on something on the board.

Will posts pictures of it appart later.

[Al Krow]

Just spotted these:

 

B-7PSM Wireless Monitoring Bug Transmitter & Receiver System, 5.8GHz - Nux | CPC

 

No idea if they are any good, but I'm a fan of the Nux 5.8 GHz wireless for bass.

 

Attractions:

- very compact

- 5.8 GHz not 2.4 GHz

- good price compared to most wireless IEM set ups

 

I guess slight concern that having 5.8 GHz on both bass and IEM wireless with no channel selection options may give rise to crosstalk/interference between the two units?

[Woodinblack]

8 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

I guess slight concern that having 5.8 GHz on both bass and IEM wireless with no channel selection options may give rise to crosstalk/interference between the two units?

 

I have 5.8GHz on both bass and mixer control, no interference. 5.8 is a lot better for that.

[Al Krow]

Some of the online reviews aren't looking too promising re the Nux: complaints about distortion in particular. I guess sometimes you can pay too little for something!

Edited December 14 by Al Krow