Sorry if this is the wrong category to post this question.
I am planning to buy wireless systems for both my instrument (bass) and iem.
I have looked at the new digital systems from sennheiser and was wondering about latency.
I am getting great results from my windows laptop now at gig performer reported 1,9 ms (if i remember correctly).
I am a newbie to wireless. The sennheiser specs state 1,9ms latency. Will this then add up to 1.9ms from my gp system plus 1,9ms from wireless instrument, plus 1,9ms from iem?
I would like to keep as low latency as possible.
I guess it means i should go with analog wirekess systems then, correct? Any users with experience with digital iem and instrument systems that can share your experience? Is the added latency noticable/annoying to you?
I’m usually running with 6.3ms round trip latency from GP, plus 1.9ms from the desk and none from my Sennheiser G2 IEM (FM, analogue). That’s less than I would get with an amp at the back of the stage straight to my ears (@3ms per metre)…
I am ok with latencies around 12ms at home, even playing bass percussively like slap. I suspect I would not notice larger numbers live, up to a point, due to the expectation of lag with the drummer further away etc. (Even though drums are in my IEM mix!)
Experiment with how LARGE a buffer you can tolerate. When you get to the borderline, go away, come back the next day when you have forgotten the setting and see if you still care.
You may surprise yourself. But if you are running GP with 2ms, I don’t think you need to worry about the extra from the wireless systems.
Sennheiser currently only offers analog IEMs → no latency → Sennheiser IEM 300 series, or the new XS IEM series
However, I think @frodebass was asking for a digital wireless transmitter for his bass, then go for the Sennheiser EW-D. Best in class dynamic (134dB) and lowest latency in digital wireless systems in this performance class: 1.9 ms
I’ve been using an older MiPro digital system for years for IEMs. It has been awesome, never had a dropout or the “whoosh” during a show. They have newer transmitter models now, for instruments, latency is about 2.2ms
I’ll echo what Ali_B wrote above. Only you can figure out how much delay is bothersome to you.
I know that for me the answer varies widely by what instrument I’m playing. When playing drums I start to feel it and it’s unpleasant somewhere between 10 and 20 ms. I can go materially higher when playing guitar or keyboards.
In any case, the delays in your sound chain are additive. I had a goal to keep mine under 10ms in total just because I felt like it.
I use a Line 6 G10 (3ms) → RME UCXII (~6ms) → Shure PSM300 (<1ms) and that gets me where I wanted to be. A cheaper IEM I was considering at the time was around 6 ms and that would put my latency high enough I paid a little more for the PSM 300 (which is analog).
Sound travels in air about 1 foot per millisecond. (Ali_B said 3ms per metre, but I don’t speak British.)
With decent modern equipment, a wireless setup including IEMs is probably lower latency than the old standard “cables and air” sound chain on a typical stage.
