I could not find a clear answer to my question anywhere so I created this new topic.

I use in-ear monitors and I want to protect my ears against unexpected loud noises. I see a lot about compressors, limmiters or compressors and limmiters but I wonder what I really need to protect my ears. A compressor, a limiter or the combination? What type and where can I find it? It must stop too loud signals as quickly as possible...

I use my in-ears in a live situation with my band. I have a small mixer next to me where I send a click track to. The click track then goes directly to my bodypack and then to my in-ears. A cable is also coming from the PA (FOH) to my mixer which contains the monitor mix. This goes in the same way via the mixer to my in-ears.

So.. I would like to put a limiter between my mixer and my bodypack (in-ears) so that I am sure that a signal that is louder than the selected volume is never sent to my ears.

Someone who has a lot of knowledge about this?

In general, a limiter is probably what you're looking for, although if you have a compressor lying around, then a really high compression ratio will accomplish basically the same thing. What bodypack are you using? Some of them offer built-in limiting.

The Behringer P1, but I don't trust the limiter that is in it. I want to be able to set the limiter myself.

What is your budget?

€200 max.

Unfortunately everything I can suggest will cost a lot more.

What is your opinion about the DBX 166XS or the Aphex 722 Dominator?

Don’t know the DBX well and I’m not sure it’s fast enough to do a good job of protecting your hearing when things go sideways. Im pretty sure however that the Aphex 722 Dominator II will do the job, You need a very fast brick wall limiter for the best protection. The Dominator II being multi band allows very fine tuning of the response for even more overall protection...if setup properly.

The best box I’ve ever used for this is the Finalizer 96, In the end though, nothing is better than good judgement...always keep things sane and sensible.

trouble is that a limiter can actually accent issues (earlier on in the signal chain), no analog limiter is a true brickwall limiter (not all digital limiters either btw) so no limiter can 'guarantee' you'll be on the safe side all the time: a simple level mis-match can destroy all your efforts too but used in a proper way, limiters can add some safety.