A portable in-ear audio monitor system for a musician having reduced and simplified overall parts. The in-ear audio system providing the musician with time saving setup and teardown instrumentation for a performance. The invention provides an improved method and apparatus to allow a musician precise monitoring, more movement about stage, reduction in cables needed and improved simplicity of pre-performance setup of equipment. It eliminates the need for a hip pack, distribution box and wedge speaker providing a single cable system having a small and simple splitter jack for the headset and the instrument. Direct ‘in-ear’ monitoring is provided via a monitor box, having line level or speaker level input signals from a sound monitor, and feeding a headphone without using a wired or wireless hip pack. Monitor signal radio interference and noise is greatly reduced. Headset volume control is provided along with an optional reverb and/or sound equalizer.