As part of my graduate degree, I'm working on two projects, both of
which involve semi-soundproof headphones. And one of the projects
requires some wireless hardware as well. But I'm not a big audio
equipment expert, so I'm quite confused as to what hardware I should
buy. I was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction.
I'm working on a budget, so I can't get the absolute top-of-the-line
stuff. I'm looking for gear that's a reasonable mix of price and
performance. What I need is:

Project 1 -

1) One pair of wired headphones with a decent degree of
soundproofness. I'll be mounting mics on the outside of each earpiece
so that the wearer will only hear what the mics are picking up. I'd
like as little outside noise to leak through as is reasonably
possible.

2) A little battery-powered pre-amp to amplify the mic's signal and
send it to the headphones.

3) A pair of small, earbud-sized mics that act will function as a
stereo mic. You know, one mic that picks up left channel, one that
picks up the right and then combines them into a stereo signal.


Project 2 -

1) Four pairs of wireless headphones, also with a decent level of
soundproofing if possible. The soundproofing isn't as important here
as it is in the previous project, though. Since I have to get 4 pairs
of these, I'm willing to make a bit of sacrifice to save some money.

2) Four wireless mics. Ideally stereo, but I could live with mono.
I'd like to do something similar to the previous project, mounting one
mic on each earpiece. Then transmit that signal to a wireless
receiver which would output back to the headphones.


Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I've looked around and found
most of these things, but the prices vary wildly and I don't know
exactly what I should be getting..