Hi , i want to buy Slate VSX or Waves NX with the Headtracker .
i have read some real good things about both Products .
Now im using AKG K712 pro with Sonarworks .

if it should be the waves I would upgrade my headphones to the beyerdynamic 1990 Pro , then calibrate with Sonarworks and smooth the frequency response to use these with the various Waves Studios , because Waves dont support these headphones in the various rooms natively , so there is no preset for the headphones , so I would use Sonarworks .

Or I buy the Slate VSX system, I have read about this , but also a lot of crap, breaking brackets and so on.

Which of the two alternatives would you take, and maybe someone has experience with both systems can make?

What I like about the Waves thing is that the sound really plays in a room because it depends on how you turn your head.
I think that can help very well to prevent ear fatigue.

 

why would anyone want to monitor thru an IR of a room? its beyond me

 

because i dont have the possibility to make some good Room treatment

 

I have messed around with different solutions on this from the IK Multimedia Arc stuff etc. IMHO, not worth it. loads of time setting up, believe it or not, things in your room "move", and it's kinda snake oil.... maybe some like it... I don't know, but I'm not bothering again myself.

Honestly if you are near field with your speaks in an isosceles triangle, and as long as you aren't getting serious slap back or in a tile room or whatnot, it is what it is unless you treat the room.

 

Do you REALLY need a "room simulation"? Usually a good pair of headphones, a bunch of reference tracks and practicing a while will give you enough experience to create good mixdowns for your own songs.

 

Alternativen:
Toneboosters - Morphit - Headphones correction and personalization www.toneboosters.com/tb_morphit_v1.html
Blue Cat Audio - Re-Head - www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Product_ReHead/
dSONIQ - Realphones - www.dsoniq.com
SKnote - MixingRoom www.sknoteaudio.com/wp/index.php/2021/04/02/mixingroom-immersive-mixing-through-headphones/

You need to stop fiddling with headphone calibration profiles and just listen to as much music as you can in your headphones until you become one with them. Compare your work with other artists in the same style, do an A-B test in selected areas and remember that the end user of your work is almost certainly not listening to music with $2,000 worth of reference headphones.

https://arefyevstudio.com/de/2021/04/07/kopfhoerer-kalibrierungssoftware/

Spoiler: Headphone Calibration Software

Headphone Calibration Software
April 7, 2021



What is headphone calibration?

Over the past decade, impressive advances in DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology have led to new techniques for controlling the spectral coloring of studio monitors and headphones. Considering the cost and complexity of acoustically treating studios and, in today's case, non-purpose built mission-critical listening spaces (bedroom studios, etc.), software developers like IK Multimedia and Sonarworks have come up with cool software products to hypothesize the natural color of the acoustic environment. neutralize".

ARC vs Sonarworks vs Nura

IK Multimedia's ARC software and Sonarworks' Reference 4 (among others) allow the user to measure with a calibration microphone, which then produces an impulse response representing the spectral attributes of the room. With this information, the software can feed back directly to the output of the monitoring system to deconstructively superimpose the non-planar frequency response.

Manufacturers like Melbourne-based Nura have developed headphones that automatically measure otoacoustic emission (OAE) signals to represent the transfer function of the listener's ear canals (and process the headphones' digital signal).

Sonarworks Reference 4 offers an additional feature over competing products: an integrated set of calibration profiles for many popular brands of premium and consumer reference headphones. Given the widespread off-target use of music-critical listening rooms, this seems like an attractive alternative to expensive room acoustics.

Compared to the Reference 4 room measurement calibration system or Nura's OAE system, these headphone calibration profiles do not require user measurements and therefore do not require an expensive measurement microphone or a complex built-in monitoring system.

Destroying myths about the "ideally flat curve" and in difficult words - the ideal frequency response

The built-in headphone calibration presets sound like a great tool for the home composer, but as with most digital signal processing, there are almost always additional, potentially unwanted, effects on the digital waveform. Additionally, it is a well-recognized fact that even the position of a headphone on the head can result in variability in frequency response, not to mention fluctuations caused by differences in the size of the headphone's ears and the ears of individual headphones Individually.

We ran a series of tests to determine the variability in frequency response due to these factors. The headphones were placed on a Neumann KU100 dummy head (a kind of crash test dummy with microphones in the ears). Frequency response was measured using a sinusoidal sweep in an anechoic chamber.

For each measurement, the headphones were removed and then put back on the wrong ears. The graph below shows the change in a pair of Hifiman He400i with ten resets per ear (blue graph - left ear, red - right).





Not only is there a large discrepancy between the measurements, but there is an even larger discrepancy between the left and right drivers. With this in mind, how is it possible that a headphone calibration profile that is suitable and recommended for everyone produces the ideal frequency response in our particular case? From this we can conclude that the presented profiles are somewhat averaged and each pair must be measured individually (by the way, you can buy already calibrated headphones at Sonarworks and look for models and prices on the site).

For comparison, the reference calibration curve provided by Sonarworks for the same headphone looks like this...





Not exactly the same?

Boost or not boost the bass?

Looking at the documented frequency response of closed or open-back headphones, it becomes clear:

Small headphone drivers, dynamic or planar magnetic, really can't reproduce sound in the lower frequency spectrum. As most people in music production know, it's much easier to get low-frequency sound with a larger diaphragm and deeper speakers than with flat little drivers.



For one of my favorite headphones, the Sennheiser HD600, Sonarworks corrects 20-50Hz to 10dB. Anyone who has ever tried to get too much low-frequency sound through a portable Bluetooth speaker knows how this happens. Why should this be any different for headphone drivers? In fact, non-linear behavior or distortion occurs due to driver overload of the 20-50 Hz range during sound reproduction.





In the image above you can see very clearly the main peak (far right) and then the 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. harmonics seen from right to left. This is a direct result of overloading the low-frequency signal during calibration.

What does that mean?

As producers, we're used to using distortion and saturation as creative tools. If we analyzed the frequency spectrum before and after using a distortion module or an external device in the signal, you would very quickly notice the appearance of harmonic peaks after applying the distortion.

Now think about the overall signal being reproduced by your headphones.

The goal of calibration technology is to correct peaks and valleys to achieve a smoother frequency response. However, this is a direct result of the amplification of low frequency valleys where we inadvertently create new mid and high frequency content. Hard to predict and hard to fix, nonlinear content degrades your carefully crafted audio. Then what are the real solutions?

Software lovers and purity advocates will have differing opinions on the best alternatives.

Obviously, processing the headphone drivers in this way introduces unwanted signal artifacts. While the low and high end of the human auditory spectrum show variation and possible distortion when playing audio with headphones, you can only target the mids to reduce the effects of natural coloration, but not the highs and lows, which are problems with .

This appears to be the only frequency range that is reasonably consistent and unaffected by other products that can be improved upon through the use of digital signal processing technology.

For this purpose, the Reference 4 offers the possibility to adjust the reference curve according to your individual preferences. Create your own curve by adjusting the "Bass Boost" and "Slope" settings until minimal processing is applied to ≤ 100 Hz and ≥ 6000 Hz.

However, with this option it is very difficult to get the correction curve exactly how you want it, which brings us to the end point.


Then why do you need it at all?

Why even process audio in headphones to get a flatter frequency response?

As aspiring producers, we're meant to study the speakers, explore the listening space, and know the ins and outs of the acoustic environment we're immersed in. So why should we create a whole new colorful world to retune our ears?

Room modes (studio monitor calibration) can create large peaks at certain frequencies that mask other frequencies, cause problems in our mix, etc. However, the main difference is that room modes can be measured with calibration microphones, which customer-level measurements are fairly accurate. In the field of reference headphones, however, the peaks and valleys we're looking at aren't measurable.

We rely on average values that do not take into account differences in headphone design, ear shape and head position. We also know that the Hifiman HE-400i has an odd 2km jump, and that doesn't make us love them any less. With all that said, we're going to offer an outdated opinion - you need to stop messing around with headphone calibration profiles and just listen to as much music as you can in your headphones until you become one with them. Compare your work to other artists in the same style, do an AB test in select areas, and remember that the end user of your work is almost certainly not listening to music with $2,000 reference headphones.

The idea of a perfectly flat curve is fun, but it probably causes more trouble than it's worth. What do you think about headphone calibration? Share the article on social media and tag our profiles with thoughts on the subject.

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2022

I would suggest to simply buy the best open back headphones you can then learn well what they sound like "as is" and be done with it.

 

VSX is way overhyped. It's cheap headphones with an eq correction to try and fix their sucking and then some binaural IRs. The profit margin for slate is probably astronomical on them. I bet slate pays something like $50 a pair to the chinese oem that makes them. I bought and returned them disappointed. Spend the money on better headphones and then use dsoniq realphones with those and you'll have a much higher quality experience.

 

I've tried every room simulation headphone thing for the last 15 years. I've also used IK ARC since version 1.
VSX is the real deal and I'd easily say it's the best investment I've made in any piece of hardware or software.
My monitors haven't been plugged in for over a year.

If you have your own studio space that you can use 24/7 and can spend thousands on speakers plus thousands more on room treatment, or your mixes already translate perfectly it's unnecessary, but for me it's the closest thing I'd call to a game-changer.

I'd always dread playing my mixes anywhere since I'd have no idea what to expect, and cringe when I heard them, but since getting VSX my things sound pretty much the way I mixed it whether it's a small bluetooth speaker, phone, or $10 earbuds.

It hasn't turned me into Dave Pensado or CLA, but I can finally trust what I'm hearing rather than worrying if I'm compensating for my speakers/room.

I found IK ARC helped when I got it, but there's only so much it can do with the physics of acoustics.
Prior to VSX I was using TB Isone or Sonarworks with Canopener and preferred both to NX. The head-tracking felt gimmicky as hell and I always turned it off.

99% of the time I use the Archon Studio midfields or switch to the big speakers if I want a more "impressive" listening experience. I didn't find the car emulations convincing, the audiophile room is bland, the club sounds boomy and empty. The Auratones, NRG, Howie, and Slate rooms are nice, but I always go back to Archon.

The headphones themselves are light and comfortable to wear for long periods, but without the software sound average. The build is definitely flimsy. Mine never leave my desk, but still managed to break. Thankfully Slate replaced them immediately, and it seems like they've done that for a lot of people (even multiple pairs). If you're worried about the build there's a new version with a metal headband soon.

Sorry if this sounds like shilling, but it's just my honest opinion. I don't own any other Slate products and find a lot of the marketing/hype as cringy as anyone else, but in this case it's justified.

Since VSX came out basically every company has come out with their own take on it. I'm sure some are decent and may get close enough for a fraction of the cost, but it's really about the headphone/software combo and it's much easier to get things right tuning the emulations to a single pair of headphones vs. trying to make it work with any and every pair.

If you already have amazing headphones Realphones seems like a decent alternative.

YMMV

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2022

I've tried all...go with Slate.... to be fair I did not have the head tracker for Waves but I tried everything you have tried. I have settled on Slate VSX. They are bringing out stronger headphone metal bands as well so you'll be fine.

 

My suggestion would be
to buy Sennheiser HD650 or 800 or 600... or may be even Audio Technica R70X or Beyerdynamic's DT1990Pro with a good Headphone amplifier.
Basically, you want a Headphone that has a deliberate Dip around 2k (low Q, 3-4 dB dip).

Well why?
Compared to stereo listening on using Two Loudspeakers and listener at the vertex of an equilateral triangle, there will always be a dip in the 2k region due to HRTF (interaural Time difference and Amplitude difference and diffraction due to head).
Dr Floyd Toole has mentioned all this in his book.
The test was done with a pair of small mics placed inaide the ears of a dummy head.
Now this is the reason, for me and many people, Headphone seems to be harsh.
So some good products, like SensheizerHD 800 or 650, deliberately adds a dip to the frequency response so as to alleviate the problem.

Now headphones have different scheme than Stereo Loudspeaker listening due to

1. No Pinnae Transformation
2. No IATD or IAAD.
3. No Head related diffraction.
4. No Interaural Crossfeed
Amongst some other.

Now, VSX etc could fix the problems but..
The issue is the implementations of the filters.

VSX sucks.
You can actually check what VSX does using PluginDoctor by DDMF.
The implementation of filter adds some ringing to it. That causes some ringing. Obviously, you may or may not hear it based on how trained your ears are but you will be deliberately hearing rounded off Transients even though your material doesn't have rounded off Transients.

Also, why use Sonarworks and VSX?
Like filter on filter on filter on filter...
Man... your phase will look like Adriana Chechik , COMPLETELY SCREWED.

My suggestion would be for now, until human beings come up with better filters to have better HRTF, use good Openbacks. Maybe use Sonarworks but DO NOT GO FOR FLAT. If a Headphone has 2-3 dB Low Q dip at 2k, it is GOOD as it will translate to your stereo loudspeakers.
It's my 2c.

 

Acustica Sienna with an amp(using a tool like this site https://www.headphonesty.com/headphone-power-calculator/ to match a pair of Planar Magnetic headphones and you'll be lookin pretty. VSX are shit. The software doesnt sound as good as Sienna and the headphones are complete trash. Worst quality headphones I've ever used. My sons 10$ gaming headphones have been through hell and back and still work 100%. Meanwhile, I'm on my 4th pair of VSX headphones that I babied. If I could do it all again I would have saved my $500 and went with my first suggestion first(which is what I currently use and much prefer)

 

Last edited: Apr 5, 2022