I tried it but not sure i like the way it changes the sound. I use Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones and have got used to the way they sound and then something like this comes along.. Not sure if it changes them for the better or worst. Whats your opinion on it?

 

i think its a cool tool for check the mix sometimes
thats it !!!!
its not a game changer of mixing with headphones!!


but its a good idea

by the way you must noticed that the soundcard also change the sound

so maybe they come with a reference tool for audio cards hahah

 

Isn't it monitor-calibration software, like the IK Multimedia thing? What does it has to do with ATH-M50's ? It isn't soundstage/emulation/crosstalk software like TB Isone, or am I wrong?

 

It has a supported head phone list for average calibration curves
or somthing and my headphones are in the list..

You can read more about it at http://sonarworks.com/headphones/overview/

 

In my opinion, it's a great tool, something I was looking for since years and it works really fine...

 

Yep for cans. I've been pretty interested in this software for a while. ARC2 is for room correction. My cans are also on the list. Tools like this will always have a home in my studio. I like using stuff like this to check mixes. I like to kind of "average" my mixes across as many monitoring devices as is possible.

 

hey what d'ya know. If you google 'Sonarworks 3' you get on an 'introducing...' page where headphones aren't mentioned at all in the text. But if you go to 'headphone calibration' in the menu at the top of the page I see that they are apparently doing that for a _long_ time. Didn't know. ARC2 is the IK MUltimedia thing for room correction, which Sonarworks 3 are also doing now (I thought they were only doing room correction).

So no, never tried the headphone thing but I _AM_ very curious now, specially for that price. Almost makes it worthwhile to limit your choices in shopping for an headphone to the list they have.
Also wonder, they have the Shure 840 on there, while the Shure 440 where almost everywhere reviewed as 'more clinical and suited for mix decisions' while the 840 was for more 'enjoying your music'. I wonder how my modded 440's compare to their 840 profile :S. And of course fun to see how different the HD681 (20 bucks or something?) sounds with a profile compared to the other headphones with a profile... they should sound pretty much identical in the end if the software is doing what they promise, right?


And I'm sure it sounds 'weird' or 'as a big shock' the moment you turn the software on, but if you let yourself get used to it you're probably going to find it a big shock when you turn it off again :P.

 

I know haha. Makes we want to kind of limit the selection of headphones I consider... I've been wanting a pair of Sennheisers anyways...

 

I've tried this plugin with my AKG K702s. I've always had problems hearing sub bass with these headphones, and this plugin definitely helps. It boosts the bass a bit and tames the harsh high end, resulting in a better mixdown.

Even though I know my headphones fairly well, I still tend to tone down the highs a bit so they don't sound harsh. The problem is that when I play my stuff back on another system there's always too much sub, and it sounds a bit muffled. But now with this plugin, my mix sounded a lot better when I tried it out on another system.

I find it annoying having to use something like this though, as I bought the K702s because they were advertised for studio use. Why would AKG make them with a bad frequency response? We require flat, not coloured, so it seems like a design flaw. Surely then can do better?

 

After reading your question again and now knowing what Reference3 actually is (stupid me) the core answer of your question is:
The purpose of Sonarworks Reference is to _trust_ what it is doing, not what you are used to. (And the M50's are far from good mixing headphones, they are quite colored. That's why people like to use them for listening and enjoying music, not mixing or mastering as far as I know).

I tried the demo with my Shure 440's with 840 mods (and using Sonarworks' 840 model) and the differences are quite clear but on the other hand more subtle than I thought. I the Shure 840 that clear in response ? :P.

But honestly, I _am_ now thinking about getting a new pair of headphones like one of the listed AKG's or the M50's myself and see what this software can do.

My Shure's are my main headphones at home with a cheap Superlux HD681 (Also on the list :P) which I 'modded' with valour-pads and a mic to use as a gaming heasdset. But at work I use my old modded Grado headphones and I wonder what I could do with another HD681 and a M50 combined with this software :P.

I'm going to try what it does to my HD681 and how close it makes my Shure and Superlux (since it's a closed headphone and an open headphone I'm quite curious what it does) but I'm liking the idea.

It will not make your headphones into a perfectly treated mixing room of course, but if it gets it closer to that or more accurate, I'm all for it. And for < $70 and multiple headphones of mine supported it might just be worth it.

As for you, the whole purpose is to _trust_ what it is doing as I said. Get used to the sound _with it on_, don't try to alternate a lot. Listen to a lot of 'professional' music (Already mixed and mastered) so you get used to that sound, then go back to your own mixes and see what you think of them.

 

Perfectly flat headphones are in theory impossible. And you get what you pay for. Your K702's are very fine.. but there are cheaper ones and _way_ more expensive ones out there. You don't have the best-of-the-best, so some small corrections are always possible. If your headphones only require a little bit of sub-bass and taming of the high-end (or you getting used to the high-end :P) then it already proves you got a very good pair, because most headphones are all over the place, even if they are for 'studio use'.

And btw, you don't always want perfectly-flat for mixing. You want accurate and that _can_ be a bit different. Yamaha NS-10's are popular _because_ they are not flat, _because_ they highlight certain areas which are by accident the problem area's.
Some headphones _boost_ in the low-mid's and the high-mid's on purpose, because that way they bring forward any problems you might have in those area's. They are not meant to sound good or flat, they are meant to let you pick up mixing-mistakes :P.

You have some very fine headphones and they cost quite a bit, but perfectly flat is impossible with the law of physics, specially if you get into sub-bass category