Sonarworks reference 4 studio edition headphones

#Sonarworks reference 4 studio edition headphones plus

The good news is that this flatter sonic representation allows you to make more informed critical listening decisions without having to deal with the built-in biases and characteristics of your headphones or speakers. By turning the correction on, youвЂ™re now hearing your production without any of the вЂњsweetnessвЂќ or вЂњwarmthвЂќ added by your choice of headphones, and youвЂ™re left with the rather-naked feeling of hearing your music without adulterations. ItвЂ™s a bit off-putting at the start and youвЂ™ll want to bypass the correction to get back to the вЂњgoodвЂќ sound of your headphones, but this is exactly what Sonarworks Reference 4 is meant to do. I also hear more of the mids now, like theyвЂ™re on the same level as the lows and highs. Switching the correction on removes the bass and high-end sparkle of my Audio Technica headphones вЂ“ I now hear a less-exciting, flatter and duller sound. The result is immediate, apparent and eye-opening. The reason for this is because the app also measures how your speakers interact with the room that theyвЂ™re in, so you need to do the measuring yourself.

#Sonarworks reference 4 studio edition headphones plus

If you want to use it with your speaker monitors, youвЂ™ll need to create a profile for them yourself using Sonarworks Reference 4 plus a measurement microphone available directly from Sonarworks (a US$69 purchase). You can also use Sonarworks Reference 4 with your speaker monitors, though youвЂ™ll need to purchase the Studio Edition plus a measurement microphone because youвЂ™ll be doing the monitor profiling yourself.

The result in theory is a flatter sounding headphone. By measure and mapping out its characteristics, Sonarworks is then able to determine the peaks and dips in the frequency response of a particular model, and it then applies the correction within the software. The way it works is the app first creates a profile of a specific headphone. Sonarworks Reference 4 aims to disrupt all of that: for a couple of hundred dollars, the app claims to flatten the frequency response of headphones and speakers that are compatible with it.

Generally, the more expensive you go, the flatter the response though there is no totally flat playback system вЂ“ at least not one that doesnвЂ™t cost thousands of dollars set in a room costing even more. But thatвЂ™s exactly what studio-grade gear is supposed to do: By keeping these biases and frequency bumps to a minimum, studio engineers and producers are able to hear an accurate representation of the sound coming out of their DAW. It may seem like a paradox then, that more expensive studio monitor speakers and, to a certain extent, headphones aim for a flatter, more вЂњsterileвЂќ response that tries to suck out any hype or excitement from the frequency range. These characteristics are what sweeten the sound and make casual listening a more pleasurable experience. All headphones and speakers have a вЂњsignatureвЂќ sound: whether thatвЂ™s a bump in the low end for more bass (as is the case with DJ headphones) or a dip in the mids and a spike in the highs and lows for that вЂњhi-fiвЂќ hyped sound (eg cheaper / consumer grade gear).