Headphone/monitors for rich sound

2dor said:
A good pair of openbacks will help in that regard; maybe start from here https://www.sonarworks.com/blog/gear-reviews, look to see if you can grab one of the pairs with a higher default rating (they're pretty close in how they're rated) and also explore doing some sort of corrective EQ https://github.com/jaakkopasanen/AutoEq. A good quality pair of headphones will give you good dynamics / transients and soundstage while the corrective EQ will help you dial in tones that translate well to other systems.
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This is interesting. To use the corrective EQ for headphones, where in the signal chain would you place the parametric EQ? I’m guessing last in this particular use case?
 
walnutzz said:
This is interesting. To use the corrective EQ for headphones, where in the signal chain would you place the parametric EQ? I’m guessing last in this particular use case?
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I put mine immediately before the Out 1 block then remove it after setting the amp’s tone controls.
 
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Might be overkill, but I’m very pleased with the Focal Stellia for Axe-FX use. They’re pricey, though you can get a good deal on used ones.
 
walnutzz said:
This is interesting. To use the corrective EQ for headphones, where in the signal chain would you place the parametric EQ? I’m guessing last in this particular use case?
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Pretty much, yes.

If you're "always" using the same system, you can also use the output EQ.
 
marsonic said:
If you're "always" using the same system, you can also use the output EQ.
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The thing I don't like about that is the only way to save it is to use a backup, and that makes it awkward if you have to change something in the settings because restoring them for the EQ will stomp on something else inadvertently. We need finer granularity: Instead of system+gb+fc, I'd like to be able to do them separately, and also able to specify "eq" as an option.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
The thing I don't like about that is the only way to save it is to use a backup, and that makes it awkward if you have to change something in the settings because restoring them for the EQ will stomp on something else inadvertently. We need finer granularity: Instead of system+gb+fc, I'd like to be able to do them separately, and also able to specify "eq" as an option.
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Agreed.

FWIW, I do use EQ/Filter blocks for this.

But, if you always use the same speakers, the output EQs will apply to all of your presets. Which is a different kind of convenience. If I were regularly playing the same sets of several speakers (e.g., gigging regularly on specific systems plus using a home & rehearsal setup) that were all different...I might actually just write down the global EQ adjustments to make for each one rather than relying on channels or presets. But, that's a personal thing based on what I tend to remember vs. forget.
 
I put PEQ last in chain before Out1, then I only use Out1 for headphones. I use Out2 without that extra EQ to send to the sound man.
 
I suggest adding some „Feelgood Reverb“. A nice Plate or Hall that carries you and makes your sound more Stereo.
 
My name is mud said:
Using the enhancer block with headphones make your preset sounds 10 times better . I always hated playing with headphone, but one day I have tried different solutions and yeah the enhancer helps a lot. It make you feel more comfortable, way less ear fatigue
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Appreciate that if you can elaborate more about the Enhancer, where should I put it in the signal chain? Thanks in advance.
 
I VERY STRONGLY recommend Sonarworks SoundID software and calibration microphone (of course, do some treatment of your room first if possible).

I use this with Adam A7V monitors I recently purchased. Doing the calibration measures the acoustics of your room. It discovers whether your room itself is hyping (or under-hyping) a particular part(s) of the frequency spectrum. I found, like a lot of people, that my room was hyping the lows and low mids a bit. Made perfect sense to me. A lot of IRs and presets made by others had always seemed too thick and muddy, and that's the reason why.

The Adam A7Vs have the advantage of being hooked up to the computer and the Sonarworks calibration profile can be sent to the speakers to "bake" it in. You then can flip from the Sonarworks profile to the stock options at the click of a mouse. Very handy!

So much easier to get good tones now that I know that what I'm hearing is balanced. Wish I had something like it years ago. Would have saved me hours of frustration.
 
Lewis Liu said:
Appreciate that if you can elaborate more about the Enhancer, where should I put it in the signal chain? Thanks in advance.
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I think i put it at first in the chain when I was trying headphones with it. I don’t play guitar with headphones I never liked it, but with this block It was better. Try both first and last chain and see what you like the best 👍🏻. Even with default settings you have that « space » that make it less straight to your ears
 
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Old thread and lots discussed already, but don't sleep on the Slate VSX. Having spent the good part of a decade in a multi-room commercial studio, the VSX is the only set of headphones I've come across that even remotely recreates the experience of being in a properly balanced room. It's actually spooky how accurate they are, especially after the latest update. Also having the ability to reference so many different sources with the click of a button is extremely handy. Have really enjoyed playing the Axe III through them.

Anyways, just my $0.02. YMMV, etc.
 
My name is mud said:
I think i put it at first in the chain when I was trying headphones with it. I don’t play guitar with headphones I never liked it, but with this block I was better. Try both first and last chain and see what you like the best 👍🏻. Even with default settings you have that « space » that make it less straight to your ears
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Well noted, thank you very much!
 
Bungholio said:
I VERY STRONGLY recommend Sonarworks SoundID software and calibration microphone (of course, do some treatment of your room first if possible).

I use this with Adam A7V monitors I recently purchased. Doing the calibration measures the acoustics of your room. It discovers whether your room itself is hyping (or under-hyping) a particular part(s) of the frequency spectrum. I found, like a lot of people, that my room was hyping the lows and low mids a bit. Made perfect sense to me. A lot of IRs and presets made by others had always seemed too thick and muddy, and that's the reason why.

The Adam A7Vs have the advantage of being hooked up to the computer and the Sonarworks calibration profile can be sent to the speakers to "bake" it in. You then can flip from the Sonarworks profile to the stock options at the click of a mouse. Very handy!

So much easier to get good tones now that I know that what I'm hearing is balanced. Wish I had something like it years ago. Would have saved me hours of frustration.
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I'll second that.

Sound ID Reference, Dirac Live, Acourate (Convolver), and Trinnov all do basically the same thing. The differences are mostly in how you take the measurements and how you integrate them into your rig/system. Even a well-treated room is very likely to have some issues. Genelec and JBL also have similar things that work only with their speakers. I'm sure others do as well.

These things will NOT fix everything, and they are NOT a replacement for building/treating a room correctly. But, they can be a big part of the puzzle.

Whichever one you use, don't forget to experiment with the different target curves. "Flat" is almost certainly not what you want. For Sound ID Ref, either B&K 1974 or Dolby are probably the targets you want. I'm a big fan of the Harman speaker target if whatever you use has it.

FWIW, if you can deal with the different presentation from headphones or IEMs as opposed to speakers...I'm firmly in the camp that the sound from them can be better. It'll always be different, but there are at least a handful of them that rival speaker/room setups that cost 10x to 100x as much. What you'll end up liking depends on how you want to hear things in the different contexts.
 
Bungholio said:
he Adam A7Vs have the advantage of being hooked up to the computer and the Sonarworks calibration profile can be sent to the speakers to "bake" it in. You then can flip from the Sonarworks profile to the stock options at the click of a mouse. Very handy!
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Yeah how is the aXv series? i am thinking of getting the a4v's ( i currently use 7 inch monitors but theyre too much for my room) and then sending a calibraiton profile directly on the monitors dsp so i dont have to ever use sonarworks in plugin or standalone version. Currently i use an ir of the correction profile. but it still takes 1 block more .

How do you find the sound on your a7v's.
 
jin1995x said:
you can also put it at the end of the chain before output .if the preset is heavy with many blocks this is where it should be .
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Thanks jin 1995x, I never create heavy preset, I am on a business trip right now and will try to put in at the beginning and the end and see what will happen once I got home.
 
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