Actually I'm already sold, but as I wrote, my dilemma is about something else now: if they have such different EQs, I think you need a way to figure out how to set a baseline and hear model/presets as they were intended.
That's the big dilemma of setting up a studio (or a listening room).
You can't
really evaluate a sound until you have accurate monitoring, and you can't really figure out if your monitoring is accurate until you know what things are supposed to sound like...or trusting in measurements/testing that very few people really understand....or other people's opinions that might not match your own ears.
This is the core issue mix and mastering engineers are talking about when they discuss how their mixes translate to other systems, and why so many "beginner" guides suggest listening on multiple systems in multiple places.
There is no easy/simple/cheap answer. You just do what you can, learn as you go, and upgrade as you need to after you've identified specific, articulable problems.
If anyone knows another company that offers this sort of software (room correction via IRs for not only DAW use but also for general audio in Windows/MacOS) I'd love to try them.
They're not all implemented as IRs. But, you could shoot an IR through any of them following measurement and use an IR Loader or Convolution Reverb to listen through them if you wanted to. IMHO, there's not much of a reason to do that. If nothing else, the channel arrangement for the processing can get a bit odd if you're actually using IRs. Doing it inside your Fractal is one reason to do it that way....but IMHO it's not worth it compared to just monitoring through either a DSP box or a DAW. But, I also don't care about the ~5ms of additional latency that causes on my system.
IK has Arc.
Waves has one, but I don't remember what it's called.
DiracLive is very well regarded, but it's also used more in the home-theater world.
AudioVero has some tools that you can use together to do the same thing, but it's a little less integrated as a complete product. This is what Bob Katz uses, last time I checked. And it does work by generating FIR filters that you play through (via IR Loader, Convolution Reverb, or AcourateConvolver).
They're all around the same price as SonarWorks, give or take a bit. I think Acourate is a couple hundred more expensive.
MiniDSP partners with Dirac Live, and most of their boxes will do room correction. The ones that are appropriate for a studio context are around $1000 to $2000 depending on whether the box integrates DACs or a stereo power amp.
DBX has a few dsp boxes that get at the same idea for live sound venues. You could, potentially, use one of those. But, I don't know of anyone doing that in a studio context. IIRC, they're a bit more expensive than software-only but not insane. I believe they also have less finely-grained control for the correction and more for time-aligning wildly separated speakers (e.g., in a big venue).
The cream of the crop is Trinnov. A stereo system with measurement mic is around 6 grand. There are a decent number of high-profile mix engineers and mastering engineers using Trinnov.
(all USA prices)
They all attempt to do basically the same thing (as far as the correction goes), and they all actually do it very well. How much you like it has a LOT to do with how well you take the measurements and a good bit to do with what you're starting with.
There are a couple people (including some very well respected engineers) who honestly believe that a Trinnov is the only thing you need, in an otherwise untreated room, to get mastering-quality sound. I am unconvinced. I understand (part of) the math and why it theoretically could work...but I haven't heard it for myself. I also invested in several thousand dollars worth of treatment and went back and forth between GiK Acoustics's designers and contractors to build this room. So...it might be partially confirmation bias.
Room correction in an already decently treated room is still going to be an improvement, potentially a significant one. In my room, it's not life changing (like the treatments were), but it is significant.
As far as deciding between the options, I really only have 2 thoughts.
The first big thought is about integrating subwoofers. You need at least 2 in any normal-sized home studio. If your room is small, that's
more of an argument to have multiple subs, since you can place them in the room and tune the crossovers to help deal with room modes and take some of the weight off the correction. It isn't possible to physically fit enough bass trapping in a home studio to control the bottom few octaves and certainly not infrasonics. Seriously...if you dig into the math, the volume of bass trapping you would need is greater than the volume of the room in virtually every home/project studio. The treatment is still worth doing, but it can't be the end of the story.
I know a lot of people disagree with that and think subs aren't worth the complexities they cause. They are all wrong.
The problems come when you use the 80Hz crossover built into most cheap subwoofers that may or may not even have a phase adjustment, only use one of them, and don't bother calibrating everything...in other words, when you do literally everything wrong and pretend that has anything to do with the concept as a whole.
You need to be able to completely bypass the sub's included processing and set up the crossovers, phase, and levels yourself. Which, AFAIK, means that the JBL LSR sub is the
only budget sub that is even remotely usable. At the high-end, you have more choices, but the next step up are all $1200+ each. The JBL's problem is that they don't actually go all that loud without distorting.
So, if you're going to integrate a subwoofer, you either have to do the crossover filters as part of your DAW/monitoring output in software....or you use Acourate, MiniDSP or Trinnov. They all can do both room correction and very complete subwoofer control. They are a more complete package than the others.
They also can be extended (if you have enough channels of processing/conversion to use) to a full-on active multi-way system. That's actually how Bob Katz is using Acourate. He bypasses all of the crossovers built into his speakers and has separate DAC and amplification channels for each tweeter, midwoofer, woofer, and subwoofer, all controlled by AcourateConvolver.
The other big thought is that they're like a lot of other things in the studio world. There are technical differences, but they're often small. Not always. But often. If one of them works in such a way that you can take better measurements (or modify the results if you know what you're doing), or just like working with it better, it may give better results than something that might be technically superior (up to a point).
AFAIK, Acourate and Trinnov are the only ones that can time-align individual drivers in addition to crossovers (just subs or active multi-way) and room correction. They are technically the most complete. MiniDSP might have added this functionality.
DiracLive and SonarWorks are probably the simplest to get up and running, and SonarWorks's measurement application is extremely straightforward.
As far as actually choosing between them....if you have the budget, just get a Trinnov and their measurement mic. I haven't heard a single bad thing about their service (nor should I at that price). And, it's the thing that makes believers out of people who have been incredibly anti-DSP for years.
If you don't....the big decision is whether you want a box that you can just put between your computer and your speakers or software-only. If you want a box, MiniDSP is the next best thing. It's kind of a big deal in the home-theater world, and it is very good.
If you want software-only, all of them work, and it's largely about how you want to integrate it and how well the software works with your head.
Personally....I still use SonarWorks and a couple other plugins (for crossovers and phase alignment) and always listen through a Reaper session that I keep running literally 24/7. It works for me. I've never used the SW systemwide app because it won't integrate with my subwoofers correctly. I'm currently contemplating an upgrade and trying to decide whether to get a MiniDSP basically now or wait longer to save up for a Trinnov.