CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Soapbox => Topic started by: Hroðulf on September 25, 2015, 01:53:10 PM
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Hey everyone, TheGame told me to post this here!
We just launched a deal for audio forums which gets you free individual calibration for sending in headphones and buy pre-calibrated ones.
On checkout in our webstore http://sonarworks.com/store (http://sonarworks.com/store) enter CHANGYWORKZ and you'll get -44USD/EUR discount on all individual calibration products. The deal expires at the end of September, so don't wait too long!
Feel free to post this somewhere else, if you find it appropriate.
Why go individual calibration? The regular package gets you +/-3dB accuracy, which is really good, but sometimes might not be enough. When our engineers get their hands on a pair of headphones, they can fine tune a calibration curve to +/-0.9dB (worst case) accuracy and do separate curves for both channels. We found this especially helps for headphones with single entry cables.
Check this out, if want to know more about individual headphone calibration - http://sonarworks.com/headphones/individually-calibrated/ (http://sonarworks.com/headphones/individually-calibrated/)
Thanks for everything and have great weekend!
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We'll get you set up as an MOT on the new site.
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Cool! Do I get to bully people who think that headphone EQ'ing is bs? Also order mods around.
In all seriousness - thanks Marv, I appreciate it!
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Awesome! Thanks Hroðulf. Question: I see we can get the calibration for free with the discount. Does the calibration only work with the plugin you guys sell or is it usable in, say, Jriver? Just curious. Seems like a great value either way.
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Only in plug-in 'mafraid. The problem is that it's not only the calibration that gets you the sound we sell. The plug-in also was developed to use cutting edge dsp architecture, so it doesn't only measure, but also sound good.
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Only in plug-in 'mafraid. The problem is that it's not only the calibration that gets you the sound we sell. The plug-in also was developed to use cutting edge dsp architecture, so it doesn't only measure, but also sound good.
Thanks! Might have to try and talk my work into this...I have a Grace M903 and it would be great to have super accurate mixing since my room isn't ideal, despite some treatment.
One more question: If I was to get one copy of the plug-in for work and one for home (which would be separate licenses), would I be able to use the calibration file between both?
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Sure, get the 3 plug-in pack and use your calibration on three machines. Work, home and on-the-road!
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Is it OK to send in a headphone with a balanced cable?
Don't know if it will make a difference but would prefer to have the calibration done with the cable I actually use on my 650s instead of the stock cable.
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Cool man. I keep meaning to try SonarWorks in the first place. Can I make my own custom frequency response graphs with it?
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How long is this special offer good for?
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Might send over my 800's, already bought the plugin since it sounds really good. How long is the turn around for a calibration? Not sure i can go long without them haha.
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The calibration takes a few hours or so. So, realistically - two days, depending on how busy are the engineers. Extra two days to get them back in EU and up to four worldwide.
Also the plug-in isn't that much about creating your own graph, but you can roll various reference curves.
The offer is valid until end of September, so be reasonably fast. After that I can only make sure that your headphones get first in the line for calibration.
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The 'problem' I ran into was shipping cost.
If someone knows a good way to ship fully insured headphones for WAY less than ~ $600 r/t I'm interested to hear the particulars for sure.
JJ
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The calibration takes a few hours or so. So, realistically - two days, depending on how busy are the engineers. Extra two days to get them back in EU and up to four worldwide.
Also the plug-in isn't that much about creating your own graph, but you can roll various reference curves.
The offer is valid until end of September, so be reasonably fast. After that I can only make sure that your headphones get first in the line for calibration.
Ok sounds good, you advise fresh pads right? I'll have to think about that since they also run about 100€ if im not mistaken. Another thing is the 800's are probably one of the most consistently measuring headphones around. Again something to consider...
Edit they are 59€ here in Holland, not as bad as i thought.
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I'm pretty sure Sennheiser already made my headphones with drivers that are well matched. I have v1 circumaural Momentums which I know are not regarded as highly here at Changstar as at most places (simply put, you pyrates are wrong he he he) but if I can't distinguish test tones in level in a left vs right comparison then why the hell would I be interested in paying someone to simply make an adjustment that I can't hear and which will be useless to me in every normal usage of the gear?
And if there are HD800 owners who think they got unbalanced drivers why the hell are you thinking about spending *more* money???!!! Just go back to the place you bought them, explain and demonstrate the problem and get a refund/replacement. If neither is forthcoming then slowly strangle the salesman. When you come before the court simply have your advocate mention the price and the case will be dismissed either on the basis of justifiable loss of reason due to extreme emotional distress or permanent insanity, maybe even both.
btw normally I charge £249.99 for the above advice but today in UK we are celebrating "Part Fools From Their Money Day" so you get a discount of 10%.
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Does anyone know if there is a way to get all of the Windows sound output (DirectAudio) to route through such a plugin and calibration curve? So that one could use this calibration indepentend of music playback software, movies, games etc? Cause now that would really get me interested in doing this :)
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Does anyone know if there is a way to get all of the Windows sound output (DirectAudio) to route through such a plugin and calibration curve? So that one could use this calibration indepentend of music playback software, movies, games etc? Cause now that would really get me interested in doing this :)
I downloaded a trial of the program and it works directly through my DAW. I haven't used it yet, just installed it to see what it looked like. If you use a DAW, you can set whatever audio output you want and route it straight through the DAW to the plug-in without any interference from other audio programs.
Also there is some useful info in their FAQ here:http://sonarworks.com/support/faq/ (http://sonarworks.com/support/faq/)
And if you are still unsure, they have a support email: support@sonarworks.com as well as a Blog and Support Platform.
Another good read on their site about the plug-in:
http://sonarworks.com/2015/07/calibrated-reference-sound-now-available-on-krk-focal-and-other-studio-headphones/ (http://sonarworks.com/2015/07/calibrated-reference-sound-now-available-on-krk-focal-and-other-studio-headphones/)
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Does anyone know if there is a way to get all of the Windows sound output (DirectAudio) to route through such a plugin and calibration curve? So that one could use this calibration indepentend of music playback software, movies, games etc? Cause now that would really get me interested in doing this :)
I'm using JRiver's WDM driver to route audio through it. The DSP setup in JRiver's pretty great and handles multiple plugins, unlike my old Foobar setup, so I can use a mix of custom EQ, Sonarworks, and a crossfade VST (Redline Monitor).
I was hoping to apply that Anax 3.0 mod before getting my 800s EQ'ed, but perhaps I'll jump on this offer. Sonarworks' default 800 profile is great though - makes the 800s sound like 600s on steroids.
(And... first post. Greetings from a former member of that other forum getting back into the hobby.)
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I'll have to try the plug-in with JRiver as well in the DSP studio - good idea.
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Your ears probably have much more channel imbalance than any HD 650 or 800 driver set. They aren't Audeze or DT 250s.
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Sennheiser is one of the better performers regarding driver matching. Of course, the further you go up the product line, the better it gets. Sony MDR-7506, ATH-M50x on the other hand...
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Sennheiser is one of the better performers regarding driver matching. Of course, the further you go up the product line, the better it gets. Sony MDR-7506, ATH-M50x on the other hand...
I agree and also note that this observation reinforces and supports the point I made: if you spent serious money on high end, or even mid price, headphones and got a pair with audible level mismatch then you have a defective product - get a refund/replacement. Throwing good money after bad is not a rational solution.
If you have a pair of Sony MDR-7506 or ATH-M50x (or similar) and can detect mismatched levels....it's the same! You have a defective product. Just look at Tyll's (and others') measurements on these kind of headphones - perhaps they aren't audiophilia fashion items but the manufacturers do actually manage the basics like getting the output levels well withing the range of our ability to hear a difference, and also measurably pretty much identical.
If you spent $150 - $250 on unsatisfactory headphones and you have *another* $250 spare cash to correct the problem...then you just bought the wrong headphones. You should have spent that extra cash on some headphones that actually perform as advertised. Like the err...uuummm... Sony MDR-7506 or ATH-M50x or Sennheiser Momentums. You even have enough to put down a deposit on some HD800s and pay the rest on a monthly plan ;-)