SonoReplicator: Turn cheap headphones into expensive sounding ones?

http://www.sonoreplicator.com/mp3demo.htm

That looks pretty interesting. It's kind of like IK Multimedia's ARC System, but can be used on headphones too.

I almost laughed when I saw them using the measuring mic through the hole of a CD--that's exactly how I do it too when I measure my headphones.

It's not meant to be perfect. It doesn't claim to be a magic bullet. Just take it at its face value. Listen to the audio demo clips and decide for yourself. If you think the results don't justify the price, then don't buy it. 

And more importantly, it does EQ'ing by using measuring gear, thus is not prone to human ear biases and mistakes. 95% head-fi members have no idea how to gauge a frequency response properly and then EQ it the right way, since they are not educated on pro audio production knowledge. Most of the EQ plots I see people post around here are cringe-worthy due to that ignorance. This product will remedy that problem and allow them to get it right.

I'm sad to report that my experience with the SonoReplicator has been mixed. When I follow their directions exactly, I get really skewed results (way too bright and noisy), but if I use my common sense and work around the problems, I get much better result (though my own EQ curve is still superior). I talked to them about the problem and I don't believe they have it figured out, because they actually questioned my sound cards and measuring mic--both of which are pro audio gear that has never once exhibited any problems in the past. 

YMMV, and if you have success in your experiments, definitely let us know.

EDIT: Nevermind--I just looked at their website and it appears they have updated the plugin according to my feedback. I'll have to give it a try and see if they addressed all of my concerns.

Nevermind--I just looked at their website and it appears they have updated the plugin according to my feedback. I'll have to give it a try and see if they addressed all of my concerns.

Okay, I just gave it a try, and nope, it's still very skewed and sounds nowhere near as accurate as my EQ curve. I don't think these guys really know what they're doing in terms of achieving an accurate/neutral response for headphones, even with the newly implemented headphone compensation feature. It might be good for emulating the response of an existing headphone though. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Br777 

honestly all i want is to measure the response plot of my headphones and get a visual readout like what comes with the lcd-2's.. does it do that accurately ?

Not really. Not in my experience.
 

You don't need SonoReplicator in order to measure your headphone. If you have a measuring mic, just play a pink noise (you can find them easily online), and use a spectrum analyzer (Voxengo's SPAN is free and very professional). If you don't have a measuring mic, here are some choices:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/search/search.jsp?sB=r&question=measuring+mic

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=Measurement+Microphone