[bizkid]

I couldn't find any discussion about these 2 great plugins i'm currently demoing here so i thought head-fiers would appreciate it. Let me start with saying these are targeted torwards mixing tasks, but i found them just as great for casual listening. Both have free trial versions avaible so you've got nothing to loose

First: "Plugin Alliance" dearVR MONITOR.

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/dearvr_monitor.html

This just came out yesterday and is the more expensive plugin of the 2 but there's an introduction code (MONITOR-INTRO-16999). It has much less settings than Realphones but also sounds a bit more sophisticated from the start while i had to tune alot of the settings with Realphones. It provides a very nice and uncoloured out of your head presentation, especially compared to older plugins (Waves, ugh). Besides Stereo it also supports various Surround formats which i haven't tried yet.


Second plugin: dSONIQ Realphones

https://www.dsoniq.com/

The recently released 1.5 update was supposedly a big step in quality. What's cool that it comes with a systemwide version like sonarworks. While dearVR MONITOR does not provide any frequency correction for headphones, Realphones does just that in addition to making the sound more speaker like. Check the website for what headphones are supported. I'm still trying to find my favourite settings. Plus i have to use the generic headphone profiles and not one tailored to my headphone (Mackie MC-350/450 User here) which works but is not optimal.


Anyway it would be cool to read impressions from other head-fiers about these 2 plugins. I prefer dearVR Monitor because it's overall less coloring and a bit more out of your head but it's too expensive for me at the moment (PA does have sales often so i will keep an eye out). I'm sure dSONIQ will work on Realphones and improve it even more. Exciting times.

 

[stef-n]

I demoed dSONIQ Realphones briefly one night (re-)mixing one of my songs and I thought that mix translated a lot better than the one I had made before so I pulled the trigger on the plugin the day after. It also helped to read the quite positive comments about it on Gearslutz by people with a lot more mixing experience than myself!

I'm using it with my Neumann NDH-20s which I actually think work ok to use for mixing, at least the best of the headphones I have tried yet, but with the plugin it was a lot easier to determine how much kickdrum and bass I really wanted in the mix. It seems like they are working on providing correction for the Focal Clears also and I look forward to that! Maybe not so much for mixing (I actually think the Neumanns are better for that, but we'll see) but for recreational listening I think that could be really cool.

I was reading with great interest the thread on Gearslutz about Slate VSX but those headphones seem kinda flimsy and to be able to use high quality headphones such as the Focals and the Neumanns and make them even better for mixing purposes by just adding a not too expensive plugin (and also to be able to use system-wide which I haven't tried yet though) - well, I'm all in!

 

[SRX9]

I'm using dSONIQ Realphone. The SR-L700 is not part of the support list, but the SR-L700 worked best. The headphones I tested were (Stax SR-L700, Stax SR-202, Heddphone, LCD X 2021, LCD XC Carbon 2022, Hifiman Ananda, Hifiman HE6se, DT-1990Pro, DT 990 Pro, ath-R70x, HD600, HD560s, Beyerdynamic Custom Studio, AKG K612 Pro, AKG K701). IMO, if you're using a virtualization program like Realphones, it's best to use HD800(S) or Stax headphones.