[Lunatique]

Quote:

Not sure, but this page doesn't make it look like the VRM box is designed o be plugged into a high quality DAC+ amp chain. And, not surprisingly, it still relies on software as well. That's not a criticism, just an observation.

Looks like it still uses your computer's CPU to do its thing. I suppose the upside is that for those who don't want to or can't use VST plugins, this is a bit more straightforward (but has its own cons, such as being tied to a hardware box, while still needing a computer to run).
 

 

[Pale Rider]

Quote:

Looks like it still uses your computer's CPU to do its thing. I suppose the upside is that for those who don't want to or can't use VST plugins, this is a bit more straightforward (but has its own cons, such as being tied to a hardware box, while still needing a computer to run).
 

Agreed.
 
 

 

[Pale Rider]

Just got done with my first round of playing with the VST plug-in on my Mac running Fidelia. This is a very impressive addition to one's rig, if you want to play with a variety of settings. Interestingly, on most recordings, I still prefer the Lucid cross-feed mode on the Taboo amp. However, there were some recordings, especially live concert recordings, where the LCD-2s seemed to benefit from some of the "larger" stage potential of the Isone plug-in. For example, Neil Young's Like A Hurricane off the Weld album can sound quite closed in on the LCD-2s, but Isone can allow one to truly open it up a bit.
 
This is easily worth the 20 euros.

 

[dadab12]

I don't get the all buzz around it honestly, It just takes the neutrality of my sound and makes it all muddy and colored, It takes the soundstage and clarity..
maybe I'm doing something wrong but I doubt it. I'm using J river Media center and just enable it through the DSP Output.
 
I have a Focusrite 24 DSP DAC.. it has the built in VRM.
 
One thing I do enjoy is the J river media center, it improved my sound coming from foobar, honestly.
one thing I don't understand is why does it force my buffersize to 8172 from the focusrite mixcontrol? when I try to set it to 64 it disables the sound.

 

[Pale Rider]

I have now had the Isone plug-in in my rig for three days. During that time, I added a Decware ZSTAGE, so I had to re-listen to some things. While I appreciate the significant programming expertise in the plug-in, and its amazing flexibility, at the end of the day, I chose to disable it, and keep it disabled. The most significant reason is because the plug-in seems to "flatten" a lot of music, removing its third dimension. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, considering what the plug-in is designed to do, but while it can create an illusion of sound being projected from a distance away, that sound appears flat, like it is being "listened to on a wall," the way a video image might be projected on a wall. No matter what presets or settings I tried, the Isone sounded unnatural and always became fatiguing. I also never achieved any illusion that I was listening to good speakers. One benefit of the Isone though, and for which I will likely continue to enable it on occasion, is that some of the more extreme settings make good "teaching tools," helping you to exaggerate effects and listen for their impacts on the sound. That's not all bad. I could see it being useful for helping people to understand imaging and soundstage, at least in two dimensions. YMMV, so if you're interested, try it out. I am glad I did.
 
Another significant factor in favor of disabling the Isone plug-in is that Lucid mode on the Taboo is simply better. It is a better cross-feed approach in my experience. Not as flexible, since it can only be turned on or off, but simpler, more natural, and better. Truly three-dimensional.

 

[dadab12]

Totally agree with you.
 
Quote:

I have now had the Isone plug-in in my rig for three days. During that time, I added a Decware ZSTAGE, so I had to re-listen to some things. While I appreciate the significant programming expertise in the plug-in, and its amazing flexibility, at the end of the day, I chose to disable it, and keep it disabled. The most significant reason is because the plug-in seems to "flatten" a lot of music, removing its third dimension. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, considering what the plug-in is designed to do, but while it can create an illusion of sound being projected from a distance away, that sound appears flat, like it is being "listened to on a wall," the way a video image might be projected on a wall. No matter what presets or settings I tried, the Isone sounded unnatural and always became fatiguing. I also never achieved any illusion that I was listening to good speakers. One benefit of the Isone though, and for which I will likely continue to enable it on occasion, is that some of the more extreme settings make good "teaching tools," helping you to exaggerate effects and listen for their impacts on the sound. That's not all bad. I could see it being useful for helping people to understand imaging and soundstage, at least in two dimensions. YMMV, so if you're interested, try it out. I am glad I did.
 
Another significant factor in favor of disabling the Isone plug-in is that Lucid mode on the Taboo is simply better. It is a better cross-feed approach in my experience. Not as flexible, since it can only be turned on or off, but simpler, more natural, and better. Truly three-dimensional.

 

 

[olor1n]

Quote:

I have now had the Isone plug-in in my rig for three days. During that time, I added a Decware ZSTAGE, so I had to re-listen to some things. While I appreciate the significant programming expertise in the plug-in, and its amazing flexibility, at the end of the day, I chose to disable it, and keep it disabled. The most significant reason is because the plug-in seems to "flatten" a lot of music, removing its third dimension. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, considering what the plug-in is designed to do, but while it can create an illusion of sound being projected from a distance away, that sound appears flat, like it is being "listened to on a wall," the way a video image might be projected on a wall. No matter what presets or settings I tried, the Isone sounded unnatural and always became fatiguing. I also never achieved any illusion that I was listening to good speakers. One benefit of the Isone though, and for which I will likely continue to enable it on occasion, is that some of the more extreme settings make good "teaching tools," helping you to exaggerate effects and listen for their impacts on the sound. That's not all bad. I could see it being useful for helping people to understand imaging and soundstage, at least in two dimensions. YMMV, so if you're interested, try it out. I am glad I did.
 
Another significant factor in favor of disabling the Isone plug-in is that Lucid mode on the Taboo is simply better. It is a better cross-feed approach in my experience. Not as flexible, since it can only be turned on or off, but simpler, more natural, and better. Truly three-dimensional.

I played around with Isone for a few days but haven't enabled it since. It's certainly an impressive bit software and I can understand its practical application, but in the long term I didn't find the presentation that engaging.

 

[yepimonfire]

so do room acoustics, which is what this is trying to emulate, why do you think i sold my stereo and bought headphones with the money?
 
Quote:

I don't get the all buzz around it honestly, It just takes the neutrality of my sound and makes it all muddy and colored, It takes the soundstage and clarity..
maybe I'm doing something wrong but I doubt it. I'm using J river Media center and just enable it through the DSP Output.
 
I have a Focusrite 24 DSP DAC.. it has the built in VRM.
 
One thing I do enjoy is the J river media center, it improved my sound coming from foobar, honestly.
one thing I don't understand is why does it force my buffersize to 8172 from the focusrite mixcontrol? when I try to set it to 64 it disables the sound.

 

 

[Lunatique]

I suspect that some of you like the severe stereo imaging of headphones and have grown accustomed to it, thus when listening to a more neutral and accurate representation of the same musical material, you actually think it's colored and the traditional headphone representation is "more accurate and dynamic." I don't know how many of you know this, but professional mixing and mastering engineers avoid working with headphones because it has a very unnatural stereo imaging with severe left and right channel splits, and its proximity is too close to the ears for a dimensional sound that's natural. What Isone Pro does, is to simply make your headphones sound like speakers in an acoustically ideal room, so it's no longer unnatural sounding. It's the other way around than what some of you think. It might be that you guys need a bit of deprogramming from having gotten too used to the unnatural representation of headphones, sort of like how some people who grew up with the very colored hi-fi sound all their lives listens to neutral and accurate sonic signature for the first time and prefers the colored consumer hi-fi sound instead. They'll need to let their brains and ears get used to the more neutral and accurate representation, and once they do, they go back and listen to that consumer hi-fi sound again, and they'll be able to hear all the flaws they couldn't before.
 
It's a gross misunderstanding to think that Isone Pro introduces "room modes." Isone Pro does not introduce room modes at all. What it simulates is the IDEAL acoustics of the Perfect room, meaning there are NO room modes. If you're unsure what room mode means, you should look it up. Room modes means there are anomalies and coloration due to sound wave build-ups in the room. Isone Pro does not try to introduce imperfections--it does the opposite, which is like an anechoic chamber, and has no room modes.

 

[revolink24]

I've been playing with this on and off for a few days, and I figured I would share my thoughts on it.

It sucks. It adds a neat effect in some of the presets for making the sound come from a far left distant space, or from another room, but I can't for the life of me get it to sound good. It always sounds muddy, distorted, and still doesn't sounds like a properly spaced pair of speakers in a decent acoustically treated room.

 

[Lunatique]

Quote:

I've been playing with this on and off for a few days, and I figured I would share my thoughts on it.

It sucks. It adds a neat effect in some of the presets for making the sound come from a far left distant space, or from another room, but I can't for the life of me get it to sound good. It always sounds muddy, distorted, and still doesn't sounds like a properly spaced pair of speakers in a decent acoustically treated room.

Post screenshots of your settings. Also, did you read the manual on how to properly setup the plugin for your head and ear size, as well as what the presets actually do? In general, the best place to start is to simply use the default setting, as that was tweaked by Jeroen to be the most likely to fit the highest percentage of people. The default setting sounds just fine to me, and the only change make is to have the speakers at 2 meters distance. There's really no need to change anything else, unless you want to tailor the HTRF to your uniquely shaped/sized head/ears. For the average person with normal sized head and ears, they shouldn't have to.
 

 

[Zida]

I've had fun with Isone Pro on and off again for a long while, but I've never gotten the settings right to make it feel like it isn't messing with my frequency response. I really wish I could because it seems like a great piece of software.

 

[Lunatique]

Quote:

I've had fun with Isone Pro on and off again for a long while, but I've never gotten the settings right to make it feel like it isn't messing with my frequency response. I really wish I could because it seems like a great piece of software.

I think it needs to be clarified that Isone Pro isn't "messing" with the frequency response. The change in frequency response is necessary in order for the effect to sound realistic--it's part of the HTRF feature. See, when you listen to speakers in a room, the way the sound waves interact with your head and ears will alter how the audio sounds than if you didn't have a head or ears. In other words, the shape of your head and ears will change how the audio sounds.
 
If you do this experiment, you'll see what I mean. Listen to anything, and then cup your hands behind your ears at an angle. Hear the immediate change in the frequency response? That's basically what your ears are doing, and in conjunction to the size/shape of your head, they change how the audio sounds. It is this very thing that Isone Pro emulates with its HTRF (Head Related Tranfers Functions) feature. When you listen to headphones, because the drivers are coming from the side and not from the front, there's no HTRF happening, thus the audio will not sound like a realistic emulation of speakers in front of you. Isone Pro reintroduces that back into the signal chain.
 
I have done experiments where I counter Isone Pro's alteration of the frequency response with an EQ, so that everything's perfect flat again, and you know what happened? The realism of the effect was destroyed. So in order to get that realistic effect, it's necessary to model realistically the HTRF response, which means to put your head and ears back into the headphone setting, so the audio can sound like speakers in a room. That's why the frequency response is changed, and it is only changed so it sounds like you have a head and ears interacting with speakers in a room. So, again, Isone Pro is not "messing" with the frequency response. It is simply modeling the human head and ears realistically so the illusion of listening to speakers in a room is convincing and natural.
 

 

[olor1n]

If only all music was mixed like this - http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/552015/binaural-mixing-with-lcd-2#post_7441740.

 

[revolink24]

I would love for more binaural music to be made.