[T Bone]

Although SonarWorks doesn't offer a profile for my Focal Utopia headphones, I downloaded the trial and configured it in JRiver Media Center.
I experimented with the Focal Elar profile and it makes an interesting and useful difference.
I would buy a license for the software if they offered a Utopia profile. ....until then, I'll sit on my wallet and keep an eye out on the developments.
I have no interest in packing up $4k headphones, insuring them and shipping them to Latvia for 10 days.

I am going to CanJam SoCal this weekend and will be sure to stop by Sonarworks

 

[davehutch]

Yes, Sonarworks have a request function so if they get enough requests they will create a profile for that model. I've also asked for one for my Visa HP50s.
You can always check beforehand on their website if your model has a profile already.

 

[EagleWings]

Although SonarWorks doesn't offer a profile for my Focal Utopia headphones, I downloaded the trial and configured it in JRiver Media Center.

Hey T-Bone, when you say, you configured it in J-River Media Center, you mean you chose the output device as Sonar Works in JMC correct?

 

[T Bone]

Hey T-Bone, when you say, you configured it in J-River Media Center, you mean you chose the output device as Sonar Works in JMC correct?

I was speaking more broadly about the installation and setup. After installing the software you have to use the "manage plug-ins" feature in Media Center to find the right DLL.
Then I went into DSP Studio, disabled other plug-ins, activated the SonarWorks plugin and then selected the Focal Elar profile.

My output device remains unchanged - It's the "HoloAudio ASIO Driver".

 

[EagleWings]

I was speaking more broadly about the installation and setup. After installing the software you have to use the "manage plug-ins" feature in Media Center to find the right DLL.
Then I went into DSP Studio, disabled other plug-ins, activated the SonarWorks plugin and then selected the Focal Elar profile.

My output device remains unchanged - It's the "HoloAudio ASIO Driver".

Thanks. That's exactly what I wanted to know. I am glad I asked you that question. I wasn't aware one could use the Sonarworks as the DSP option inside JMC. But then I use Mac. So I am not sure if it is even possible to do it Mac. Let me check today.

 

[jnorris]

Although SonarWorks doesn't offer a profile for my Focal Utopia headphones, I downloaded the trial and configured it in JRiver Media Center.
I experimented with the Focal Elar profile and it makes an interesting and useful difference.
I would buy a license for the software if they offered a Utopia profile. ....until then, I'll sit on my wallet and keep an eye out on the developments.
I have no interest in packing up $4k headphones, insuring them and shipping them to Latvia for 10 days.

I am going to CanJam SoCal this weekend and will be sure to stop by Sonarworks

I'm really surprised to hear that a $4K headphone is improved by $100 software. At that price the headphones should be damn well perfect!.

I felt conflicted using it with the HE-400i and I only paid $200 for those.

 

[Solrighal]

Thanks. That's exactly what I wanted to know. I am glad I asked you that question. I wasn't aware one could use the Sonarworks as the DSP option inside JMC. But then I use Mac. So I am not sure if it is even possible to do it Mac. Let me check today.

It works fine in the Mac port of JRiver.

 

[T Bone]

I'm really surprised to hear that a $4K headphone is improved by $100 software. At that price the headphones should be damn well perfect!.

In spirit, I completely agree. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a headphone with perfectly flat frequency response. Right out of the box I knew I wanted a little more out of the bottom end. Frequency response charts, verified what my ears were telling me. I wouldn't mind spending the money if I enjoyed the performance improvement.
Gawd only knows the $$$ us head-fi nuts spend on cabling! ..which probably makes the least audible difference in a system.
So on a "bang-for-the-buck" scale, the SonarWorks package doesn't seem unreasonable to me at all.

 

[EagleWings]

It works fine in the Mac port of JRiver.

Thanks, that's great news. Could you send me a screenshot of where I could do that. I am fairly new to JMC and weren't able to locate the option.

 

[T Bone]

I wasn't aware one could use the Sonarworks as the DSP option inside JMC. But then I use Mac.

I'm not sure if it's the same on a Mac, but here's what it looks like under windows. After importing the SonarWorks .DLL, the control shows up in DSP studio just like any other component.

 

[EagleWings]

I'm not sure if it's the same on a Mac, but here's what it looks like under windows. After importing the SonarWorks .DLL, the control shows up in DSP studio just like any other component.

Thanks T-Bone. It is the prior step where I am struggling. Meaning, I am not sure how how to import the Sonarworks file into JMC in Mac. Back in January, I tried the trial version of both True-Fi and Ref 4 and I tried to import Sonarworks' compensation curve files into JMC. But I couldn't. So I thought JMC can't do it and went ahead and purchased the True-Fi. Now if it is actually possible to do this in Mac with the Ref 4, I'd like to contact Sonarworks to see if I could surrender the True-Fi license and pay extra and get a Ref 4 license.

 

[Solrighal]

I'm sorry but I stopped using JRMC a year ago because of their continuation with porting. Youre looking for the Sonarworks .VST file though and you load it by clicking 'Manage Plug-ins' button in the screenshot above. Navigate to the folder and Bingo!

 

[EagleWings]

Thanks for your guidance Solrighal. I just tried and found it. But, just as I suspected, only the Ref 4 is supported. I’ll get in touch with SW to surrender my True-Fi and get the license for Ref 4.

 

[davehutch]

In spirit, I completely agree. Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a headphone with perfectly flat frequency response. Right out of the box I knew I wanted a little more out of the bottom end. Frequency response charts, verified what my ears were telling me. I wouldn't mind spending the money if I enjoyed the performance improvement.
Gawd only knows the $$$ us head-fi nuts spend on cabling! ..which probably makes the least audible difference in a system.
So on a "bang-for-the-buck" scale, the SonarWorks package doesn't seem unreasonable to me at all.

So the question I guess we must ask ourselves now is, should we spend £400 on headphones and correct them to ‘studio’ with True-Fi or spend £3,000 to get essentially the same result? Interesting dilemma
Will reviewers now start doing True-Fi vs non True-Fi comparisons I wonder?

 

[SubMash]

So the question I guess we must ask ourselves now is, should we spend £400 on headphones and correct them to ‘studio’ with True-Fi or spend £3,000 to get essentially the same result? Interesting dilemma
Will reviewers now start doing True-Fi vs non True-Fi comparisons I wonder?

Unless true-fi does acoustical linear phase and you have tons of damping available - you won't have things same. Even if we are not talking about harmonics which truefi won't really remove.

But if you need it for a studio - 400£ already gave you good enough results even without EQ. Why would you need 3000£ headphones in studio unless you've used to their sound?