Sonarworks Headphone Calibration software

[lmf22]

JRiver can have some issues hosting some VST3 plugins. I'm not sure if the current Sonarworks plugin will work directly in JRiver.

If the Sonarworks plugin doesn't work you can use DDMF Metaplugin to host the Sonarworks VST3. Then run the DDMF plugin in JRiver. I have to do that with the older version of Sonarworks. It's a roundabout way of hosting the VST3, but it may work.

Thank you for the advice.

It's working fine so far. I've played a few albums of various sampling rates, and watched a few 1080p TV shows. Not glitches so far.

Loving this software! I'm using it for music, TV, and movies. I started with the HD800S flat target, and then added a low shelf (105 Hz, +5 dB), high shelf (10,000 Hz, -1 dB), and a sprinkle of warmth (200 Hz, +1 dB, Q 0.3).

 

[White Noise]

Can anyone that has sound ID reference try this and see if it’s an improvement across the board as I have?

Use custom eq starting with neutral, add a low shelf at 100hz +0.5db. I also prefer mixed filter, but this might be a separate thing.

I didn’t think an eq setting so subtle could provide such a difference. Subjectively to me sounds like it removes a digital hardness to the sound, almost like changing to a hybrid preamp. Wanted to validate this revelation against others to see if this super subtle eq change is more profound for me than others. I’ve tested this against both speakers and multiple headphones.

That's totally possible. In mastering I make moves around that region and about that level (up or down) all the time. My software lets me go to values as low as +/-.1 db and I use that all the time. It all adds up.

 

[eelpout]

I'm kind of new to Sonarworks' SoundID Reference and just discovered the Limits curve option in the graph... I always wondered why the calibrations took a huge dip starting around 40 Hz. I listen to a lot of organ and orchestral music and always found this heavy-handed bass shelf to be annoying. I find this a bit odd to be their standard practice as if one uses their Safe Headroom option, that should be enough to protect the headphones.

Anyway, as far as I can tell, one can't adjust this on one's own, the Limit Controls don't appear for their supplied headphone calibrations and the profiles files are not end user editable that I can see.

I'm looking for no-limits profiles for the AKG K702 and Massdrop 6xx. Anyone have these? I'll ask Sonarworks myself of course to see if they'll supply them.

 

[Shooter41]

I'm kind of new to Sonarworks' SoundID Reference and just discovered the Limits curve option in the graph... I always wondered why the calibrations took a huge dip starting around 40 Hz. I listen to a lot of organ and orchestral music and always found this heavy-handed bass shelf to be annoying. I find this a bit odd to be their standard practice as if one uses their Safe Headroom option, that should be enough to protect the headphones.

Anyway, as far as I can tell, one can't adjust this on one's own, the Limit Controls don't appear for their supplied headphone calibrations and the profiles files are not end user editable that I can see.

I'm looking for no-limits profiles for the AKG K702 and Massdrop 6xx. Anyone have these? I'll ask Sonarworks myself of course to see if they'll supply them.

Seems to me that you might be ready to graduate to actual Eq. Convolution if that's at all possible for you but at least parametric. There are profiles available for almost any headphone out there based on actual measurements, just like Sonarworks products, but they go down to 20Hz (at least all the ones I've seen do).

If you're a Roon user this is super easy to do, if not and you need something to push you off the fence into Roonland, this might do it. I started with Sonarworks and grew frustrated with their lack of support for new headphones so I started to look elsewhere. Becoming a Roon user was actually unrelated for me, I was sold on the user experience without even taking DSP abilities into account. But there are still ways to do it even without Roon.

If you do parametric you can tweak it to your heart's content, even make as many profiles as you want for different types of music. Not so much the case with convolution but most people find that a proper convolution filter is so good that tweaking isn't necessary. I certainly did.

 

[eelpout]

Seems to me that you might be ready to graduate to actual Eq. Convolution if that's at all possible for you but at least parametric. There are profiles available for almost any headphone out there based on actual measurements, just like Sonarworks products, but they go down to 20Hz (at least all the ones I've seen do).

If you're a Roon user this is super easy to do, if not and you need something to push you off the fence into Roonland, this might do it. I started with Sonarworks and grew frustrated with their lack of support for new headphones so I started to look elsewhere. Becoming a Roon user was actually unrelated for me, I was sold on the user experience without even taking DSP abilities into account. But there are still ways to do it even without Roon.

If you do parametric you can tweak it to your heart's content, even make as many profiles as you want for different types of music. Not so much the case with convolution but most people find that a proper convolution filter is so good that tweaking isn't necessary. I certainly did.

I already use AutoEQ and Voxengo's Prime plugins to do custom curves (within Tidal on the Mac). And then Equalizer APO when I'm using Windows. In fact I made a low shelf to counteract the Sonarworks limits issue and that's working OK. I just like to use Sonarworks curves when I'm feeling lazy. I also use Toneboosters Morphit on occasion too.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[eelpout]

Huh, well Sonarworks replied and said straight up they won't give me a raw "no-limits" headphone curve for their "average" profiles. I have to do a custom calibration for my own headphones and then they'll gladly oblige with a raw curve.

I guess it's back to Toneboosters Morphit or AutoEQ.

 

[burialcloud]

Probably not the right place for this question but… I use sonarworks soundID reference in the studio and I’d love to use my laptop to build a sound profile of my home hifi setup and use it at home. Issue is I mostly play my library from a Samsung s7 tablet via Ldac rather than with my MacBook. .

So… anyone know how to get the sound profile created by sonarworks into wavelet or even into a printed format I could build a peq profile with.

Is there an easier way to do this I’m overlooking? Wish their android app would let you upload custom profiles.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Probably not the right place for this question but… I use sonarworks soundID reference in the studio and I’d love to use my laptop to build a sound profile of my home hifi setup and use it at home. Issue is I mostly play my library from a Samsung s7 tablet via Ldac rather than with my MacBook. .

So… anyone know how to get the sound profile created by sonarworks into wavelet or even into a printed format I could build a peq profile with.

Is there an easier way to do this I’m overlooking? Wish their android app would let you upload custom profiles.

If it's not specifically programmed against this kind of reverse engineering, you can feed a digital impulse through Sonarworks, capture the output digitally, analyze the output with Room EQ Wizard and output the result as PEQ points and/or frequency-gain values.

 

[Audiophiliac]

I had been using Audirvana through the system-wide driver, and was very pleased except for my lack of auto-switching bitrates, for about a year now. Finally, thanks to people talking about plugins, it occurred to me that I could try Sonarworks as a plug-in also. After switching to that, everything is not only working no problem, even auto-switching to match the file's bitrate, I'm also detecting that it's not going through that virtual driver's extra software, and not taking that slight loss of resolution that was in the back of my my mind bothering me, even though the EQ was worth it to do so.
It definitely makes sense to me now that Sonarworks will sound better using just the plug-in, instead of with the virtual driver also, whenever possible. It loses some resolution though that extra software. I still want it, though, so that I can have it with all software. Probably only better audio playback software has plug-in options so far. I don't remember seeing any for video software yet. Maybe I'll check VLC again, actually...

 

[Audiophiliac]

Reading the Sonarworks forums and advertising, it sounds like most people think they have to be professionals not to prefer FREAKuency response. For the record, I'm just a music consumer, and I want flat eq.

 

[Jörg Stumpp]

That's totally possible. In mastering I make moves around that region and about that level (up or down) all the time. My software lets me go to values as low as +/-.1 db and I use that all the time. It all adds up.

I already use AutoEQ and Voxengo's Prime plugins to do custom curves (within Tidal on the Mac). And then Equalizer APO when I'm using Windows. In fact I made a low shelf to counteract the Sonarworks limits issue and that's working OK. I just like to use Sonarworks curves when I'm feeling lazy. I also use Toneboosters Morphit on occasion too.

Thanks for the reply!

I do something similar.I use sonarworks with individualy calibration profiles in studio. I convert them to a convolution filter, which i always apply at home. I add normal parametric filters to compensate for specific recordings. Mostly these are simple bassmmid,treble adjustments. More than 90% of my musikc work fine with sonarwork flat filters.

 

[Jörg Stumpp]

Short experience with sonarworks new virtual monitoring÷
With latest addon you resolve the problems with spatial representation (soundstage) by emulating speakers in studio rooms. I have been using many software solutions the last 20 years. Sonarworks virtual monitoring is the first which that fully works for me. They emulate near,midfield and large monitor settings. I had the chance to compare the emulation to real studio setups.
Still the result scale with the quality of the used headphone. I am using audize crbn, focal utopia, sennheiser hd800 , stax l700 for the test.
Of course as a result, you are hearing a perfect loudspeaker setup and no longer headphones.
Jörg