[tgx78]

Dang I miss HD800 with sonarworks which I was force to sell for financial reason years ago.

It sounded so correct for lack of a better word.

 

[foreverzer0]

Reference 4 does go on sale occasionally. It was just on sale recently actually.

 

[jnorris]

I don't think $99 is too much for Reference 4 Headphone, but that said, I moved away from Sonarworks to the freeware EqualizerAPO / HeSuVi combination. I moved for two reasons: the first is the glacier-like speed with which Sonarworks adds headphone profiles. It's been years and many of my headphones are unsupported. The second is, outside of the bass and treble contours available, there is no means of adjusting the profiles manually to better accommodate your phones. The EqualizerAPO / HeSuVi addresses both those issues by coming with over 700 headphone profiles, and providing nearly unlimited customization both for the provided profiles and for your own scratch-built profiles. It's much more flexible. As for SoundID, the thought of paying monthly for something that you set once and forget is ridiculous to me. Paying monthly for a music service in order to access a huge music library makes sense - SoundID does not.

 

[foreverzer0]

I don't think $99 is too much for Reference 4 Headphone, but that said, I moved away from Sonarworks to the freeware EqualizerAPO / HeSuVi combination. I moved for two reasons: the first is the glacier-like speed with which Sonarworks adds headphone profiles. It's been years and many of my headphones are unsupported. The second is, outside of the bass and treble contours available, there is no means of adjusting the profiles manually to better accommodate your phones. The EqualizerAPO / HeSuVi addresses both those issues by coming with over 700 headphone profiles, and providing nearly unlimited customization both for the provided profiles and for your own scratch-built profiles. It's much more flexible. As for SoundID, the thought of paying monthly for something that you set once and forget is ridiculous to me. Paying monthly for a music service in order to access a huge music library makes sense - SoundID does not.

It's the route most tech/app-based pricing is going to have recurring revenue vs one time; many web-apps are already this way. Even Roon is similar if you don't purchase their lifetime membership. As for SoundID, if you purchased True-fi before, I believe you also get a lifetime subscription to SoundID.

As for Equalizer APO, that only runs on Windows, unfortunately.

 

[jnorris]

It's the route most tech/app-based pricing is going to have recurring revenue vs one time; many web-apps are already this way. Even Roon is similar if you don't purchase their lifetime membership. As for SoundID, if you purchased True-fi before, I believe you also get a lifetime subscription to SoundID.

As for Equalizer APO, that only runs on Windows, unfortunately.

I purchased both True-Fi and Reference 4 Headphone, but have abandoned both. I have also stopped using EqualizerAPO as well. I realized I was using it to make all my headphones sound the same (to whatever extent possible). I have come to appreciate the sound differences of my many headphones, and the thought put into them by their designers and engineers, rather than trying to shoehorn them into a rather narrow set of parameters.

 

[foreverzer0]

I purchased both True-Fi and Reference 4 Headphone, but have abandoned both. I have also stopped using EqualizerAPO as well. I realized I was using it to make all my headphones sound the same (to whatever extent possible). I have come to appreciate the sound differences of my many headphones, and the thought put into them by their designers and engineers, rather than trying to shoehorn them into a rather narrow set of parameters.

lol they're supposed to sound more or less the same when using reference 4, since it's supposed to bring them closer to reference frequency response. This is useful as a tool to have consistency when mixing/mastering. As for listening pleasure, True-fi had some bass/treble controls for flavor but kept the mids reference. SoundID is supposed to augment this by asking users to A/B test to their personal preference like an eye exam, then produced a profile based on the user preference.

In one sense, the reference level sound is kind of what "the artist" or "engineer" intended if both are calibrated to reference.

 

[shoaibexpert]

For Reference 4, profiles are released less often. It’s more often for their consumer product (used to be True-fi, but recently launched SoundID) which is similar but allows personalized preference on the sound. The individual calibration would have a higher accuracy than an averaged one, so if you can spare the change it's not a bad idea. Though it’ll be pricey if you add the service, shipping/insurance to Latvia, and new pads (which are recommended for measurements).

Thanks. Sound ID is a subscription based service I believe...no go for me as I hate to pay things for like forever. Do you need to pay anything extra for any Software if you have your headphones calibrated individually or just the $150 for the calibration service? Also, isn't shipping both ways included in the price or do they only include one leg ie from Sonarworks to your home and the customer pays for shipment to Sonarworks?

Also, wonder if it's safe to ship headphones during COVID situation...

 

[shoaibexpert]

I purchased both True-Fi and Reference 4 Headphone, but have abandoned both. I have also stopped using EqualizerAPO as well. I realized I was using it to make all my headphones sound the same (to whatever extent possible). I have come to appreciate the sound differences of my many headphones, and the thought put into them by their designers and engineers, rather than trying to shoehorn them into a rather narrow set of parameters.

Hi, I suggest you reinstall Reference 4, listen to it on your headphone profile with calibration on for 5 mins and then turn off the calibration and then report if you can stand your default headphone tuning...

 

[jnorris]

Hi, I suggest you reinstall Reference 4, listen to it on your headphone profile with calibration on for 5 mins and then turn off the calibration and then report if you can stand your default headphone tuning...

I've done that...a lot. Initially it's quite a shock going back to "nature", if you will, but after my ears and brain acclimate I find I enjoy the headphones without the equalization. The same thing happened to me back in the '70s when I was using an equalizer on my Dynaco A25s - even though the sound was more exciting with the eq in, it was just more natural with it out and I wound up disconnecting it.

This is a very personal decision so I realize that there aren't many people that will agree with me. I used True-Fi and Reference 4 for a long time, switched to EqualizerAPO after becoming disillusioned with Sonarworks headphone support and used that for a long time - even developing specific profiles for 12 different headphone and speaker models, and then just removed it all and started enjoying my headphones for what they are.

 

[foreverzer0]

I've done that...a lot. Initially it's quite a shock going back to "nature", if you will, but after my ears and brain acclimate I find I enjoy the headphones without the equalization. The same thing happened to me back in the '70s when I was using an equalizer on my Dynaco A25s - even though the sound was more exciting with the eq in, it was just more natural with it out and I wound up disconnecting it.

This is a very personal decision so I realize that there aren't many people that will agree with me. I used True-Fi and Reference 4 for a long time, switched to EqualizerAPO after becoming disillusioned with Sonarworks headphone support and used that for a long time - even developing specific profiles for 12 different headphone and speaker models, and then just removed it all and started enjoying my headphones for what they are.

I think this also depends on the headphones, how heavy-handed the eq needs to be to push towards reference and how much distortion that may introduce. Some headphones can EQ better than others (usually if it's very low distortion or neutral-ish to begin with, allows a lot more headroom or less EQ). For speakers, since your room/acoustics is the largest impact on the sound, it can vary. Ideally, you'd optimize as much as you can physically in the room space and acoustic treatment, then finally apply dsp/eq for the last bit (to not have to apply too much eq). However, this can help with natural imaging and balance and even professional studios do this to also aim for reference.

 

[InstantSilence]

This sonarworks or audeze reveal + for audeze cans, has anyone tried?

 

[stuck limo]

I am having problems with Sonarworks. It visually functions when I press all the buttons, turn on/off SR, etc, but audibly nothing happens. I can do SR, bass boost, tilt, etc. and the program tells me it's working but it's clearly, audibly not working.

I have Sonarworks Reference 4 for Headphones running on Windows 10. Should I reinstall it or what's going on? (running it for my HD 800)

 

[kumar402]

I am having problems with Sonarworks. It visually functions when I press all the buttons, turn on/off SR, etc, but audibly nothing happens. I can do SR, bass boost, tilt, etc. and the program tells me it's working but it's clearly, audibly not working.

I have Sonarworks Reference 4 for Headphones running on Windows 10. Should I reinstall it or what's going on? (running it for my HD 800)

In MacBook you have to select Sonarworks as output device in audio settings, may be you don’t have sonarworks set as output device.

 

[overhaze]

I have to say I'm quite disappointed with Sound ID. I keep running the preference test over and over because every time I try the results on my desktop it sounds terrible. Also retesting with different headphones always give different results. Honestly all I want is the data from the hearing test applied to the Harman Curve . That would be some endgame correction for me.

 

[groovyd]

This sonarworks or audeze reveal + for audeze cans, has anyone tried?

Sonarworks FTW