Maybe this should go in a different thread, but I'll go here for now. I've been shopping for headphone correction software for a while. I use a pair of LCD-X for mixing/mastering my music and occasionally doing masters for friends. I noticed that my mixes weren't translating as well as I'd liked as my music style changed over the last year, so I looked into better metering and headphone correction and landed at a handful of finalists
1. Sonarworks - This was the first one that I was aware of. I've seen demos where I don't hear any difference, demos where it makes a huge change but feels like a lateral move in terms of monitoring ability, and demos where it makes a huge positive impact. In my demoing of it, and hearing from others who use it in headphones only (IE not for speaker/room correction where I DO see benefits) they go way too hard with the EQ. I couldn't find anyone who uses the headphone correction at more than 30-50%. I just used the online demo before deciding that it was too drastic a change for me to trust my judgement making new mixes, and it didn't address stereo imaging at all (which is one of the issues I have working in headphones). For those who have mentioned that Sonarworks isn't keeping up with new headphone profiles, I did notice they offered a service where you can send in your headphones and they will measure them and create a calibration for your specific unit. I only remember thinking they were charging a lot for me to ship my headphones to Europe and be without them for 6 weeks and hope that nothing got delayed or damaged in shipping. Not a good deal, but it could be why they're slow to add new units right now. I think there are better players for headphone correction, but for room correction I'd still consider them.
2. Dsoniq Realphones - I think this one launched either late in 2020 or early 2021. It prices around the same as the headphone only version of Sonarworks if you go with the 3 headphone package (which lets you choose 3 headphone profiles to go with the software). This also includes room/monitoring simulation in a few studios. This is another one where the demos definitely sound different but not really better, and it could be a helpful lens to check mixes through, but I wouldn't see myself running everything through this one. Big benefit over Sonarworks from the mixing perspective is that the room/speaker simulation will let you check a mix from a lot of different "angles", so to speak.
3. Slate Digital VSX - I hear very good things about this correction software, however it's only sold with their own headphones (which I suppose is gives them more control). Similar to Dsoniq, you can also have room/speaker simulation.
4. Acustica Audio Sienna - This one is expensive. I think almost $200 when it's not on sale (thankfully I caught a sale for cyber monday). And they make things needlessly complicated by having basic and pro versions included of both a headphone EQ correction and a room simulation (base version has 3 studios plus an anechoic chamber with a few speaker configurations in each with extra rooms/speakers available for about $70 as add-on packs that add 3-4 new rooms each). And to install even the basic system-wide utility you have to install the VST3 versions of all the other stuff first, and you have to manually route your audio through a new audio output called "Sienna System Wide Virtual Device" (and then select your actual audio output within the options menu of the software). I was able to get it figured out in an hour only because I regularly beta-test music software that doesn't have manuals, etc. This is not a consumer-friendly plug and play system.
BUT, if your headphones are on the list, this is a great sounding room simulation and headphone correction software. I just pulled up a room and speakers I liked, and then turned on correction for my headphones. I only have the base rooms, and I landed quickly on using the Spitfire mastering studio with a pair of 5-figure speakers in the room, and this is working wonders for both my headphones' frequency response and my perception of space within a mix. The software defaults at a reasonable 30% correction curve, which I lowered to about 25%, and I adjusted the output gain down by about 2DB to compensate for loudness changes so I can A/B accurately with the software off and on. I saved that preset and it loads with the software now. The soundstage is massively bigger AND more precise, the low end is more defined, the midrange and top end are both much clearer. I got this for mixing, but I do all my listening with Sienna strapped across my PC's outputs now. I was convinced to give it a try by this SOS article.
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/acustica-audio-sienna
