Like many people, I only play, record, mix my music with headphones. The main reason is that don’t have a dedicated space for music at home. For a few years now, I have been using different types of headphones. I had for quite a long time an AKG K530 headphones which, although worn down to the rope, works quite well. I bought a Beyer Dynamic DT990 Pro and because of the 250 Ω (ohm) of the Beyer, and to get sufficient volume to work, I have to used a FiiO Q3 USB-DAC which work pretty well.
The problem with almost all headphones is that they are not neutral enough and in the end you end up with unbalanced mixes (too much or not enough bass, hole in the treble/mediums). There are software solutions that allow you to adjust curves to “correct” “defects” that mislead the sound engineer. One of these products and most likely the best is SoundID of SonarWorks. But in the end, all this is a bit of a DIY and only adds additional costs to the price of the headset (the DAC, the software to correct the “defects” etc.).
First of all, I specify that no hardware or software makes good music. Bad music will always remain bad no matter how much you invest in the equipment (instruments, studio, special effects etc.). Nevertheless, the material remains a very important element for a good result (assuming that the piece is good at the base (😁). Some time ago, I decided to buy a product that I have had in my sights for a while. This is Steven Slate Audio’s VSX headphones. Even if used alone thanks to the high quality and innovative product used to make it, this piece of HW is already excellent. What is making this product incredible is the software provided with. In really short, the software, used as a plugin/effect in your DAW, allow you to choose between a certain amount of different studio room or headphones emulation (e.g., Apple AirPods). One of these rooms you can see in the image here at right is called Steven Slate room and is a reproduction of the Steven Slate mixing room. The plugin allow to choose which loudspeakers you want to use (three set available here). Some other parameters can be set but to be frank, having this product since some days, I manly used the default setup. I don’t know if it is the effect of the novelty but as per today, I can say that this product allowed me to definitively enhance the quality of my mixes. Then for a bit less than $500, I recommend it. I will try to update this little article later with a little more hindsight.
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