What headphone type is best for Virtual Monitoring?

Bumping.

Brandon Lett looks like this post never got any attention - our apologies for that!

The answer no - in the Virtual Monitoring context, it doesn't really matter what headphones you're using. It is the frequency response that matters, and how well the readily available headphone profile applies to the given model. In other words, it is a matter of how well the given profile performs on the headphones, Virtual Monitoring performance is not impacted by that.

Generally speaking, the Sonarworks headphone profiles have a ±3 dB accuracy. The error margin depends on how close your individual headphone unit is to the model average response (how consistent the model build is between individual units).

Kārlis Stenders Thanks for the response. I guess for some clarification, for the Virtual Monitoring, is that a different EQ correction that overrides your headphone correction, or is it an additional post-EQ to your already corrected response curve? For example, if I am using some Audio Technica ATH-M50X in SoundID with a preset already balancing that, would the Virtual Monitoring section build off that preset to be like a 2nd EQ in a chain that now lets me monitor what it would sound like to be in a car or on AirPods, etc. specifically through my selected correction already, or is that car or AirPod curve something that is universal and overrides as a preset regardless of what headphone you're wearing?

My test of looking at the same AirPod translation check calibration curves on my two headphone models shows two different shapes, which leads me to believe that it's a sum of two EQ calibration curves rather than a single global translation check curve, which logically to me seems like the best solution as that implies we flatten first and then apply a translation check. I assume Virtual Monitoring is the same.

And sorry to ask another question, but in your company's 2023 Headphone Sound Report (https://www.sonarworks.com/blog/research/headphone-sound-report-2023), you mentioned a “global headphone curve” that you planned to implement as a translation check target. 

We are planning to include this global headphone curve as one of the predefined translation check targets in the SoundID Reference product line. This will allow any professional to apply the target on SoundID Reference-supported headphones and switch back and forth between any other desired targets. Our hypothesis is that using a global headphone curve will produce better sound translation to the headphone use case in general. This target should also save mixing and mastering time by avoiding the circle of confusion from referencing individual headphones that each produce wildly different results.

Was this ever implemented? I see “In-ear average” and “Over-ear and On-ear Average” translation check presets, but didn't know if this matched or not. I thought that article was a good read and interesting insight to headphone use globally, and the idea of a “global headphone curve” was one that I was excited to see implemented and was not sure if it ever officially was.

Thanks again for your time and follow up.

Best regards,

LETT

Brandon Lett yes, you are correct: VM is applied on top of your headphone calibration profile, and any further Translation Check targets are also applied with the calibration profile still active.

In other words, the calibration profile you've assigned for your preset will always be the baseline. We first flatten out the headphones using the profile, and any further manipulations such as VM, Translation Check (any target, including simulations of other headphones), Custom Target, etc. - all will still apply with the headphones calibrated to flat to begin with.