Spend some time shopping for headphones, and you’ll
quickly grow tired of devices claiming to present music “as the artist
intended,” despite sporting vastly different sound. But what if your
favorite cans actually could sound like the recording studio where your favorite music was mixed?
Enter SonarWorks, a company I’m guessing you’re not
familiar with, as it’s best known in audio engineering circles for
tuning professional studio speakers. Now SonarWorks is turning its
attention to something more mainstream by calibrating headphones to
sound like those same studios.
The concept is simple. First you tell SonarWorks’
software, called True-Fi, which headphones you’re using; 138 models are
supported, at the time of writing. It then modifies your PC’s audio
output in order to “flatten” the frequency response into something very
close to the neutral sound of a professional mixing studio. And I do
mean very close.
SonarWorks put its money where its mouth is and invited me
to Flux Studios in Manhattan, a recording space that has helped produce
tracks for celebs like JLo, Chance the Rapper, and others. There I was,
sitting in front of a speaker setup costing tens of thousands of
dollars, for the sole purpose to be pitted against a couple of
headphones running True-Fi.
First
I listened to a track through the studio speakers – high end monitors
from Focal Audio, for those wondering. Naturally, it sounded amazing.
Neutral, transparent, with good bass extension, instrument separation
and other positive audio jargon.
Then, I tried a pair of audiophile-approved Beyerdynamic
headphones (DT770 or DT880, not sure). Finally, a pair of Marshall Major
2, which retail for around 50 bucks.
All the setups sounded the same. Not identical, but
remarkably similar. $50 dollar headphones had the same overall sound
presentation as a professional studio. That’s wild.
Of course, headphones can sound neutral at any price point – whether they sound is good
is another matter entirely. Despite having similar presentation, the
Marshalls were not as good as the Beyerdynamics. And Sonarworks isn’t tweaking the spatial presentation – your headphones won’t imitate the expansive soundstage you get from speakers.
Still, in each instance, turning off the True-Fi was a
noticeable downgrade, particularly with the dramatic shift on the
Marshall’s. This makes some intuitive sense though: it stands to reason
your music will sound better if your headphones can closely emulate the
source they were mastered on.
This remained true when I tested True-Fi at home, using the
Sennheiser HD 660S. Those are wonderful headphones, but out of the box,
their sub-bass is pretty anemic. With True-Fi off, listening to tracks
like “Killmonger” from the Black Panther score, I noticed a
stark change in volume when the 8-note motif comprising Killmonger’s
theme jumped from sub-bass to midbass. With True-Fi on, there was no
sudden shift, and the whole thing just sounding better.
At this point you might be wondering “why not just EQ the
headphones?” There are a few problems. For one, headphones often
respond poorly to EQing; you can come across clipping, muddiness,
sibilance, distortion, and a host of other issues. I spent some time
EQing the HD660 S to sound like as Sonarworks’ tweaks. Even when I
emulated the overall sound signature, sound quality was noticeably worse.
SonarWorks
claims its technique goes beyond what you can achieve with EQing. A
typical EQ has less than 10 bands you can tweak. A fancy one might let
you mess with dozens. Sonarworks won’t reveal all its secrets, but says
it’s working with thousands of points, allowing it to make precise micro-adjustments to eliminate the typical artifacts found by EQing.
Even if SonarWorks overestimates its prowess and you
could match it with a good EQ, that can also be frustratingly time
consuming. You’d likely have to spend hours making the precise tweaks to
get the soudn just right. You might have to set different EQs for
different apps. If you plug in another pair of headphones, you might
need to start all over again.
Part of True-Fi’s appeal is its simplicity. You simply
pick your headphone model, gender and age (the latter two to compensate
for hearing loss) and leave it on. The only parameters you can tweak in
app are adding more bass and adjusting the hearing-loss compensation,
which mainly affects treble.
True-FI is currently available for Mac and PC only,
though mobile versions are on the way. At $79 it, isn’t for everyone,
but I wish it were.
Imagine a world where True-Fi – or something like it – were integrated into popular services like Spotify and Netflix.
Your specific headphones could be tuned to sound like the exact studio
your favorite music or movie was mastered. I wouldn’t have to worry
about whether the headphones I’m buying are too bassy for classical or
too tame for hip-hop. You could truly, actually hear music hear sound
“like the artist indended.”
For now though, True-Fi is just a really good way to get a
more neutral sound out of your headphone. $79 will be a lot to swallow
for some people, but the simplicity and efficacy of the software could
make it a valauble tool for the audiophile or amateur producer. If you
want to try it yourself, you can check if your headphones are compatible
here and download a 10 day-trial here.