Have any of you used one of the:
Nx Virtual Mix Room + Nx Head Tracker
IK Multimedia System ARC2
Or have a suggestion for similar items that might help me.
Right now I’m tempted by the NX Virtual MIX Room in that my headsets are already much better than my monitors, and it seems a reasonable way to improve my options. If it is good that is. (Not to mention keep my wife off my back. grin )
ARC and Nx are significantly different from each other (unless ARC has made some changes since I’ve used it). ARC is geared towards room correction for a monitor environment, and Nx is for monitor/room simulation in headphones. I’m sure you’re aware, but some on here may or may not be 
Just clarifying.
Back to your question, I haven’t used Nx yet, but I’ve talked to a couple that have, and they seemed to be fans of it. I also noticed that the price is down right now. May be a worthwhile time to give it a shot!
I’ve been finding Sonarworks really useful with headphones. They’ve got a lot of headphone’s on the list and there’s some really good features in the plugin to tailor the sound if you find the ‘flattened’ response a bit too much. Tried it with with MDR-7506’s and K702s with good results. Great for checking mixes.
The speaker version is decent as well. Although I’m a little dubious of how effective that is when it comes to room modes, null points etc. Certainly something worth trying though too see if it helps translation
I had no idea such a plugin even existed. Looks very interesting! Might help me do a better job of tracking down the issues that seem to be perennial ones for me. Thanks for the tip. 
I use ARC2 , i like it a lot , takes a bit to get it setup (take your time setting it up, read the instructions, mark out the flooe and take the sound bites it requires. its easy enough) It works great. Its not cheap though but i prefer listening through monitors then headphones unless theres something i need to hone in on, delays,reverbs usually. . You need to set it up then start a mix project with it. Would i buy it again if i didn’t have it… YES, awesome bit of software.
+1 for Sonarworks headphones correction, I find that it does a great job smoothing out the frequencies of my HD650. It doesn’t claim to do anything more, but at least it does it nicely.
-1 for NX though. It’s got some good hype, but in the end, the claim to “3D real-time speakers” emulation can be good for hi-fi enthusiasts but for mixing it adds a lot of phasing artifacts that makes your headphones a lot less reliable for mixing. I would definitely NOT recommend that. And the head tracking with a webcam sounds gimmicky as hell (and probably a CPU hog as well - although I haven’t tried it)
You could use 112db Redline Monitor for a cheaper version of that “speakers emulation” idea.
I’ve tried both and I thought the Redline one sounded more natural actually, but NX sounded like a phase mess. Might help hi-fi fanatics believe they are hearing speakers in an auditorium, but again I’d stay away from that for mixing.
@ptalbot Less reliable for mixing? Good to know.That I definitely don’t want. If anything I obviously want something that makes it more reliable.
Awesome breakdown! Thanks for the heads up! (Pun intended 
)
Dave, I have it, and to tell you the truth, it is pretty good at giving you a better idea of the spatial relationships of the individual tracks, and it will make your panning more accurate in relation to how you would do it with monitors. It will not, however do anything for your perception of eq through headphones, so if that is a problem for you the software will not help in that respect. If you happen to have headphones that are very, very good in terms of tonal accuracy, it is helpful, but in my opinion only for placement decisions.
Sheesh man, you clearly phoned that one in… 
Thanks Bob! I do have some decent cans, Sony MD-7506, and I appreciate your comments about the panning/spatial aspect. I gather it’s something you can drop on the 2-buss and just toggle on and off as needed, but it’s never engaged at final mixdown. So it would just be a tool to help get to that final stage. Will consider the options…
I have the NX… but no head tracker.
It works pretty darn good. I don’t like to mix with cans. when I do put them on, it’s usually for some specific detail work… so I end up turning NX off.
But what NX does for me when I do use it, is it gives me a pretty good front-to back image that is not there with the headphones alone.
I think it’s on sale atm…
have fun
rich
HEADS UP:
Waves has a coupon code today only WAVES20 that takes $20 off at checkout. That would make the NX $29… Worth checking out.
I don’t know how important the headtracker is for you. But you could probably upgrade later if it goes on sale…
have fun
Yeah, after using it, I really wondered what the headtracker was going to do for me. I don’t see it as relevant to mixing things properly, unless you’re going for that ever popular “Mix it Like Your Head is Moving All Over The Place Sound”. It’s probably worth $29, but it’s certainly not a game changer. I’ve read about headphone correction software that sounded interesting as long as you had the phones they recommended, but that was a large investment. It would be kind of cool to hear the results of lots of people mixing something with the same monitors in the same environment.
The headtracker is actually pretty cool. I could see uses for it for surround and gaming and it is FUN to play with.
But I just got it for front to back imaging. If I HAD to mix on cans, I’d use it more and dial it in. I think I got it for $29 somehow around thanksgiving. Maybe I fired it up 10 times…
Seems like something that’d do wonders for my vertigo. hahaha
Slap them on, run a 30Hz test tone thru a phase plugin and modulate it with an lfo… keep a bucket nearby… 
I just pulled the trigger for 29 bucks. I’ve spent way more on things I stopped using, so I’ll give it a whirl. I don’t see myself needing the head tracking, because I just don’t move around much when I’m mixing. When I have the nearfields going, I sit pretty still to stay in the sweet spot, and that’s a habit that doesn’t end when I put on the phones.
We’ll see… (err, hear) 
