So, I’m trying to create a better listening environment for myself so I can mix more effectively. I’m not in a position where I can use monitors and room treatment, so I’m going the headphone route. Planning to get Sennheiser HD600 headphones calibrated with Sonarworks so that it’s got a flat frequency response within .9db. (I also have Waves Nx which I’ve liked so far.)
I also need to get a headphone amp so that they have enough power. (Unless maybe my Audient id14 can do it. I’m not sure.) And also a DAC. Now, since I’m making the investment to use calibrated headphones, it’s got me wondering if the headphone amp or DAC would color the sound, essentially ruining the effect? I’ve heard a lot about headphones and monitors and microphones having certain frequency response curves, but what about the gear that goes in between? Like amps and DACs. How much impact do they have? Is it worth worrying about? What about cables, even? At the end of the day, I’ll never be able to tell if my frequency response is flat or not, just by listening. I have to take someone’s word for it. So I’m wondering what I should or shouldn’t worry about.
At first I thought this thread was about synesthesia which @Stan_Halen diagnosed me with. Colors, sound, etc.
If you pay for garbage you’ll get garbage, but as far as drastically effecting the frequency response, I don’t think so. Yes, artifacts are going to be introduced. A friend of mine is a mastering engineer, who used to work at Atlantic Records. He’d bring his own cables to bypass the consoles, and move his speakers away from the wall into the middle of the room so there wasn’t a midrange buildup. He knew that anything getting between the master tape and the speakers was going to effect the sound, and he made his decisions to cut out the middle ground. Obviously he’s a very precise dude, CD masters back then were sent on 3/4" u-matic video tape, and the only thing he’d ever run those tapes through was EQ as to give the most accurate, uncolored sound possible. Bottom line, anything that you put in between the music and the headphones will make a difference. As far as drastically throwing off your ability to faithfully mix on them? I don’t think so, but be careful.
I doubt an amp and DAC would color things, but decent quality on those would be helpful. Same for cables. The term “flat” is both overused and misleading. It can be a “reference”, but if your speakers are flat but your room isn’t then you haven’t accomplished much. And are your ears flat? The mics and equipment (and room) they use to measure frequency response curves isn’t going to be the same as how your ear hears things, necessarily. A lot of that is marketing hype IMO.
I haven’t pursued this with headphones, but I will say that if you like the sound of those headphones and Sonarworks helps you get them sounding better (to you), you’re probably on the right track. It has to work for you, so try to not be impressed with marketing claims and hype. If you have access to a good sounding system with speakers, and can compare that to your headphone sound on the same material, you could try doing that to tweak or understand your new setup. The best thing is to learn what you have and try to reference your mixes on other (hopefully good) systems for comparison. As you become very familiar with your setup, understanding what works and what doesn’t should come easier. You can also get clues by posting in BTR when you think you have a well balance mix, and see what others have to say.
In any listening chain, 95% of what you are hearing will be the speakers, or in your case, the headphones. A halfway decent headphone amp that doesn’t add any noise won’t hurt the sound of your headphones. D to A converters are not going to hurt anything either, and in general are very similar until they get very expensive. In short, what you are hearing is your headphones, and if you can get the results you want with the help of the Sonar program, don’t worry too much about the other stuff. You do want to check things out on a car stereo or any set of speakers you can use temporarily to get the panning right. The Waves program is a simulation of a room, and even with Sonar headphones will still not give you a real space to listen to for sound staging.
I have trouble with this question so I’m not much help. It seems to me that; as long as your equipment is of decent quality, and get very familiar with the sound of that equipment; it doesn’t matter how truly accurate it is because you’re going to use the same process, which is to compare your recording to a reference whether it’s another actual recording or some concept in your own mind until you get it to sound the way you want. So since that’s all being done on the same equipment any inaccuracies are cancelled out aren’t they?
And then you’re going to play it on other systems and for other people that you trust and then make adjustments as needed and that corrects for inaccuracies as well no?
And it’s all a compromise anyway because all systems sound slightly different and all people hear differently so you are trying to find something that is perfect for everybody which is impossible.
And the bottom line is; we know you do good work anyway so just pick some stuff you can afford and go to work! (Told you I wasn’t much help)