Recently I've been thinking about buying the Steven Slate VSX headphones. For those that have never heard about them, they are a headphones + plugin/application combo which allows to realistically emulate multiple real listening environments on headphones.
Does anyone have experience with those, and could tell me whether they're worth buying?
I have a really bad listening environment, and treating it acoustically is way out of budget, because my room is rather big. Because of that, and because of my family at home, I'm always songwriting and mixing on headphones. That's way I think that the Steven Slate VSX could be a REAL upgrade for my mixing. Given that they aren't cheap by any means though, I'd love to hear about some experience with them.
I use VSX headphones exclusively now, for the reasons you mention (poor/inconsistent listening environment). I am very happy with the setup and have noticed that my mixes have translated better when I check them on other sources. I would say that the headphones themselves are not perfect. The build quality is fine, but nothing special and they do get slightly uncomfortable after a long session (which is a good reason to take a break). On the plus side, the software works really well and I like the selection of different studios and other listening environments (club, car, AirPods, etc.) I ultimately settled on Archon Mids as my home base and spent a lot of time referencing material that I'm familiar with so I could get used to that studio. But once in awhile I switch it up to see how my mix sounds on NS-10s or in some of the other environments. Overall, I feel it's a big improvement to my workflow and has greatly reduced the amount of time I spend listening to my mixes in my car, on my phone, etc. etc. and constantly chasing all of the issues I hear on those varied speakers. I don't think it's a full replacement for a great monitoring system in a well-treated room, but short of that I'd highly recommend for anyone looking to improve their headphone mixes.
For me it came down to 2 contenders: the VSX headphones and the SoundID Reference system. I tried the latter, because it offered a 21-day trial, and it helped me big time. It essentially does the same thing as the VSX headphones, only for virtually every pair of headphones (and monitors). I use it together with my ATH MX50. So far I've been very happy with it, and I noticed, that it considerably improved my mixes. Plus, it's far cheaper. Therefore, I'll invest in the SoundID reference system.
Thank you anyway, and much fun in your future producing and mixing journey!
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A space to discuss audio engineering tips, tricks, strategies, as well as routines to improve your listening skills.
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