My 5 Favorite Plugins for Mixing with Headphones 

Brilliant segment. So many excellent perspectives. Thank you once again Michael!

Thanks for the comparison . That was very helpful to me 🌻 I will test the CanOpener, if it helps to improve my headphone mixing.

This was a great video.. I have been mixing using my DT 990 Pro headphones and relying on tools like iZotope's Tonal Balance Control to keep me honest in terms of my mixes. Sofar it's been a good strategy. I grabbed the demo of CanOpener. It did provide the validation that my mixes were balanced. I can totally see using this in conjunction with TBC to get things to land in a good spot. I was leaning heavily towards getting VSX but your video was a good eyeopener, and will certainly save me some money. :)

Great video! My personal choice is dSONIQ Realphones plugin for stereo mixing and headphones calibration. I tried many such plugins but for almost 2 years I work with Realphones. And I actually checked my mixes in some clubs and halls and was impressed with the translation of the mixes. DearVR Monitor is my second choice for the big rooms.

I use Slate VSX and while its a closed system (you can't use 3rd party heaphones) it is great to me. A bonus now that Im trying ATMOS is that the headphones work really well for me with Binaural rendering (using the flat setting in VSX which is just corrective EQ for the headphones).

VSX is the best for getting your mixes to translate across all listening scenario's. Me personally i don't get the listening in a room vibe but adding can opener after VSX gives me that effect. Its not necessary but if you want that room feeling it definitely helps.

Danke schön, Michael for making this video. After hearing your examples on my NDH 20s, I immediately had to test the Abbey Road Studio 3. It added by far the least coloration to me and just gave a solid impression of the room as if I was there. Since it does surround format, it was an instant buy, no brainer. Thank you for showing it to me! What do you think how subjective these comparisons are? All other plugins, except the CanOpener, added a lot of frequency coloration to me and did not provide the "in-studio" spatial experience you were describing, except for the Waves. Since all our heads are different, wouldn’t that make it the most important factor influencing how well one of these plugins work? Thanks again for taking the time to make these videos, much appreciated!

Nice presentation. I watched this without looking at the notes, and am a HUGE fan of CanOpener, so was gratified with your number one recommendation. I'm not interested in room calibration tools because I think the ability to translate has more to do with becoming accustomed to whatever sonic environment you have. But I am interested in resolving what IMHO is the most serious liability of headphones: the artificial separation of L & R input, which CanOpener's crossfeed solves brilliantly. Subscribed.

Good Video 💪🏻

I love your channel. Learning a lot. But I will stay with DearVR mix..works for me:)

I recommend you Blue Cat Re Head. Biggest value is that BC allows you to set up virtual height of the speakers, so sound goes out the tip of the head

Thanks for the video, I hadn't heard of CanOpener before this and it is really good. I don't know that I'll use it regularly for mixing but as you said it does a great job of helping improve stereo balance but not change the timbre. Waves Nx Abbey Road was also a pleasant surprise. I own Nx, going all the way back to the Kickstarter days and it just never did it for me. I had long ago set it aside. The Abbey Road version though, it is quite good. Given the head tracking it is probably what I am going to start using the most as I find, personally, I really need head tracking to properly make things sound out of my head. I have to disagree on Ircam Hear though, it is one of the less convincing ones I've heard, I'd put dearVR Monitor (what I use now) as much better than it. Their spaces sound artificial and it just doesn't seem to be able to get sound to really come from anywhere but the front, and then only highly colored. One other program you could look at if you are interested is Redscape Audio. It is a Windows program that makes a virtual speaker and ASIO device that then does HRTF and head tracking. I find it pretty convincing and have used it for games before. I don't like it as much for pro audio since you have to run it through a separate program, but it works fine. It also requires its own head tracker, it doesn't support OSC or MIDI (it uses serial over USB). Very delighted about the discovery of CanOpener and Nx Abbey Road though, they are great and at the moment not very expensive.

The IRCAM HEar v3 does have ambience options, top centre drop down -- labeled Space Preset: Presets 1-3, Legacy Preset 1-3, Hall, Living Room & Studio. (Doesn't sound like my Living Room but there you are... That's probably a good thing.) I think a further test of these plugins might be in monitoring some sort of spacial setup, e.g., via an alternate, 7.1.4 Main Mix output (Cubase) of a Dolby Atmos project with, say, HEar v3 as an insert. Perhaps it pushes the headphone only mixing paradigm somewhat but, on the other hand, if you are targeting a binaural audience -- and who isn't? -- maybe it's a useful analysis. Also, I haven't looked into it but there's the added wrinkle in Logic Pro of an option to invoke Apple's version of its Dolby Atmos Rendering. I think there's a Binaural monitoring option but who knows if it has been tweaked, aka improved, by the developers? A consistent plugin for comparison would be a help there.

Great video thank you so much

Coming back to this... I totally agree with you that can opener is them most natural for mixing on headphones. That kind of approach. That and the Harman curve rather than Sonarworks.... Because everything sounds really natural and right to me listen to through the Harman curve. I'm almost natural thing is to mix to what sounds natural to you, yes? Oh and thanks for the video! 😎👍

i have Sonarworks SoundID, Waves NX Germano, DearVR Monitor, DearVR Music, and DearVR Pro. I love DearVR Pro the most, bc of the ability to customize the room for binaural monitoring. You can really get very specific to how you place yourself in the space, the position of the speakers, and the reverberation and diffusion of the room....my second fave is NX Germano, but it definitely smears the audio more

I converted from monitors to headphones 1 years ago and had my test phase with all the plugin out there. The only plugins, which realy separates the sound source from the ears are the plugins called "Spatial Audio Designer" from New Audo Technology. I'm not paid by them and the installer is not realy a great solution (you have to create your own install at their webpage), but the results in terms of an audio engineer view are the best. You can place your audio sources (up to 7.1) freely, which is very important to mimic your room and the way to trick your brain. It has different studio room convolutions on board. Just choose the one you are satisfied with and finetune it to your needs. In my opinion this is the most useful binaural plugin, because its sounds very natural.

Michael can you do a review of the Embody Immerse Spatial Audio Production Suite? Curious to hear your opinion. They sampled both Alan Meyerson’s room at Remote Control and John Powell’s Blue Cat Studios.

Toneboosters have Isone, quite an old one. Been using it for mix checks since very long ago (actually, nowadays it's a freeware legacy plugin). By the way, these guys, Toneboosters, have a few very powerful plugins that no one speak about. I recomend checking their stuff, and, specifically, TB FIX V3 and TB Sibalance V3 (both legacy plugins also).

Interesting i have all the waves nx rooms and find the Germano the best out of all of them.... Feels very different on each set of monitors unlike the other studios in the nx range. I also like the Realphones system and also the Good hertz but tend use a combination of them all but most of the mix is done on the germano then checked on all the rest and my focal twin 6be also. Good review and very interesting.

Andrew Scheps was saying he loves (especially starting) with headphones & works a lot like that (because he might be traveling & you can’t take a “room” with you).

I also really dug 112db Redline Monitor. It's similar to Can Opener.

I really like the new Kinicho Sympan plugin (currently public beta). Other than Ben Supperware's Binaural plugin it's the lowest latency binaural with headtracking support I've found. With the Supperware headtracker you're well under the

I really like Embody Virtual Studio Alan Meyerson, with personnalized HRTF

Great videos! Ever tried Sienna Sphere?

You should try Acustica Audio Sienna and Sienna Sphere as well - I'm sure you'll like both 🙂

Hey Michael . i want to tell you that i realy like your videos and found them to contain extreamly useful information ( quark and envelop ) .. i like your voice too you remind me of arnold schwarzenegger and its cool to close my eyes and listen to the t800 talk spacial audio..

Ty for your video! I am currently using Waves NX Studios with a pair of AKG K-712 Pro. Would you say it would be worthed to upgrade to the Slate VSX? How do the two systems compare?

Really surprised Acustica Audios Sienna Rooms/reference wasnt mentioned. I am using that and waves nx together but just arent too sure on the settings.

Hello sir, Wanted to know if any of these plugins allow you to hear what your mix will sound like on earbuds, laptops, car stereo etc?

late to the party so if no reply i understand, just curious on a few things, 1. when mixing a song would it be bad or good to have the plug in on while ur mixing and making mixing decisions? 2. another channel mentioned referencing alot, alot of songs i know and love....does this mean listen to a Slayer song that i know and love with the plug in on so i hear what its actually doing, and if so could i not export that Slayer song with the plugin turned on, to always have that to quick ref easily? 3. Should this plug in just be used to hear whats wrong with your mix? when do u make mixing changes, and with the plug in on or off. I really hope for a reply thank you

I used CanOpener for my HD280s, and do believe it has helped as those are closed back. However, would it work well with an open can such as Neumann NDH30s?

Have you tried Anaglyph by CNRS? It's free, the interface is a bit dated compared to what you've shown here but it sounds as good or better than most I've tried and it's absolutely free

Hi Michael, I was waiting for such a summary from your side, as I've expected it to be a good one. But to be honest, when listening to 3D audio on the PC, the immersive impact of the plug-ins, is barely recognizable. At least on my LT with a USB connected Behirnger Mixer (FX processing is off) as Output-I/F for my Audio-Technica Headphones ATH-M50 (quite old ). I've now turned on the additional "Windows Sound Processing" so that I can get some sort of feeling out of it. And yes, there is "some change". But neither of your proposed plugins do have the "wow, great effect" for my ears... Maybe, my ear's have become too old, or destroyed by too loud heavy metal music.. The best "Sound" feeling for me, is the Steven Slate VSX. But even this, without any spatial image. I haven't tried out personalized HRTF's yet (for special reason), which still seems to be essential for proper H/P mixing of multichannel signals. The sound quality between "standard" PC Audio out and a premium Audio-I/F out from a DAW, does already make a big difference in spatial perception (at least for my ears). I have to do my own benchmark (someday) within the DAW, but what I've learned so far, I doubt the usefullness of it, for my special purpose, when it comes down to music or sound placement in 3D with H/P's, compared to the real speaker world ... There is still a big difference in the listening experience... (I'm not working as a mixing Engineer in musiv or TV productions, which would make the spatial placements kind of easier ...) Yes, your plugins are sounding nice but the level of difference (impact), when listening on H/P's, is still too small, in my opinion. Or do I need to train my ear's more? Anyway, as always, Thanx for another nice video of yours (No, not of yours but from you with good topics ). Keep on your good informative work! Lucky BTW: It seems that your previous message in Discord about NovoNotes 3DNX is gone, at least I can't see it anymore Just my answer to you... Unfortunately, I still hadn't time to test it out (neither bought it yet).

great video. what headphones do you use please?

Mr. Wagner, you seem to be Austrian (as I am), aren’t you? Great video! Just a quarter of a hour ago a watched a video where the Mixing engineer said he would return the Slate VSX-system. And you say the opposite here. So my question is: do you recommend this for an amateur like I am? I‘d need it because I‘m probably not able to create a car-ready mix and mixes for all the devices out there most people listen to their music (boomboxes, mobile phones, …) and the Steven Slate VSX system is said to help there a lot. If you say „yes“ I‘ll probably purchase it!

Is there certain you prefer to use with Can Opener or do you just use the default?

Kind of surprised that you did not have the NovoLabz(Novo Notes) 3DX on your list!? You say you like it better than the DearVR plugin in your review a couple of weeks ago. And DearVR is on your 1.5 place in this list. I guess it is more of a panner plugin, but it can mix down to binaural, so in that sense it is a "Mixing with Headphones" plugin!? Or would you use the NovoNotes HPL2 after the 3DX ? That does not make much sense to me.

What do you say to Acustica Audio's Sienna. It is free, so therefore I think it should be of general interest to hear from you with all the experience base you have acquired.

According to Goodhertz the plug-in is supposed to be turned off when mixing down. This is only meant to dial in the sound to correct your room if im understanding their manual correctly.

i tried Sonarworks, Can Opener, DearVR Mix, Sienna Rooms with an audeze lcd x and none of these worked well for me like slate vsx did

Dear VR monitor needs sonarworks after it for my Dt 770 pro to really come alive ... the built in eq corrections are really bad ... but if you can flatten the frequency after Dear Monitor you will like it

how do you feel VSX compares to Virtuoso with good headphones?

Try Sienna from Acustica Audio

I not agree with the choice, prefering to not consider HRTF weight in the simulation with can opener. Also a bad audio sample for this compare, the best one would be an acoustic recording where it would be well defined the real position in the 3D space of few instruments.

Aghhh agghb - get to the chopper

9:17 I like VSX much more than Sonarworks.

Video starts at 2:40

i really can't hear much difference in most of them. your number 5 did nothing for me, the waves one changed the sound but i'm not sure i would call it immersive. number 1 made the most difference. i wouldn't buy any of these. maybe if i mixed on headphones exclusively i might look at these in more detail but i use headphones to listen to particular instruments in the mix but always go back to speakers for the final mix. in surround though things are obviously different, i use headphones for this and do a final check on a full speaker system; however i wonder how many people actually listen to music this way anymore. even with the atmos renderer i really don't get much of an immersive sound, it mainly sounds like stereo to me. with some visual prompting i can hear the rear and top speakers but in a blind test i can't pick them. i guess i'm just not good at hearing these things. thanks for all you videos, i do enjoy them.

The difference are so little for sounding like speakers,

VSX is only supposed to be used with the headphones that came with it. I think everything on this list sounds like your using a plug-in. VSX sounds like your in a room. That’s just my opinion.

dSONIQ Realphones

Lol. You know that was the case. Now that's still also very important. But the vast majority of people consume most of their audio via headphones! So. You really NEED to do at least some of your monitoring.... On headphone now!

13:04 REALLY? Wow.

Valuable information but you should give a little bit more time to perceive the difference.

Leiwand, wenn man sofort den Österreicher durchhört 😀

It would have been more helpful to me to actually be able to hear more than a one or two seconds of an audio example without the prominent voiceover. In my phones, your voice is way louder than the audio sample. Sorry, I'm listening through Neumann NDH 30 phones, which are new to me, and I need more time with them. Still, the video was not helpful to me.

Making music sound good on speakers for people who will most probably listen on headphones…

Waves RIP

Your voice is very loud comparing to mixes both roomed and unroomed. It's painful to make video as loud as it needs to be to hear any difference and then get a PUNCH from your microphone

Talk too much

I’d encourage you to check out dsoniq realphones. I think it’s very good for it’s purpose. It’s got headphone correcting features for nearly every headphone model there is it’s apparently got it’s own crosstalk and crossfeed hrtf solutions built according to the manufacturer so as to remove the need for can opener I got this from them in an email I sent them asking if whether I should still use can opener . The said no it’s already built in. It also has the different studios to listen through same as Slates VSX and I find some of them to be very good and realistic. I’d love to hear your opinion on that as you already own Slates VSX and I’d love to hear what you think about Realphones Is comparison to it