NX Ocean Way with Sonarworks

Music Production
1

I am using NX Ocean Way and have Beyerdynamics DT800 Pro headphones. Will I get a better result if I follow NX with Sonarworks using the NX profile for my headphones?
NX has the Beyerdynamics DT800 profile yet sounds brighter than if I disengage and use Sonarworks with my headphone profile, inserted after NX.
I am just not sure which is a better representation .
Thanks

2

Hello! I’m a big fan of NX Ocean Way and I have Sonarworks as well.

As far as whether to use NX’s headphone correct or Sonarworks’s – that’s up to you as to which works best for your needs. For various reasons there is no actual absolute “correct” in spite of Sonarworks’s marketing material, so it’s more about whichever you prefer and then getting familiar with that tonal balance.

I’ll say two things though, for sure:

  1. Never use both headphone corrections together, obviously. If you’re using Sonarworks be sure to turn off the headphone correction in Ocean Way.

  2. I recommend using Sonarworks AFTER Ocean Way. Remember, Ocean Way is simulating a room based on the source frequencies and Sonarworks is simulating a headphone response. You don’t want Ocean Way to convert a headphone simulation into a “room”! So definitely put Sonarworks AFTER Ocean Way!

Have you tried Ocean Way with a webcam or the tracker? If you like Ocean Way I definitely recommend trying that!

The webcam is easier and faster to set up although it has a slight lag.

The tracker is practically realtime with your head movements and I’ve actually forgotten I’m wearing headphones before! Ocean Way with tracking is amazing.

Finally – regarding your headphones… I use Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro 250 Ohms. I’m not sure about your headphones, but if you find the treble to be “too much” there is an acoustic mod which can fix that!

Here’s a link to the mod. I believe you have to log in to see the photos: Bill-P's Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro modding diary (including sibilance elimination) | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

I tried his exact materials and they were a little bit too thick due to the shelf liner, so I did the mod with two sheets of Bounty paper towel (4 plies total) and 1 layer of felt.

The result is incredible – I get the classic sound of the DT-990s but the treble spike is reduced. I don’t even use headphone correction much anymore ever since doing this mod. I recommend it.

I did it where the paper towels & felt are behind the foam so you can’t tell the mod was done… But if you want to try in a more easy way - just cut the discs to be slightly larger than the hole in your pads, and push the paper towels and felt in. It will hold.

It’s a great solution for the Beyerdynamic treble spike!