“Sonarworks worked for me, when other similar software programs I tried did not. With other programs I found online, I could note even get to step one. That's what makes Sonarworks great. It takes a complex process and breaks it into managemenble steps. Just follow the steps. Repeat them when you need to. Stop and start again as often and whenever you like. It works at your learning pace. In the end, it will give you an accurate measurement of the acoustics of your room. NOT your stereo. But your room. Use that knowledge to either treat your room, adjust your speaker placement; or use other devices (EQ) to improve your rooms acoustics. Sonarworks does what it does better than anything else I have seen, read about or tried. It worked flawlessly.”
“It's been a long time I'm hesitating on this purchase but I don't know why. Since I sat up the room correction it took some weeks to get used to the new sound bit since then my first mixes on new tracks sounds absolutely better than before I got on early production stages. Using it with UAD Apollo integration and it's insane how smooth it works! Love it!”
“This would be 5 stars except for the complexity of initial startup.
I purchased this because of the recent introduction of integration with the Apollo X products of which I am a huge fan. I have used only the headphone calibration so far because while I love my DT770 pro's, their bias is clear and a correction for the sake of a better first pass at tracking and mixing is what I desire. The calibration and corrections are great--cannot say enough good about this. They have canned corrections for many headphone models and one can make adjustments to these as one sees fit. The sound is great and the integration with the Apollo system is easy to use.
But this is a 3 star rating becuase getting the system to work took a few hours. This is a good example of a feature-rich solution that generates a confusing interface. The integration with the Apollo system is pretty slick, but its capabilities were not immediatly obvious to me and so I spent a great deal of time adding calibration to my Apollo Cue outputs using the non-integrated mode. So this is a really powerful feaature, but also unnecessary given that the integration with the main monitor pair and both my headphone outputs (I have an x8) is "automatic".
Once I figured that out, I deleted the Cue outputs and tried to export the DT770 Pro calibration profile to one of the headphone outputs of the X8. No dice. I kept getting the "failed to load calibration data..." error when trying to load that. One odd behavior I noticed as well was that the correction profile shown in the frequency response graph (very cool features in this) was flat--not only was the desired result flat, so was the calibration graph. Both of these behaviors persisted until I "fully quit" the SoundID reference app (recommended on their thorough-but-not-thorough-enough support pages and restarted. Then everything looked as it should, DT770 Pro calibration profile looked more sensible, and the calibration loaded. This would be OK except for the fact that the problem was fixed only by shutting down the app and this was after I had tried to fix the problem by rebooting the entire computer (iMAC, Sonoma).
The point here is that getting started with this is fraught (a lot like my recent forced move to Dorico--one of the most powerful and painful apps I have encountered in my 62 years). That said, I am looking forward to putting this to use with my monitors once I take the time to calibrate the room.
Bottom line: Buy this and use it if you are a serious sound geek and love dabbling and adjusting. Avoid it if you are the fire-and-forget type or do not want to take the time to learn the details.
Pros:
- Lots of handy and useful canned calibrations and DSP tweaks
- Great integration with ApolloX
- Cool features like different calibrations for the two headphone outputs (DT770 for one Sennheiser HD800 for the other in my case).
- Apollo integration is accessible from within Luna and/or Console and can be switched on/off at will
- Once calibrated, the SoundID app does not need to be running (eq's and corrections are loaded into the Apollo DSP.
- Licensing allows entitlement on up to 3 machines
Cons
- Licensing scheme is yet another on-line thing (like iLok cloud, but different). These are great, can be used anywhere, except when they can't (internet is down, license server is down (e.g. for maintenance). Then you are dead in the water without spending $$$$ on a dongle. I love the modern world, but there must be a better way. In addition, enabling the licenses on SonarWorks' website looks easy but the UI is confusing. I struggled with this for quite some time.
- Startup/learning curve is steep and glitchy for what amounts to a eq correction of your monitoring system (sorry for over-simplifying).”
“Have used it only a little since buying it and have noticed a huge change in my sound ! Especially since I work out of a difficult to treat room and just for that fact would recommend to anyone working in any kind of room !”
“Made calibrating my monitors in the room a breeze (if a breeze with a lot of measurements.)
When I measured using a tape against what the SoundID said was the measurements for my monitor separation and listening position it was accurate to the centimetre, which was impressive.
Clarity in the listen position has been transformed and I trust my mixes.”
“I have to split the review into two parts.
1) Software, workflow and the excellent reference result.
Using the software and microphone was easy and quick process. And the result completely surprised me. I calibrated my Adam Studio monitors and two headphones AKG K701 and Beyerdynamics and was blown away by the result.
>> Recommendation: Stop reading reviews, order the product and give it a try. You won't regret it and you don't risk anything thanks to the right of return
2) Integration with Universal Audio Appollo & Room Correction
A Universal Audio interface is not a must but if you have one like me, the combination is a absolut win. It is amazing how well the integration has been implemented. Once implemented, the calibration is now an integral part of the console - brilliant. And it works really well, no bug-fixing marathons or hours of trial and error and forum study.
>> Again give it a test ride and you will not be disappointed.
Last but not least a small (in my case huge) bonus topic:
The product is not meant for room correction. Room correction has to be fixed optimally in a first stage and is the job of mainly physically changes to your room. But its not always possible to make huge but needed changes like in my case. I had some very bad frequency responses in my room and got a huge smile on my face when turned on the correction profile for the first time.
The sound in the room became much more harmonious after the calibration and some of the problem frequencies were significantly improved.
So overall I am a very happy customer. The product is completely worth the price.”
“Using with Apollo X4, and this allows me to really have a better feel for the mix. The process is easy to measure the speakers (takes a bit of time though) and each measurement microphone is coded so they are individually calibrated and accurate. Really cool stuff and it works.”
