

We also noticed a more extended bass response that also seemed a little tighter, which was a very welcome change.

Naturally, the Shure SRH840 headphones have a slightly scooped mid range, but True-Fi helped flatten that out. In the case of these headphones, we immediately noticed that with Sonarworks True-Fi enabled there was a boosted mid-range. The Shure SRH840 headphones have long been my go to while I’m at my desk, but Sonarworks proves that it can make even high-end headphones sound a little more natural. Ultimately, we found that True-Fi improved the sound quality of all pairs of headphones - though with some of the low-end headphones it perhaps didn’t improve the quality as much as we might have liked. We put Sonarworks True-Fi through the paces with a few pairs of headphones, and the results varied a little depending on the headphones we tried. Depending on your age, you may see a slight boost in the upper frequencies - which is there because we lose the ability to hear higher frequencies as we get older. The gray line represents the normal frequency response of the headphones, while the orange line shows what Sonarworks True-Fi is implementing.
#Sonarworks reference 4 review software#
You also get a visual representation of the software in action. You can also adjust depending on your age, and toggle the processing on and off so you can hear the difference. You can add as many pair of headphones as you want, meaning that you can quickly and easily switch between them depending on the pair you want to use at any given moment. In theory, the concept could open up the magic of great-sounding headphones to those with even small budgets. It even goes a step further than that, adjusting based on average hearing for your gender and age. To deliver a more accurate sound, Sonarworks essentially maps out the frequency response of each pair of headphones, then either cuts or boosts to compensate for those boosts and cuts. Not just a few pairs of headphones either - currently, almost 150 pairs of headphones are supported by the software, including Apple’s earbuds, Beats headphones, and more. Sonarworks True-Fi takes the work that Sonarworks has done in the studio world, and applies the same concept to headphones. It’s being used in studios all around the world under the name Sonarworks Reference 4 to produce a more accurate sound. The concept of Sonarworks isn’t necessarily new in general, but it is new for consumers. Sonarworks True-Fi could completely change how we listen to music - and it could ensure that even budget headphones end up sounding great. Instead, we’re taking a look at software. You might have gathered by now that we won’t be taking a look at a pair of headphones for this review. It’s called Sonarworks True-Fi, and it promises to bring studio-quality audio to even sub-par headphones through what could be groundbreaking headphone calibration tech. Sonarworks, however, is here to change that with what could be a revolutionary new idea. The unfortunate truth is that in the headphone world, you get what you pay for - and great-sounding headphones isn’t always cheap. As an audiophile, it can be really hard to find a pair of headphones that sound great and offer enough detail. Finding the right pair of headphones can be tough.
