I have the exact same question.

I'm probably one of those testers that Steven picked for the very nature of their skepticism!

And the truth is, as much as I like certain brands, I wont use anything that doesn't work for my personal needs, and I wont recommend anything to anyone if I don't think it will suit their needs either.

The VSX is a product that everyone can benefit from. Even with a decent speaker and room setup, we all find ourselves incorporating headphones into our workflows. Often times when I'm sound designing, headphones help to allow me to zoom in on even the tiniest of details.

For years I've wrestled with all sorts of different products that try to help make the audio engineering experience on headphones more accurate, in terms of how your mixing decisions translate to speakers, and everywhere else. The most recent being Abbey Roads Studio 3. The VSX blows each and every one of them out of the water, and I believe that comes down to the decision to have a set pair of headphones that compliment what Steven and his team wanted to achieve with the VSX software.

Low frequency translation tends to be the most hit or miss aspect of working with headphones, IMO. Personally, I haven't had any issues getting bass to translate well when mixing with the VSX. In fact, thanks to the additional referencing I can do using the two car emulations, and the club emulation (all of which sound surprisingly real), I end up taking the sound of things even further by making sure the sub region of my mixes sound amazing in those environments, and that the right amount of punchiness is there in the bass overall. No more guess work! And no more needing to blast the volume of my speaker monitoring setups to catch the right feel in order to dial things in. The weight of the low end that these headphones are capable of will make you happy!

Prior to VSX, I often relied on MixChecker Pro to reference bass response through a wide variety of playback perspectives, to avoid having to physically take my mixes anywhere else. As helpful as I found it to be, it's just giving me something based on the response of each source. With VSX, I'm virtually being put into the same environment as each source. I'm virtually sitting in the whip, or I'm virtually standing in the club during off hours dancing to my own mix.

I could go on, and I probably will in future posts. VSX is the next step in the evolution of these type of products! I hope everyone not only ends up enjoying it, but that it ends up making a huge difference to getting your work done fast and efficiently.

Haha, thanks Steven! just finished placing my order and excited to check them out!

Hi Steven,

Sorry if you've already gone over this; I'm just quickly dipping in and out to ask the following before I commit to purchasing - I use Sonarworks. Will your system negate the need for Sonarworks, or let's say I go ahead and purchase your new headphones and send them to Sonarworks for calibration ( this is something they offer ), will that yield even more accurate results? Thanks in advance!

That is a pretty heavy claim there sir.

Wonder what Waves (since I like their solution) counter response might be.

If you use Sonarworks speaker correction, which is awesome and I recommend to EVERYONE, you should not use it before VSX.

We have some WIKI articles which explain how to create an alternative mixbuss so you can have both Sonarworks with speakers and VSX with the headphones seamlessly. I'll find the link and post it later today!

Cheers,
Steven

Typically, the purpose of using Sonarworks with headphones is to flatten their response. You don't need to do that with the VSX. The "HD-Linear" setting in the VSX software will give you a flat response tailored specifically for that headphone.

And this is shipping now?

Okey doke - Many thanks for the info!

Audio Hijack is another great tool. https://rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/

Keep in mind that I was big on using ARS3 too, and participated plenty in the thread for that product here on GS.

While not directly comparable, since each product is emulating different studio environments, I feel the sound of the VSX emulations are executed better for what they are, and in actual practice, they lead me to better mixing translations.

I can dial in low end much better using the VSX than I could with ARS3. With ARS3, I'll listen to my results on speakers and have to make slight adjustments to fine tune things. So far with VSX, I'll listen to my results on speakers and marvel at how easy it was to get things sitting well.

If you are using a Mac, then it's dead simple to run plugins in desktop mode, meaning you get all the audio passing through to you via the effects.

For instance menuBUS or Audio Hijack. I'm sure there are plenty more.


For Windows systems this is a lot more tricky but there are some solutions. Unfortunately WDM audio in windows isn't nearly as robust as the built in system in windows and can easily result in you experiencing quite a bit of latency, thus making it go out of sync with any visual media.

Would be awesome to get a VSX plugin for iOS and Android though!

EDIT: Oh damn I'm so late.. this thread moves like wildfire!

I used to use ARC2 as well and the reason I prefer VSX (was a beta tester) is that it is WAY simpler to use and I have more confidence in it. With ARC2 / Sonarworks, you better have a high degree of confidence in your measuring - otherwise, it'll mess everything up going forward. Secondly, you are still hearing things through YOUR speakers, which is going to be limiting. I still would go back and forth to check mixes in the car, on other speakers, etc. With VSX, you pop on the headphones and everything is literally a button click away. Once you learn the system (and you do need to learn it like any tool), you can audition your mix in a lot of scenarios - without ever leaving your desk. And if you want to bias the room models slightly based on how you hear things or how you want your mixes to translate, the handy EQ is right there for you.

No, they do not fold. They are a rigid design with some tilt to the ear cups but these can not be folded to a smaller footprint. The included box is excellent for storage and travel though.

That's what I use, great app. Also handy for using analysis plugins on commercial releases etc.

Questions I couldn't find easily on the site:
When do they ship?
What's the return policy?

Hi guys, these are shipping now. Check all international dealers here: www.stevenslateaudio.com/vsx

There is a money back guarantee. If you follow the quickstart guide, learn the new studios and speakers, and don't find that it's helping you achieve better sounding mixes, we'll take them back.

We've had some incredible feedback from our testers. Having said that, speakers (whether virtual or not), are subjective and we're not going to win every time. But if we win 90% of the time and people are happy, then we've achieved our goals!

Cheers,
Steven

Looks very interesting and fun, I had to put in an order

I'm getting excellent result with Waves but that does not mean another system can't be better depending on user preferences.

Have to give it to Slate he's been in the forefront of ********izing tools and making them more accessible.

What's catching my interest is the low end translation and the fact that there are several listening environments to choose from.

It would be cool if more listening environments can be added on.

For a guy like me that will be doing music till I take my last breath it really makes the creative process so much more fun.

Seems absolutely perfect for me, ordered. The beta tester and pro reactions seem very impressive.

I was also a beta tester and I can confirm everyone's very positive statements. This is a new paradigm in mixing and mastering.

It's not gimmicky sounding. It sounds just like what is being modeled, but the important thing is that you can make mixing and mastering decisions just like you would with physical speakers. Only now you have multiple speakers and environments to choose from to see how things translate. It's a unique and very pleasing mix of hearing details like you would with headphones, but within the context of hearing speakers and cross talk. You have to hear it to understand and believe it. And you will. It's voodoo mojo.

this says it all...
(lucky to been beta testing them, this was one of many positive reactions from clients)

That's the value I see the VSX having for people already using ARS3 right now.

Looks dope! can someone confirm no ilok (cloud) is needed to run the plugin?

Ditto...

This system is Straight Up, Paula Abdul when she was a stone cold fox remarkable...

for what it’s worth, I’ve been on betas before, but, this is the first one I’ve done with slate. I was tickled to see how involved Steven actually is in the development of a product and how responsive he and his team were (and continue to be) on feedback from the beta testers (most of which are heavy hitter serious mixer types... unlike my silly songwriter/musician a$$). The attention to detail and access to the actual rooms and spaces really shines through.

The actual headphones are great, too. Feel amazing... comfortable for hours

The best part is you get the benefit of these great rooms without having to upgrade yours! So, lots more room to stack new outboard!

Hey @ cl-audio is that reply from Dolla from Playaz Circle aka 2 Chainz old group?

20 years and 27 gallons of Draakar Noir later...

Xoxo

Thanks for the response Steven!
There's no doubt in my mind that this will be an incredible solution for the right person and/or scenario and I'm dying to check out how these headphones sound.

That said- I think I'm out.
I would expect some degree of planning and consideration when installing new studio monitors, particularly if you are running a hybrid analog setup, but realistically I'm not ready to reconfigure the way I monitor everything at my desk to "install" a new set of headphones. When I have a set of 'phones I trust, I live in them and they need to go everywhere with me so that I can just plug in and get sounds I trust. I hope I'm not being a curmudgeon or showing my age, but telling me to change my monitoring workflow to accommodate a pair of headphones with their proprietary plugin is like trying to convince a professional guitarist that they don't need the headache of those vintage guitars and amps when they can just go out and buy a Line6 Variax.

That's always the kind of feedback you like to see!

You need an ILM account. However, you can use a physical iLok or activate to your computer.