Cans2Cones

If you mix on headphones in a home studio, in a dorm room, or on the go, you know it can be difficult to judge how your mix will sound when played back on speakers. Cans2Cones can help! What Cans2Cones does Cans2Cones reduces the “superstereo” effect of headphones by generating cross-mixed Interaural Time and Amplitude Differences (ITD and IAD) for the left and right ear. This crossfeed is not the same as simple panning or reducing stereo width. It actually produces a sense of distance to the emulated “speakers” with subtle EQ changes and comb filtering that occur with real speakers in a real room.

What Cans2Cones does NOT do Cans2Cones is not a "headphone equalizer". It does not attempt to correct any spectral imbalances in your headphones' frequency response, nor does it apply any "room correction" or room ambience. It assumes a flat frequency response in a heavily treated room with monitors positioned in a standard equilateral triangle relative to the listening position.

A unique feature of Cans2Cones is the "Dynamic De-Compression" control, which reduces the compressed, "in-your-head" sound that occurs due to the close proximity of the headphones' drivers to the eardrums. This decompressor “dries” the sound slightly, helping to emulate what you would hear with real speakers in a real room. Dynamic De-Compression helps the listener better assess the amount of reverb and compression in a mix, which is often exaggerated when listening on headphones.

Cans2Cones includes 3 “Quick Select” presets: "Near-field", "Mid-field" and "Far-field", which generate the apparent distance and frequency response of typical monitor speakers used in these positions. (The emulated distance can also be varied to other values with the Distance control.) A “Subwoofer” control is also included, which fills out the low-frequency response to provide full range on any of the “speakers”. When different distances are selected, the auditory perspective changes - just like moving monitors around in a real room!