00:00I recently made a video on the new ik
00:01multimedia Arc studio room calibration
00:05system and I received a bunch of
00:07questions and comments it's crazy and
00:10the question that kept coming back is
00:13how does it compare to sonar Works sound
00:16ID and I'm going to be able to answer
00:18that for you because I've been working
00:19with sound ID for several years so I
00:22know it pretty well and by the way I
00:24have both affiliate links in the
00:27description down below so this is not a
00:29sponsored video all that to say that of
00:31course I'm going to be unbiased and give
00:33you the right picture on comparing both
00:36options so you can make a clear decision
00:38if you're depending on which one you
00:40should go for let's do
00:44it okay if we look at the calibration
00:47process of each systems on the Sid side
00:51it will measure 37 points which is a lot
00:55and it doesn't in a very efficient way
00:58it's going to determine the distance
00:59between between the two speakers in
01:01relation to the Sweet Spot and it's
01:04going to be able to track your
01:05microphone while doing the measurements
01:08this is awesome this is like one side of
01:11sound ID that I like a lot so on the arc
01:14Studio side there's a choice between a
01:16quick measurement and the regular
01:18Advanced measurements so seven points
01:21for the quick one and 21 measurement
01:23points uh for the full measurement which
01:26is the one I use on the arc side the
01:28measurements is going to be done a bit
01:30differently so for the 21 measurements
01:32seven will be 6 in below the hearing
01:35point seven at the hearing point and
01:38seven above the hearing point and what's
01:41missing is the way to track the
01:43microphone while doing the measurements
01:46like we have on the sound ID side so I
01:49had to base myself on the picture of the
01:52software for the microphone placement so
01:55to make the measurement process easier I
01:57just put on some stickers on the floor
01:59to the position of my mic stand so I
02:02keep the same location spots for my
02:05microphone on every measurement layer
02:07and that seem to work pretty well so
02:09when it comes to the measurement results
02:11between the two uh the two systems on
02:14the arc side this is what my uh
02:18calibration looks like so there's the
02:20before calibration which is the green uh
02:24graphic so there's a bump at around the
02:27150 htz a bit of a dip in the uh sub
02:30frequencies and a boost on the top end
02:33if we look on the uh sound ID side it's
02:37pretty much the same it's very very
02:40close so even if they have like
02:42different ways of calibrating the room
02:45the end result is very very close so
02:49either way it's going to give you very
02:51good calibration and when it comes to
02:54the sound Itself by comparing both in my
02:57book they both sound great they're in in
02:59the same ballpark and of course they
03:01will sound a bit different but the
03:03differences are subjective at this point
03:06it might please to one and not the other
03:08and vice versa on my end I kind of lean
03:11towards the arc uh sound you know I find
03:14that it sounds a bit more natural for my
03:17taste but again someone else can say the
03:19same thing you know on the sound ID side
03:21now if we look at the plugin itself I'm
03:23just going to briefly show you a few
03:25differences uh they are both easy to
03:28work with on the graphic side we have
03:30the choice between the before reading
03:33and also the after or one or the other
03:36on the sound ID side uh it's the graphic
03:39side can show us the uh after before
03:42what the calibration does uh phase
03:45limits you know uh so a bit more options
03:48on this side uh also uh there's a dry
03:52wet knob that I like a lot on the sound
03:55ID side if we look at the after
03:57calibration this is the response you'll
04:01100% uh wet which is basically a
04:05straight line so very very flat at some
04:08point that can sound unnatural so that's
04:10why when I use sound ID I kind of like
04:13to tweak the dry wet knob a bit you know
04:16just to make it sound a bit more natural
04:19okay but on the arc side I'm going to go
04:21on edit and I'm going to get connection
04:23types and so I have three of those
04:25there's the sharp which is going to be
04:28uh let me just bring out the before
04:31which is going to be close to a straight
04:33line there is also the default which is
04:37a bit more loose sounds a bit more
04:39natural and this is the one I use and
04:41there's also the broad which is going to
04:43be even looser I do prefer the dry wet
04:46mix knob so I have way more flexibility
04:48on the intensity of the correction
04:51opposed to having the choice between
04:52three correction types but again default
04:55works fine so that would be something
04:57cool to add on the arc side another
04:59thing that I actually like on sound ID
05:02is the custom Target uh which is a way
05:06to EQ the final result just to fine-tune
05:10uh things up so I can create different
05:12bands of frequencies actually I can
05:13create up to 15 if I'm not mistaken and
05:16I can move them around you know and
05:18tweet the filter type from Bell low
05:20shelf High shelf and also uh play with
05:24the Q factor for a more narrow cut or
05:27boost which can be practical all on the
05:30ark4 side I have uh six band of
05:33frequencies that I can play around with
05:35but it's not very flexible so you know
05:38what you see is what you get you
05:40increase you decrease uh the band and
05:43that's it that's all you do okay so it's
05:45a bit more trickier if you want to
05:47fine-tune some things up since don't
05:49have access to Q factor for example so
05:51it adds a bit of limitation as far as
05:53the AQ goes but both will have a high
05:57pass and low pass filter
06:00just to tighten up the range the
06:02affected corrected range uh of
06:05frequencies and same on the sound ID
06:08side okay so if I don't want to affect
06:11the low end and the top end I can do so
06:15with the highpass and low pass filters
06:18both will have different virtual systems
06:21uh that you can monitor through like on
06:23the arc side there's a bunch of
06:24different emulation of studio monitors
06:27also multimedia devices like a 49 in TV
06:31a portable Bluetooth speaker and a
06:33smartphone uh on the sound ID side we
06:37click on translation check and same here
06:40we have different uh types of devices
06:43and environments like three different
06:46cars that you can monitor through um
06:49different types of headphones laptops
06:51smartphones Studio speakers which is
06:53limited to only two uh the ns11 which is
06:56the equivalent of the ns10s and the mix
07:00uh for the types of Studio speakers in
07:02that regard there's more Choice uh on
07:05the arc 4 side both can create several
07:09profiles in case you're not limited only
07:11to one so if you use several sets of
07:13speakers you can create custom profiles
07:16for each of them and you can load them
07:18uh straight from the measurement uh side
07:21of the arc 4 uh and you select your
07:25profile and on the sound ID it's on the
07:28left listed on the left okay now one
07:30major difference between the two and you
07:33know that already is that the arc Studio
07:36system includes a piece of Hardware that
07:39little box and this is what sold me to
07:42the arc system meaning that you can
07:44activate the calibration straight inside
07:48the box so you load it from the software
07:50to the box and then you don't need the
07:52software anymore to apply calibration on
07:55your computer or on your Daw so that is
07:58a big advantage of the arc Studio on the
08:02sound ID side there's no Hardware
08:05however you can have the option on
08:07calibrating some headphones okay and
08:10lots of people will use sonid to
08:13calibrate headphones to make headphones
08:16sound flat so if I go on the sound ID
08:19side I have access to like almost all
08:23the headphone the studio headphone
08:25manufacturers like all the brands all
08:28the models are list Ed so I can go
08:30straight for example under Odyssey look
08:33for my mm500 and there you go I have a
08:36profile General profile I can work with
08:39I don't use it because I like the way my
08:42headphones sound as they are so I don't
08:45use headphone calibration for those uh
08:47but this is something that lots of
08:48people like to work with and there's no
08:51headphone option on the arc side now by
08:53reading some of the comments on my arc
08:56studio video some people had some
08:58concern concerns about the fact that
09:01there's some converters into this box so
09:04there's a second layer of conversion
09:07when getting out of your sound interface
09:09to the arc Studio Box and from that
09:12point the signal is going to go through
09:13the converters uh to apply the
09:15calibration profile and then we'll go
09:17back out in analog to feed your speakers
09:20but on my side I'm going to have to say
09:22that it sounds very clean and
09:24transparent I did lots of AB testing by
09:27comparing the Box sound
09:30with only using the plugin with the
09:32system I have I was unable to point out
09:34any differences but that's me but for
09:36someone who works with high-end gear and
09:38expensive studio monitors that can be
09:41concerning and it's understandable but
09:43as far as I'm concerned it's all good
09:45now on the sound ID side if you want to
09:47change profile you select a new profile
09:49and you're good to go on the arc system
09:50you select your profile but before you
09:53can turn off the plug-in you need to
09:55store the profile on your device so you
09:58need to make sure that the device is
09:59connected to your computer load the
10:02profile and then you're good to go okay
10:04so if you use several studio monitors
10:06and you want to switch from one to
10:08another uh there's maybe an extra step
10:11to go through you know just by loading
10:12the new profile on the device before
10:15shutting down the software on the other
10:17hand there's no latency while working
10:20with The Arc studio so you can actually
10:23record with it which is not necessarily
10:25the case with sound ID so I actually did
10:27some tests by using Direct monitoring
10:30straight from my sound interface going
10:31to the arc Studio of course through my
10:33speakers and applying the correction I
10:36didn't hear any latency so if there's
10:38some it's very very tiny so on my side I
10:42can record uh with the correction on
10:44straight from the arc Studio Box now if
10:47you look at the price very similar uh if
10:49I go on the uh Sweetwater website sound
10:52ID goes out at $99 for headphone
10:55calibration only uh for headphone and
10:58speaker speakers it goes out at
11:01$249 us if you want to add the
11:04calibration microphone in the package
11:08$299 us there's also something a bit
11:11more advanced with sound ID is the
11:14multi-channel uh version that will work
11:16well with Atmos so this goes at
11:20$499 us on the arc Studio side the full
11:25system which includes the hardware the
11:27calibration mic and of course the ark4
11:30software goes out at
11:32$299 us but you can also uh just buy the
11:36software itself and that will go out at
11:39$199 us which will not include the box
11:44and the calibration mic also so that is
11:46only the software which is also the
11:49plug-in now who's the winner between the
11:51arc Studio system and sound ID honestly
11:55it depends on your needs on my side I
11:58love to have access to a hardware to
12:00bypass the calibration when I go from my
12:02headphones to my speakers cuz I don't
12:04use calibration on my headphones anyways
12:06so this is a very good option if on your
12:08side you do use headphone calibration on
12:11top of your studio monitors sound ID is
12:14the way to go either way you're going to
12:15get very good results again links are
12:18down below now according to your needs
12:20let me know down below which one you
12:22like the most now you can watch this
12:24video if you want to know more about the
12:25arc Studio system leave your comments
12:27and questions down below until next time
12:29take care and see you
