Goodhertz CanOpener

[musicman691]

Rather than camp on the Abbey Roads Studio 3 thread I'm starting a new thread about ARS3 versus Goodhertz CanOpener. I've already made some comments about ARS3 and the rotation control and I'll not rehash that here. I'm looking more at the sound of ARS3 and found that I'm really not all that nuts about the overall sound. That got me to searching for other's thoughts on the plugin and I ended up looking at a thread over on Gearslutz.

What I found there that caught my eye was not so much poster's reactions to ARS3 but several talked about Goodhertz CanOpener so I did some digging there. It has a crossfeed algo (I believe ARS3 uses some kind of hrtf algo) that's supposed to emulate what it's like listening to real speakers on headphones. There's a lot of controls to work with for sure. They don't take into account head dimensions like ARS3.

Has anybody used CanOpener and what did you think about it? Currently $65 US which is a bit more than the Waves plugin. Worth it or is it snake oil? Also their copy protection entails having one's computer online but they do offer a challenge/response deal as an alternative. Anyone have any issue with their c/r?

[Top Jimmy]

112dB has a similar plugin called Redline Monitor. Not used it but if you're doing a comparison, it comes with a 60-day demo.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Top Jimmy

112dB has a similar plugin called Redline Monitor. Not used it but if you're doing a comparison, it comes with a 60-day demo.

Thanks for the tickler on Redline. Interesting they don't have a picture of the gui on the product page. I am doing a comparison between ARS3 and CanOpener so adding one more to the party - no social distancing needed - isn't an issue. So far ARS3 is at the bottom as I'm finding coloration on even the nearfields isn't to my liking. Looking more for transparent (I know what my cans sound like versus my nearfields) and ARS3 mucks that up.

[musicman691]

Am I ever thankful for demo s/w. Downloaded & installed 112dB redline monitor. Authorization is via an emailed license file that gets installed upon installation of the plugin. Quick & relatively painless.


Demoing redline versus CanOpener as ARS3 has been sidelined due to aforementioned sound issues. It does what it's supposed to do but I can't stand the frequency response curve especially in the midrange and highs. Those nearfields sure ain't flat by any stretch of the imagination.


Redline apparently monos bass freqs but there's no documentation to say at what frequency they start monoing. No output level control so you can't match ins and outs or compensate like CanOpener. Also doesn't appear to follow the Fletcher-Munson curves like CanOpener does.


Verdict for now - Goodhertz CanOpener for the win. More if/when I figure out more.

[LDS]

Another option is Hear v3 by Flux. Has the added benefit that it supports surround formats all the way up to Atmos too - https://www.flux.audio/project/ircam-hear-v3/

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by LDS

Another option is Hear v3 by Flux. Has the added benefit that it supports surround formats all the way up to Atmos too - https://www.flux.audio/project/ircam-hear-v3/

Expensive and the enable/disable button in the plugin doesn't work in PT 2019.6. However hosting the au version in Blue Cat Patchwork and using Patchwork's enable/disable button works. So the aax version is screwed-up. Have a support ticket in with Flux but I don't hold out any hope of this getting fixed as the plugin was last updated in 2018 according to their installer app.