Has IK just made accurate headphone mixing a reality with ARC On-Ear?€300 (€249 introductory price), ikmultimedia.com
IK has been producing ARC (Advanced Response Correction) systems for some time, using a combination of special microphones and software to measure and compensate for the imperfect acoustic nature of most listening spaces and studios. Most recently, it has built the technology into some of its speakers.

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Now, the company has created the ARC On-Ear system for people who are tracking, mixing and mastering on headphones. A combination of a hardware unit and a software application, it’s a rather more user-friendly format than the other ARC products, a little smaller than an Apple TV box and designed to work with both digital and analogue sources.
So what’s the problem it’s designed to solve?
As IK identifies, all headphones have their own characteristics, just like speakers or rooms do. As more people need to work on headphones, be it late at night, on the move or in some other circumstance when away from their full studio, you want to be able to trust that you are hearing an accurate picture of your audio. The ARC On-Ear application that runs on your Mac or PC (though not iPad) contains presets for hundreds of models of headphones that let you ‘correct’ their frequency response curve using settings created by IK. Using a combination of physical modelling EQ and phase alignment for the studio simulation and ambience algorithms and FIR filters inside the device itself, the idea is that you remove the guesswork and need for revisions that can come with having to mix, knowing your headphones are colouring your sound to an extent.
Image: Press
Additionally, the system provides a way to emulate a number of speaker types from studio monitors to smart TVs and smartphones, again using physical modelling. This ‘Studio Simulation’ option, which can be activated independently from headphone correction, lets you choose from a bunch of speaker models (which are not technically named but are pretty clearly identifiable from their icons). You can choose the virtual width of the speaker spacing as well as turn on room ambience if you wish.
The compact size of the hardware means it can be carried easily and used anywhere – there’s a rechargeable internal battery that offers up to four hours of use, powering the internal DAC. When connected to your computer or tablet, it will recharge over USB-C while in general use and with support for sample rates up to 192 kHz, it’s capable of far higher resolution than your computer’s own audio hardware and indeed many audio interfaces. Should you be working with analogue gear, a 3.5-mm input is also available, for which a cable is provided.
The software application is where you make settings but the hardware has physical controls too. Since the correction is handled on-device, it works independently of a computer. One button turns correction on or off, a second switches virtual monitoring on or off and a third Function button can be assigned in the app to perform a number of different actions. The large dial is a digitally-controlled, analogue volume control, while the five lights on the left side represent the five preset slots you can assign in the software.
Image: Press
A couple of my pairs of studio headphones are supported – popular models from AKG and Beyer – and IK says that with more than a hundred already available, more will be added over time. Dialling in the presets for our models results in a noticeable shift in the tone, a flattening of the response that suggests they have been colouring the sound – especially the Beyers in the low end – more than I realised. It’s not a huge difference but it is definitely there.
I dial in a pair of ‘White 90s’ studio monitors – Yamaha NS10s by another name – and instantly recall the notoriously neutral sound of these speakers. The old adage was that if you could make a mix sound good on them, it would sound good on anything. I also switch to a few other models and note the differing responses they offer. This is where you would tweak your mixes accordingly, moving between models to see how the sound translates.
Working on headphones has been considered by some to be something of a necessary evil, whether you’re in a communal space or simply on the move, away from your hardware setup. A really skilled producer who is very familiar with their headphones can account for their quirks when mixing but most people will find it much more convenient to use something like the ARC On-Ear system, especially given its ease of use and fairly accessible price point.
Space View on ARC On-Ear. Image: Press
The ability to not only correct for your headphones’ imperfections but also to physically model a perfectly-tuned space and a set of studio speakers is incredibly useful, making you more confident that the mixing and mastering decisions you are taking will translate well to a multitude of other playback devices. It’s not doing any mixing of course – that is still up to you and still requires skill and patience – but the system is giving you the best shot possible at doing it without needing to be in a professionally kitted-out space.
Is it a complete replacement for mixing in a full studio? Probably not – there’s nothing that compares with the rush of a pair of big, serious speakers pushing air at you – but it elevates headphone-based working to a point where you are much better able to trust it as a process.
The fact that it’s not running as a plugin across your DAW but rather being processed on the device itself means that anything you play through it, even a line out from a mixing desk, is corrected the same way. As such, it’s as adept with analogue as digital sources, and its battery capability and small size mean it’s very adaptable to however you need to work.
Anyone working regularly on headphones will find much to like here, whether tracking, mixing or even making mastering decisions. With ongoing additions to the list of supported models, it could prove to be an invaluable addition to your setup.
Frequency Response View on ARC On-Ear. Image: Press
Key features

Headphone amplifier and DAC at up to 192 kHz
4-hour internal rechargeable battery
USB-C power and audio; 3.5-mm analogue input
Mac and PC companion app
Headphone EQ correction
Physical models of a range of studio speakers
Standalone mode via on-body controls
Frequency response: 10 Hz – 80 kHz
Comes with carry case and cables

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