I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season before I shut it down. I'll be out of town till the 28th and won't have access to a computer so if you have something urgent, you can reach out to support@mastering.com ...You can send me a DM and I'll check them first chance I get ... probably not before the 28th ... but I'll get back to you as soon as possible. I sincerely wish the best for all of you and look forward to working with you in 2026 (wow ... it'll be 50 years since graduation HS ... crap, I'm old) Let's have a great break, and make the New Year the best one ever!!! See ya around the virtual campus.

Mixing and mastering on headphones is important for those of us that work in less than perfect sounding studios. Especially for checking the low end where a strong room mode persists despite your best attempts at bass trapping or sound correction. Maybe they are your primary monitoring source or a secondary one, but everyone probably at least checks their work on headphones at some point. Personally, I like open back planar magnetic headphones, but they can be power hungry beasts. I'm currently using a pair of HIFIMAN Ananda Nanos (current model is the Ananda Unveiled). The brand new Steven Slate VSX Immersion One Planar Magnetic headphones are pretty interesting, but not a cheap date. Nor are the various Audeze models such as the LCD-X. The headphone outputs on the majority of audio interfaces simply can't drive the more power hungry headphones without running out of juice (current limited). I know the headphone outs on my Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3 are pretty mediocre. I can hear distortion in the sub-bass when they are turned up a bit. After a lot of research I decided to buy a dedicated DAC/amp for my headphones and just got a Topping DX5 ii ($300). It's supposed to be a massive bang for the buck and can provide enough juice to drive all but the most extremely power hungry headphones loudly without distortion. I used the SPDIF coax out on my Scarlett to feed the SPDIF input on the Topping so that I avoid the converters on the Scarlett. I also got a balanced headphone cable (4.4mm jack) to get maximum power out of the Topping. End Result: The extra clarity, extended range, and lack of distortion in the sub-bass was immediately evident. I was impressed. It sounds so good that I may hold off buying new studio monitors and primarily mix/master on headphones for now. I know that spending an extra $300 to drive an already pricey set of headphones seems like a lot, but if you get the chance to A/B a good DAC/amp (such as the Topping DX5 ii) with your audio interface headphone outs, do it.

Bruh... why Temu keep showing me this studio equipment? Mixers, audio interfaces... heck... I know they ain't got no dang Akai or AIR equipment! And want me to belive they got some other big name brand equipment. I can't remember who it was.

Let me know your thoughts just finished ep.2 of the outbreak https://youtu.be/p4QxYk_71ow

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