I'm looking to build a new headphone measurement rig for purposes of modding and EQing. My old/existing one is a Dayton EMM-6 mounted flush through a damped aluminum plate because that was the easiest to build at the time. Since it uses a full size measurement mic it's way too wide to actually make it "wear" a pair of headphones like a human head. Consequently, it was only easily usable with the Stax Lambdas I built it for since their cups easily detach from the headband. They can just be laid flat, and fastened in place on the plate.
I'd like to build a new one which is more convenient to use. I've been mulling over a few ideas and was hoping for some useful advice here.
Mod a MiniDSP EARS
(I'm skeptical of the idea of building an artificial pinna, then subtracting it from the measurement afterwards, plus the EARS' compensation isn't supposed to be very good anyway so I'd want to mod it into a flat plate.)
This might be the easiest and quickest depending on its construction. From pictures it looks like you can remove the artificial pinna with a few screws. Then it might just need a new flat plate flush with the mic capsules. The EARS also comes with calibration files for the raw capsules, which I haven't seen anyone complain about.
Unfortunately, my google-fu isn't good enough to find anyone who's tried this, or even a teardown which would show me what's beneath the white plastic pinna layer.
Mount a Standard Measurement Mic at an Angle
I found this rig on Homebrew Headphones but I'm not sure what kind of artifacts the recess and angle might introduce.
Mount a Shorter Measurement Mic Perpendicularly
The problem is I can't find one. All the inexpensive ones (Dayton EMM series, MiniDSP UMIK) are just closes of the same design which is too long. Browsing Sweetwater and B&H it seems the more expensive pro brands also use the same basic form factor.
Does such a thing even exist?
Mount a Raw Mic Capsule in a Flat Plate
This wouldn't be to difficult for me to build and I already have an interface with phantom power for my EMM-6. I don't really know much about picking out a capsule though. Can you even get raw capsules with calibration files?
I'd like to build a new one which is more convenient to use. I've been mulling over a few ideas and was hoping for some useful advice here.
Mod a MiniDSP EARS
(I'm skeptical of the idea of building an artificial pinna, then subtracting it from the measurement afterwards, plus the EARS' compensation isn't supposed to be very good anyway so I'd want to mod it into a flat plate.)
This might be the easiest and quickest depending on its construction. From pictures it looks like you can remove the artificial pinna with a few screws. Then it might just need a new flat plate flush with the mic capsules. The EARS also comes with calibration files for the raw capsules, which I haven't seen anyone complain about.
Unfortunately, my google-fu isn't good enough to find anyone who's tried this, or even a teardown which would show me what's beneath the white plastic pinna layer.
Mount a Standard Measurement Mic at an Angle
I found this rig on Homebrew Headphones but I'm not sure what kind of artifacts the recess and angle might introduce.
Mount a Shorter Measurement Mic Perpendicularly
The problem is I can't find one. All the inexpensive ones (Dayton EMM series, MiniDSP UMIK) are just closes of the same design which is too long. Browsing Sweetwater and B&H it seems the more expensive pro brands also use the same basic form factor.
Does such a thing even exist?
Mount a Raw Mic Capsule in a Flat Plate
This wouldn't be to difficult for me to build and I already have an interface with phantom power for my EMM-6. I don't really know much about picking out a capsule though. Can you even get raw capsules with calibration files?