How It Works

Humanoid uses an FFT-based re-tuning engine that allows you to modify specific elements of the sound, like pitch, filtering, and synthesis. With Humanoid’s pitch controls, you can correct your audio in exciting ways, such as correcting individual notes with Scale mode. This is a good way to match your vocals to musical keys in real-time. The wavetable synth takes the set pitch and resynthesizes it with selectable waveshapes. Using filters allows you to shape the tone even further with high and low-pass filters.

There are tons of other features that Humanoid offers that will continue to shake up your vocals. Here are some of the additional key features you can expect.

• Transform Knob: Morph between robotified hard-tuning and re-synthesized vocals to seamlessly blend between human and machine. Use the shape and stretch parameters to manipulate the wavetable and the note shift and octave parameters to fatten and shift the pitch.
• Effects: Humanoid’s effects section gives you creative tools to warp your voice. Widen makes the voice wider, while Warble offers spectral vibrato. Freeze is a unique stutter effect that can be synced to the BPM or programmed freely.
• Utility: The Utility section contains helpful tools for improving the results of the vocal processing. Limit the note range to improve pitch detection, add a de-esser to tame sibilance, and a gate to reduce bleed and background noise. The smoothing function reduces harsh harmonics for a more soft and relaxed re-tuning style.
• Presets: Humanoid comes with 180 presets from top sound designers. From classic hard-tuning effects to transformative vocal manipulation, you’ll find expertly built patches that work across a variety of genres.
• Sharpen: Enhance the vocal signal to achieve a clearer and sharper balance that will cut through the mix. Click the calibration icon to control the brightness.
• Output: Set Humanoid’s global output. Click the calibration icon to set the input gain and global dry/wet mix. Click+drag the bottom right of the interface to re-size.
• Settings: Enter the settings menu to show/hide tooltips, change the interface color, launch the quick-start guide, access resources and more.
• Buffer: Humanoid works by analyzing incoming audio in the spectral domain. Select the Low buffer setting to analyze a smaller window of audio for low latency performance, or select Medium or High for better pitch tracking at the expense of higher latency.

System Requirements

• Plugin formats: VST, VST3, AU, AAX (64-bit).
• Mac OS 10.11 and up (including Native Apple Silicon M1/M2 Compatibility).
• PC Windows 10 and newer.
• DAWs supported: All major DAWs, including Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper, Reason, etc

Humanoid costs $79, and is available from Plugin Boutique.

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According to Tidal, they will be replacing all MQA tracks with the highest quality FLAC version beginning on July 24th, 2024. It’s not clear what the exact streaming quality of these MQA tracks will be replaced with. Right now, Tidal’s hi-res selection can reach a maximum of 24bit/192kHz. What this could mean is that these MQA tracks will be replaced with any FLAC streaming quality above 16bit/44.1kHz, which is standard CD-quality lossless audio.

What’s come as even more of a surprise is the added announcement Tidal ditching Sony’s 360 Reality Audio. This means that you will no longer be able to listen to Sony’s spatial audio with headphones like the WH-1000XM5 or the ULT WEAR. However, this doesn’t mean that Tidal is getting rid of spatial audio completely. Tidal already has a selection of Dolby Atmos tracks for you to choose from, and will now be their main format for spatial audio moving forward. Dolby Atmos is also the format that Apple Music is using for its spatial audio tracks. This leaves Amazon Music, and Deezer as the last remaining music streaming services to offer 360 Reality Audio. It will be interesting to see if that format goes the way of MQA as well.

If you’re still interested in MQA, it was reported last week that a new music service is in the works from Lenbrook Media Group and HDtracks. This new digital storefront will feature both FLAC and MQA tracks just as Tidal has been doing for a year now.

The post Tidal Announces Major Changes – Ditches MQA & 360 Reality Audio appeared first on Major HiFi.

History Of Spotify Going Lossless

There have been a few rumored iterations of Spotify’s lossless plan. In 2021, before even Apple switched to lossless, Spotify was planning a new tier that would introduce “Spotify HiFi.” After other popular music streamers beat Spotify to it, there was little word on when this new tier would be made available. Last year, there was talk about Spotify unveiling a new tier called “Supremium” that would finally enable lossless streaming. However, this tier was never released, and Spotfy’s streaming still caps at 320kbps.

Where Was Spotify Music Pro Discovered?

According to The Verge, a Reddit user uncovered “Music Pro” within the app’s code. This finding insinuates that Lossless no longer be its own tier, and should instead be offered as an option to existing ones. What caught our eye from this Reddit thread was the inclusion of “advanced mixing tools” and “headphone optimization.” These features could set Spotify’s lossless integration apart from its competitors. For now, we can only speculate what these potential features could be.

Recently, Tidal announced that they were reducing the price of their highest tier to 10.99. This brings most music streaming services that offer lossless audio around the same price. Originally, Spotify was planning to offer their lossless tier for ten dollars more a month, but maybe with Music Pro, they’ll finally catch up to their rivals.

The post Could Spotify’s Music Pro Be Their Long Awaited Lossless Tier? appeared first on Major HiFi.

The Smile – Wall Of Eyes

If you haven’t heard of The Smile, you’ve definitely heard of at least two of their members. The latest album from Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead’s side project “The Smile,” is full of tracks that sound intoxicating over good headphones. Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” is an album you see a lot on headphone-testing playlists, and Wall Of Eyes resembles a lot of its production. I recently tested this album with The Composer from Austrian Audio, and it made the instrumentals feel extra jumpy on tracks like “Under Our Pillows,” adding to the transparency of Greenwood’s hypnotic composition. The specific attack and clean tone of his guitar, mixed with Yorke’s reverberated vocals and a deep vibrating bass create a wonderful synthesis of musicality that your headphones and IEMs will easily engage you in.

Future Islands – People Who Aren’t There Anymore

With the last entry, it was the arrangements and production that made it a great album for headphone testing. This latest album from the synth-pop group “Future Islands,” it’s one main aspect. Sam Herring’s vocal performance in this album by itself is a good indicator of what frequency ranges your headphones can handle. The dynamic range of the vocals spans from the mid-bass, all the way to the upper-midrange, with tons of detail and intricacies to be revealed to you through good headphones. If your headphones can replicate the spectrum between his deep gravel to his burst of shoutier melody with balance and crispness, you might have yourself a good set of cans. Tracks like “The Tower” stand out as having some of the most intimate vocal performances from Herring, and the album also has a deep enveloping bass throughout its runtime.

Billow Observatory – Soliton

I tend to receive some of the most informal and enjoyable listening experiences of testing headphones with ambient music. The ethereal nature of the genre communicates a lot of immersive elements that are integral to headphone testing, and that’s best shown on the latest EP from “Billow Observatory”. A lot of its instrumentation is minimalist, but it’s the texture that the many reverberant drones bring out that listening with good headphones will help completely transport you somewhere else. “Soliton” uses the entire spectrum of sound to entice you in its spacey environment, which certain open-back headphones will wrap around your head, from left to right, up and down, and forward and behind.

Hiatus Kaiyote – Everything’s Beautiful

This is a very recent single from the alternative R&B group Hiatus Kaiyote, and I was entranced by it as soon as I first heard it. The exceptionally clean bass groove, mixed with the tight snap of the snare rim immediately tickles my eardrums through a pair of Meze 109 Pros. Then that crisp female vocal comes in and just oozes expressive detail that could be a new reference for me. There are also these layered vocal harmonies that open up the soundstage and spread out the mix, showcasing great scope.

Joe Hisaishi – The Boy & The Heron(Original Soundtrack)

Great movie scores are a must when I test headphones. The music for this film struck me when I saw it in theaters, and I couldn’t wait to hear how it sounded over headphones. Joe Hisaishi is one of the best composers working today, with his best work scoring the films of Hayao Miyazaki. The original soundtrack has hit streaming recently, and have been reveling in it for many of the headphones and IEMs I’ve been testing.

There’s a strong focus on solo piano on this album, and the performance is incredibly well captured. This piano possesses a full spectrum of sound, with the full gravity of the performance being enhanced by a great pair of headphones. Each note that he strikes should feel like the most important note ever recorded. You get some beautiful orchestration too, which certain headphones can add precision to. All of these different instruments should feel like they’re coming from their own separate origin and form a scene of sound around your headspace. Having a good tonal balance is also very important when the music starts to form a climax towards the end of the album.

The post Great New Music To Test Your Headphones With appeared first on Major HiFi.

Of course, if you primarily listen to music through AirPods or any pair of Bluetooth headphones/true wireless earbuds, then this change won’t be much of a problem. However, if you’re someone who uses your iPhone with audio peripherals like DAC/Amp dongles, or other portable devices, then you might find some products obsolete with the iPhone 15. This includes products like your common 3.5mm to lightning headphone adapter and other dongles that terminate to lightning without a detachable cable. You’ll probably no longer see lightning versions of some products like the Fiio KA1, so you’ll need to exclusively use Type C versions of these items if you want to use them with the iPhone 15.

On the positive side, this opens up the iPhone to work with more audio devices on the market without the need for adapters. If you use products like the iFi Hip-DAC 2, or iFi Diablo, then you won’t need to use a camera adapter to connect their USB-A cables to lightning. You can use Type C to Type C cables, or OTG adapters which are a lot more reliable than the Apple camera adapters. Some DAC/Amps that only offer Type C connectors in the box, like the Questyle M15, can also be used without the need to purchase extra cables.

The post What The iPhone 15’s USB Type C Port Means For Your Headphones appeared first on Major HiFi.

What Does MAX Mean For Tidal?

If you’re seeing MAX next to an album or single on Tidal, it means you’re listening to the highest possible playback quality on the platform. Before this update, you only had the choice between CD-quality audio and MQA. CD quality is still available and is still a lossless format, which streams at 16bit 44.1kHz. MAX indicates anything above that sample rate and bit depth. This is considered HiRes, which was not offered by Tidal before this update. As of right now, there is no way to indicate specifically what HiRes sample rate and bit depth you’re streaming at with MAX. It’s probably safe to assume most MAX tracks will be 24bit, but HiRes sample rates could mean anything between 48kHz and 192kHz.

Can I Still Get MQA On Tidal?

Yes. Tidal has made no changes to what tracks offer MQA on their platform. You can expect everything that has MQA before, still has MQA post-update. There was speculation before this update that Tidal would do away with MQA and favor HiRes FLAC instead, but they’ve figured out a way to include both formats on the platform. One of the downsides to this is that Tidal doesn’t make it very easy to discern, so hopefully they create better labels in the future. There is still a possibility that Tidal can remove MQA entirely, but that remains to be seen.

The post Tidal MAX Vs Master, What’s The Difference? appeared first on Major HiFi.

It’s no secret that many artists have trouble finding an audience on streaming platforms, mainly due to the abundance of names that each service offers. Muzos recognizes that, and hopes to make it easier for artists to get noticed with their new app. In the long run, Muzos aims to create a sizable community of music lovers sharing their listening journies. It’s almost akin to what people do with Spotify wrapped every year, except Muzos is year-round.

Okay, so you listen to music and receive points, but what reward do those points get you? According to Muzos, the points you acquire can be spent on a variety of items, such as concert tickets, artist merch, and even headphones. This is the vision for the future version of this app, as only released yesterday, these rewards will not be available yet. Because this is a freshly launched app, Muzos only offers integration with Apple Music as of right now. However, they do have plans for Amazon Music and Youtube Music as well. No word on Spotify or Tidal for now.

There is a lot of potential for artists on this platform, with discoverabilty being a main focus. Muzos is also planning on creating more tools for artists to interact with their listeners. In future updates, Muzos want’s to make it so artists can reward their listeners for sharing their music. An example of this is already on the homepage of the app.

Download the app here.

The post Muzos Is A Freshly Launched Add-On For Music Streaming appeared first on Major HiFi.

What Makes A Headphone Good For DJs?

Usually, DJs wear headphones that have clarity in their frequency response with good imaging. Every pair of headphones have its specific profile, even ones that are used for reference monitoring, but the common denominator of those headphones is being able to hear everything you need to without obstruction. Many common consumer headphones and earbuds can’t reproduce the level of articulation that is needed for DJs. For instance, bass reproduction is a major factor of DJ headphones, and DJs need to be able to hear those frequencies without any compromise. They need to be clear, and spatially accurate.

Sennheiser HD 25

Almost every list of best DJ headphones should include the Sennheiser HD 25. They’ve been around forever and for good reason. It’s not just its excellent sound reproduction that makes the HD 25 so beloved, it’s the headphone’s compact size. These are one of the few flat-cupped headphones that are favored by DJs, making them easy to wear and carry around throughout long sessions and performances. You may think its size hampers the sound reproduction, but you’ll be surprised by its clear bass timbre that is both tight and snappy.

Beyerdynamnic DT 700 Pro X 

This is a brand that has its place in many parts of the audio production world. They have a lot of good headphones for monitoring and mixing, but the DT 700 Pro X fits the best for DJs. The DT 770 is also a good option, but the 700 Pro X is newer, more comfortable, and doesn’t have as much brightness. It’s a smooth listening experience that is accurate and exceptionally clear, with an articulate bass that is well organized in its sound signature.

Audio Technica ATH-M50x

You’re bound to see the M50x brought up on many lists of great headphones no matter what year it is. They’re that versatile. Like Beyerdynamic, Audio Technica is a common name associated with pro audio, so it’s bound to come up in DJ spaces as well. These headphones are favorites for engineers, but especially DJs, as their mostly balanced response gives you just enough extra bass to make an even better reference for electronic mixes.

Pioneer HDJ-X10

Names like Audio Technica, Beyerdynamic, and Sennheiser are known throughout the audio world, but Pioneer is one of the few brands specifically aimed at DJs. Their controllers and other systems are staples for DJs everywhere, so naturally, their headphones will be too. The HDJ-X10 is one of those headphones, and as far as over-ear closed-backs go, these are their best option. They’re incredibly well-balanced and durable enough to last you a long time.

Pioneer HDJ-CUE1

From the same line, you also get a solid on-ear pair for a great price. The CUE1 is one of the best budget headphones you can get in general, so for DJs looking for something that won’t break the bank the CUE1 is perfect. If you’re looking for a good place to Buy Top DJ Headphones of this year, the CUE1 is the perfect entry-level set of cans.

The post What Are The Best DJ Headphones In 2023? appeared first on Major HiFi.

Potential Features

TikTok is already a vast social media app, with tons of music-related content to enjoy. Many people that use TikTok like they can discover new music through viral trends. This is what TikTok Music is planning to focus on as a major advantage over other streaming giants like Spotify and Apple Music. With TikTok Music, users can sync their existing TikTok accounts, making songs you save through videos into a playlist. Other features like ad-free and offline listening. There was an attempt by TikTok to develop a music streaming service in the past with Resso, which has also been available internationally until now.

Lossless Streaming?

With a new music streaming platform entering the market, one of the imprtant questions for the audiophile world to consider is if TikTok Music will offer CD-quality streaming. With most services offering lossless and hi-res music streaming, including Spotify who announced that they were moving their library to lossless later this year, you might assume that TikTok Music would offer it as well to keep up with trends. Music discovery seems to be TikTok Music’s focus, so lossless audio might not be in the cards, but we will see once it releases in America. TikTok Music doesn’t seem like it’s trying to appeal to an audiophile market, but lossless streaming is still the norm right now. Whether or not TikTok Music has lossless streaming might not matter to the people that will be most interested in it, but it’s still important to condsider.

The post Is TikTok Launching Their Own Music Streaming Service? appeared first on Major HiFi.

Why Has Spotify HiFi Been Delayed?

With Apple and Amazon making moves shortly after Spotify’s initial announcement back in 2021, it might be easy to put two and two together. It was an aggressive move that happened to work out well for both Apple Music and Amazon Music HD. Not only did they make their entire music selection completely lossless, but they’ve also upgraded to Hi-Res sample rates, and have also offered new audio ventures like spatial audio. However, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek did express that the delay being caused by licensing issues.

No matter what you believe, it seems like Spotify is finally ready to release its HiFi streaming tier. Bloomberg reported that we can expect to see Spotify go lossless later this year. International markets will be the first to receive this new update, with a US release planned shortly after. It seems like October will be when it launches.

Should You Pay More For Spotify HiFi?

From reports, it’s looking like Spotify’s HiFi tier will be a part of a new premium subscription that will cost $19 a month. This is ten dollars more than their current premium plan, matching Tidal’s HiFi Plus subscription plan, which offers Dolby Atmos tracks, Sony 360 Reality Audio tracks, and MQA(soon to also offer Hi-Res).

It isn’t known if Spotify has plans to feature anything beyond CD-quality streaming or any form of spatial audio listening. Knowing you could be getting more for the same price might impact your decision on whether to choose Spotify’s lossless tier. If you primarily listen to Bluetooth headphones and earbuds though, you probably won’t find a reason to pay for a more expensive plan. More information about Spotify’s new premium plan could change opinions toward increased pricing though, and we’re hoping to learn more in the coming months.

The post Spotify Is Closer To Going HiFi, Should You Pay More For It? appeared first on Major HiFi.