It is the eternal debate of the modern home studio: Do I spend $1000 on rock wool panels or $300 on room correction software? The short answer is: software cannot break the laws of physics, but it can save your life if you understand its limits.
Physical panels vs. DSP tricks
Acoustic treatment (panels, bass traps, diffusers) changes how sound physically travels in your room. It reduces reverberation time (RT60) and controls reflections. DSP calibration (like Sonarworks or Piroola's system) only changes the signal coming out of the speakers to compensate for what the room will do next.
You Can't EQ a Null
Where DSP calibration helps
DSP is fantastic for correcting frequency response in the sweet spot. It can tame an annoying bass peak or smooth out bright highs. But it cannot fix the room's decay time (reverb). A room with a lot of echo will still have a lot of echo, even if the EQ is flat.
Real monitoring strategies on a budget
In an untreated bedroom, putting up cheap foam panels usually does little for bass. Here, DSP correction can help clean up the stereo image and give you a more reliable reference, provided you don't move from your chair. But if you record vocals or instruments, DSP on the monitors does nothing for the microphone: you need physical treatment.
Hybrid correction road map
Your Action Plan
- Priority 1: Place bass traps in corners. That's where energy builds up most.
- Priority 2: Treat first reflection points (side walls and ceiling) with absorptive panels.
- Priority 3: Use calibration software for the 'final touch', correcting deviations of +/- 3dB or 5dB.
- Do not try to fix deep nulls with EQ.
