Well, this is interesting. Focusrite VRM for 49 bucks... 2/18/13

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/
 
I checked out some online reviews and they are mostly good. It seems to be a tool and not a substitute for monitors but most people seem to like it. One person noted that it worked better with closed back phones than with open. Someone said everything in the middle of the mix sounded comb flitered. Still, if you mix in phones it looks like a good way to spend 49 bucks. 
 
Focusrite Virtual Reference Monitoring
 

 
Focusrite’s VRM overcomes the major obstacle for mixing with headphones by giving you multiple perspectives on your mix, as if you were listening through speakers. Indeed, noise levels from mixing through speakers can make it impossible for most to mix at home, especially late at night; with VRM, you can mix any time, anywhere. Using any pair of monitoring headphones, VRM lets you choose your mixing environment from a living room, a bedroom studio, or a professional studio. You then simply choose from a list of industry-standard studio monitors and speakers

VRM Box delivers audio quality worthy of your headphones. Boasting a dynamic range of 108dB, it provides a sound that’s more precise with lower distortion than other low-cost audio interfaces, and far superior to built-in laptop headphone outputs.

VRM Box functions as a high-quality 24-bit/48kHz USB audio playback interface. So, whether you're mixing, creating music or simply listening to tracks, VRM Box is perfect. What’s more, there’s no need for a power supply or batteries, because it gets all the power it needs from your computer’s USB port with full audio quality. VRM Box also features a digital S/PDIF input, which supports sample rates up to 192kHz. This allows you to run it in conjunction with your Pro Tools HD system or any other interface with an S/PDIF output.

Pocket sized and built to last, VRM Box places Focusrite’s proven and patent-pending VRM—Virtual Reference Monitoring—technology in a robust, palm-sized audio interface.


Virtual Reference Monitoring

The Problem
VRM (Virtual Reference Monitoring) is Focusrite’s own loudspeaker and room simulator designed for headphone listening. Until now, accurate mixing has required expensive monitors and a carefully designed and treated control room. Currently, both professional music producers facing budgetary limitations, and project music makers without access acoustically treated control rooms frequently encounter mixing and auditioning difficulties.

The Solution
VRM allows you to choose from 10 pairs of industry standard nearfield and main monitors in an acoustically treated control room.

Engineers routinely A/B their mixes by burning CDs and taking them into untreated rooms to reference on consumer stereos. VRM eliminates this process by simulating two extra rooms: a large living room and a smaller bedroom. You can choose between a range of speakers including quality hi-fi, computer, cheap stereo, and television speakers.

The Method
VRM Box uses standard headphones to reproduce the direct sound along with software running on your computer that is used to simulate specific monitoring scenarios. VRM's room models are mathematical models that provide greater flexibility in the possible combinations of loudspeakers. The loudspeaker simulations are created using convolutions of impulse responses measured using the original loudspeakers. The accuracy of these simulations in different environments is taken care of by the impulse responses themselves and the way they are calculated and manipulated.

Features

• VRM lets hear your mix in different environments through different speakers and from different positions with headphones
• VRM Box provides a significant audio upgrade from laptop headphone outputs with the audio quality of interfaces ten times the price
• The compact size and robust build quality of VRM Box means it’s ready to go anywhere, any time
• A S/PDIF digital input lets you use VRM with Pro Tools HD or any interface

Here ya go Bub:

http://www.emusician.com/...-vrm-box-review/140102



:-)

I have one, tried it, the VRM effect is pretty apparent, although I never owned or listed to the monitors it is referencing.
Never could get ti to work with other Focusrite products in tandem using the SPDIF, and latency

What I thought when I first read this.

I've used so many headphones I can't name them all. Never used any I liked
and never used them very long.

All that changed when I got the 750s. No I don't work for them.

I also enjoy using my headphones without any issues. My ears don't bother me after
long sessions- I just don't think about having them on- they're comfortable
enough I just don't think about them until the chord comes into play.

Kind of pricey but they resolved all my issues with phones. There's better but I can't justify
them.
The idea that they're not firing that sound directly in my ear canal is why I took the chance
with them. Haven't regretted it once and when these quit working I'll replace in-kind or a better model from them.

mike_mccue

Here ya go Bub:

http://www.emusician.com/...-vrm-box-review/140102

:-)

LOFL!

Yes mine is on S/PDIF. You can leave your interface in 96kHz because as far as I know the VRM box converts it. 

I'm using a Fast Track too Bub, works fine. You just have to remember not to select it as an input or output in the Sonar prefs (even though it will be listed). 

I'm going to pass on it only because I don't have the balls to ask my wife for $50 bucks.

Mixing in my bedroom.

I had not thought of that.

Probably why my work will never be at the top of the seduction song chart.

But a virtual bedroom would totally avoid the problem of the dog snoring.

Mike Senior (the Sound on Sound mixing guru) wrote an extensive review of the VRM which can be read here:
 
http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-ch2_FocusriteVRM.htm
 
Spoiler alert: he didn't find the technology all that appealing.  I actual love this device (other than I sometimes have to unplug and replug the USB cable in order to get it to handshake with my DAW).  Even a full list price, which I paid, I think it's well worth the money.  At 50 bucks, it's a steal.