Short version: Very interesting little gadget, pretty much a must buy for every headphone's lover.
Long version: I am a big fan of crossfeed effects emulated by a software on a PC, as listening to "pure stereo" on headphones can get fatiguing over long listening sessions and often feels just "unnatural". At the same time, I do not like how crossfeed congests the sound and not all songs/sources need it.
Listening with DVD/TV/etc. as a sound source doesn't allow usage of software implementation of a crossfeed. Dedicated HW is needed and HW crossfeed circuits/amplifiers are very hard to come by and can get extremely expensive.
This is where Sonneteer's Headspace comes in handy - cheap, extremely small, portable and universal. You can use it with a headphone amp, PC, TV, mobile phone (it even keeps volume control buttons and mic fully functional!) and the best of all, it simply works. Depending on the source material, effect can be negligible or quite strong (but only in a positive way), yet at the same time very natural and unobtrusive. I have no idea how these guys do it, but it sounds like a combination of a crossfeed with virtual surround.
So far I've tried this dongle with:
Headphones:
Beyerdynamic DT990 pro
AKG K240MK II
Marshall Monitor
IEMs:
Urbanfun hybrids
ASY hybrids
AMPs:
Fiio E10K
Xiaomi Mi A1
Project Head Box S2
Denon AVR2310
The result is pretty consistent across all the AMPs and headphones. The biggest difference makes how the song has been mastered. Pink Floyd - Hey you is the testing song for me, here I can hear the change immediately.
Effect is a bit hard to describe (even harder for me as English is not my mother tongue), but Headspace somehow moves the sound from inside the head and puts it outside. At the same time it removes the usual Left/Right separation, as if you'd add a "center speaker".
Otherwise I can't hear any kind of distortion or change in the sound nature, bass, treble etc. sound still the same to me.
You simply can't go wrong with the Headspace, plug it in and just enjoy your music or movies.
---------------------------------
Edit 20.03.2019
I ordered a couple more Headspace units as I'm lazy to always reconnect the only one I had between a mobile phone, PC, TV, etc. Luckily, I received a slightly upgraded version - interior is supposed to be the same, but form factor changed a little bit. Dongle is more rounded now and connectors are much more firm, able to hold even heavy cables without any issues whatsoever. Tiny, but very good upgrade. Well done boys!
Long version: I am a big fan of crossfeed effects emulated by a software on a PC, as listening to "pure stereo" on headphones can get fatiguing over long listening sessions and often feels just "unnatural". At the same time, I do not like how crossfeed congests the sound and not all songs/sources need it.
Listening with DVD/TV/etc. as a sound source doesn't allow usage of software implementation of a crossfeed. Dedicated HW is needed and HW crossfeed circuits/amplifiers are very hard to come by and can get extremely expensive.
This is where Sonneteer's Headspace comes in handy - cheap, extremely small, portable and universal. You can use it with a headphone amp, PC, TV, mobile phone (it even keeps volume control buttons and mic fully functional!) and the best of all, it simply works. Depending on the source material, effect can be negligible or quite strong (but only in a positive way), yet at the same time very natural and unobtrusive. I have no idea how these guys do it, but it sounds like a combination of a crossfeed with virtual surround.
So far I've tried this dongle with:
Headphones:
Beyerdynamic DT990 pro
AKG K240MK II
Marshall Monitor
IEMs:
Urbanfun hybrids
ASY hybrids
AMPs:
Fiio E10K
Xiaomi Mi A1
Project Head Box S2
Denon AVR2310
The result is pretty consistent across all the AMPs and headphones. The biggest difference makes how the song has been mastered. Pink Floyd - Hey you is the testing song for me, here I can hear the change immediately.
Effect is a bit hard to describe (even harder for me as English is not my mother tongue), but Headspace somehow moves the sound from inside the head and puts it outside. At the same time it removes the usual Left/Right separation, as if you'd add a "center speaker".
Otherwise I can't hear any kind of distortion or change in the sound nature, bass, treble etc. sound still the same to me.
You simply can't go wrong with the Headspace, plug it in and just enjoy your music or movies.
---------------------------------
Edit 20.03.2019
I ordered a couple more Headspace units as I'm lazy to always reconnect the only one I had between a mobile phone, PC, TV, etc. Luckily, I received a slightly upgraded version - interior is supposed to be the same, but form factor changed a little bit. Dongle is more rounded now and connectors are much more firm, able to hold even heavy cables without any issues whatsoever. Tiny, but very good upgrade. Well done boys!
