[PinkFloyd]

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[darkclouds]

I'd like to thank Mike for his generosity. It was fun being in the X-feed contest. Looks like my luck may be changing.

Mike's done a wonderful job with this little unit. The truth is, I wasn't sure what to expect from it. I've become quite accustomed to headphone listening without x-feed as I have a distrust with there sonic changes. In anycase, the X-feed worked quite well. Center image seems to be more stable, coherent and distinct, with the soundstage being less "in your head". I didn't notice any sonic deterioration or anomoly other than a slight drop in volume. I'll attribute both these characteristics to the X-feed being a passive unit, rather than active. If you think about it, that's a very impressive accomplishment. Furthermore, the unit I received looks fantastic. It matches very well with a Headsave Ultra atop the SCD-1. I have some pictures but have no way of posting it.

Thanks again Mike and a job well done!

 

[Edwood]

X-Feed LE is just so darn cute there.

-Ed

 

[PinkFloyd]

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[PinkFloyd]

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[robert]

Quote:

Originally posted by PinkFloyd The bass is not affected by the X-Feed.

having my MAD Ear+ for just about a week (to the hour), and previously a HeadRoom Home (orig. version) for 6 years; i'm really thinking about the x-feed stuff.

impression so far is that tubes remove whatever causes "fatigue". soundstage is much larger than what i'd heard with the Home. phone has been the grado sr-325 for about a year, hd-600 earlier.

the HeadRoom circuit certainly does affect tonal balance. transistors certainly do sound gritty (no brickbats about grato

).

all of which got me to musing.

first point is most music is mastered on near-field monitors in near-field. what soundstage is dialed in was heard with little or no transfer function by the engineer's ears.

second point is that what x-feed should do, if nothing else, is account for the non-directionality of sub 100Hz. but it gets tricky: simply blending will boost that range by 3db (if i remember the math right). Gary Peacock should sound like he's dead center, most of the time, because that's what the ear hears in an acoustic space.

what's a fellow to do??

 

[Edwood]

I am still breaking in my X-Feed I just got. (Cheers, Mike. thank you.)

My initial impressions:

I am in bad need of better IC's. especially with the X-Feed adding another pair to the signal path.

-Subjectively speaking, the X-Feed adds almost zero coloration to the sound. I am rapidly becoming a neutral sound freak. Details deetails deeetails.

-Testing on a Headroom Little More Power (with filter and crossfeed off, or course.) the sound becomes more directly centered between the ears. Very well blended with no discernable major gaps.

-Headroom's Crossfeed centers and brings the sound a bit more foward, almost like the sound is centered a bit more towards your nose. It's kind of weird, almost like having the sound feel, kinda nasal. Some may prefer it, but I'm liking the X-Feed's more neutral approach better.

-Compared to Headroom's Crossfeed. It adds too much midrange, making it a bit muddy, there is a filter to add in more treble, but it makes it sound kinda "sparkly". The Little is pretty warm sounding as it is to begin with.

-I did find a song that "overshot" the crossfeed from left to right. It was weird. It was like the voice was coming more from the left and then kinda jumped suddenly to the right and vice versa. I will test again with another amp and DAC after full burn in.

So after full burn in. Testing will be done with a Grace 901, Muse 2 DAC, and Zu HD600.

I tried the X-Feed with my K1000's by accident (left it in when I switched from using HD600's). It sure did sound weird. Sounds were overshooting from left to right and vice versa.

I am definitely going to be interested in a switcheable X-Feed later.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Sorry, I meant the Headroom Crossfeed add a lot of mids.

I'm sure about not having the Headroom processor on. Again I will double check with the Grace 901 this time. It was only one song that I heard it.

-Ed

 

[tortie]

Cool new xfeed mike! That switch will surely make it easier to test and compare the effects of the xfeed in a system.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwood Sorry, I meant the Headroom Crossfeed add a lot of mids. I'm sure about not having the Headroom processor on. Again I will double check with the Grace 901 this time. It was only one song that I heard it. -Ed

LOL, scratch that. Nothing wrong with the X-Feed. Must be a bad recording. Listening to the same song with a Grace 901 and AKG K1000, I heard the same thing. So it's the badly recorded song that's at fault.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally posted by PinkFloyd Hi Ed, I'm glad to hear that it's the recording and not the X-Feed! you had me wondering if a gremlin had crept into the X-Feed on it's journey across the Atlantic Mike.

Would be a really tiny 'lil gremlin.

Have you considered trying to make an X-feed built into a 1/4" headphone adapter rather than the analogue IC? Like that one posted here before. I guess it could be larger, like a break out box or something. Not quite as big as an Impedanizer like the one for the RKV.

Would be great for those like me who use a K1000 and other headphones on the same Amp.

Just a thought.

-Ed

 

[Orpheus]

hey.... just wanted to say my christmas will be awesome. guess what i got!

(duh.... as if this wasn't a pinkfloyd x-feed thread....) yup, he sent me a "Limited Edition Xmas-Feed" for the Christmas exchange. i think it's basically a super-duper X-Feed with nice casing/jacks/and a silver bypass switch. i think he really hates these bypass switches, so he got the only one that he could tolerate--one that's silver.

welp, i gotta say, the thing works like a charm. it's very subtle though. i mean, i can barely hear the difference when i flick the bypass. but to me, that's good... it still gives you all the advantages of headphones, but with a slight feeling of realism around the sound. the sound quality doesn't change to my ears.... and that's the biggest thing to me.

and heh he... i thought something was wrong with it at first, but it turned out to be ALL my fault. but in the process, i tested the thing with a multimeter--and it tests excellent. i opened it up.... and ****** man, that guy can really work the soldering pen/heat gun. the internal work is SUPERB. i mean, i have NEVER seen better in a DIY model.

...welp, just wanted to say, Mike's a talented guy and with a good heart--he gave the present to give, not to receive. (though his present ain't crap either...

)

oh, he sent some cds for me to try too (rips... but don't worry, i intend to buy all of them.) and he has great taste in music too!

orpheus

 

[Orpheus]

hey... here's a pic of my new buddy in its new home:

 

[Orpheus]

Quote:

He sure does look happy next to that lovely looking valve amp, what amp is it????

it's a Tube City KP-1. i believe retail price is about $1300. the company had a small room at CES last year. anyway, i think the owner/engineer is building me another preamp with 2a3's and a headphone jack. we'll see what he comes up with.

the amp itself is quite nice. only complaint i have is that it doesn't like sources with too much output--it clips if your CD player is TOO hot (that's why i have those weird volume reducing in-line devices on the inputs.) otherwise it's a very transparent preamp, as far as tube preamps go. the volume control is actually a hand made stepped attenuator--i opened it up and looked. the thing is huge! i think just that attenuator would take up 1/2 the space in a MG Head.

and yes, the crossfeed is very happy!

for all of you who saw pink's above offer for crossfeeds, take him up on it! it's the most neutral crossfeed i have ever heard. affects the tone of your program much less than Headroom's and the DIY types found in METAs that i have heard! heck, in fact, i heard no tonal change at all.

 

[unclepuki]

Here is a copy of an email that I sent to Mike after purchasing his switched x-feed.

"Just a quick note to thank you very much for the great product you make. I
have been listening for about a week or so now with the x-feed and really
enjoy the subtle nature of the change in sound. I have just got myself the
marantz cd7300, so you can imagine I have the new toy enthusiasm and have
been listening alot. The change the x-feed makes to the sound reminds me of
an old stereo/tape deck that I had, which had a stereo and wide-stereo
switch, obviously the sound quality is much better, it is the 'feeling' of the
sound I am trying to describe - no x-feed 'sounds' like wide-stereo, with
x-feed 'sounds' like the stereo setting. I have it on virtually 100% of the
time. It is especially good with live recordings which without it can be
very hard to listen to. Cheers once again for the qucick and friendly
service.

Paul"

The switched model is very useful in that you don't have to fart around changing interconnects to enable/disable the x-feed. It also makes hearing the subtltey of the device a little easier to pick up on. I highly recommend it.