[XTTX]

I'm not saying that all songs that do this are bad. In fact, I appreciate the effect when it's used in short periods. When a song is imbalanced for the duration of the song though (i.e. one instrument playing in the left channel), it gets kind of annoying. I actually didn't experience this annoyance until I met the huge sound stage of the K702, but now I just find many of my favorite songs hard to listen to.
 
It's even worse when the imbalance is subtle, I just can't pay attention to anything else besides it! I've even started to downmix some stuff to mono using DSP.

 

[Argyris]

It sounds like you need crossfeed. I know that there are several crossfeed DSP plugins for Foobar, though I personally found their effect too subtle. YMMV. HeadRoom and Meier make amps with it built in, and their implementations are said to be good.
 
I know exactly what you mean--the effect seems to be far more obnoxious with headphones with a wide soundstage. A lot of mid-to-late 60s music has hard panning. That newfangled thing called "stereo" was all the rage, and then as now people felt they had to go to the extremes to show off the new technology.

 

[Youngblood]

Whenever I listen to music it always seems that the singer is coming in louder through the left channel, and it has annoyed me since the day I've started listning to earbuds. I've even thought at one time that my hearing may be better in my left ear! 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

XTTX I know exactly what you mean. There are certain songs where they decide to use certain sounds on only one side. It drives me NUTS. Thankfully, it's not overused so not that many songs use it to annoying effect.
 
Crossfeed is a blessing in disguise.
 
That's part of the reason why I don't like gaming in regular stereo. It hurts my ears more when sounds only go into one ear. Like listening to music with one cup/iem off one of your ears. It's grating.

 

[Argyris]

Believe it or not, I just came to the same realization about ten minutes ago. Same ear, too. It only took me 22 years to figure it out.
 
Not to derail the thread or anything.

 

[Skarecrow77]

It bothers me to no end, but probably for a different reason than you guys. My hearing in my left ear was damaged years ago (probably in my youth/early teenage years) from a middle ear infection, and I now have an implant in there. It's not perfect though, so I get different "volumes" depending on all sorts of crap, like stress on neck muscles and whether my eustachian tube is clogged/closed, etc. Also, because of the nature of the damage, some frequencies still come through clearly while others are sometimes muted, etc.
 
So when sound is in one ear, sometimes I can't even hear the damn instrument/vocal. There are a couple songs (Garbage's "nobody loves you", Lacuna Coil's cover of "Enjoy the Silence", and K's Choice "Iron Flower" come to mind) where there are points in the song where somebody is whispering in your left ear, and I never even knew those were in there until I listened on the car radio etc.
 
It's quite annoying.
 
On the other hand, when the implant is doing what it's supposed to and I can hear as well as I'm able, hearing those left channel sounds/voices that are usually missing is a revelation.

 

[bwhsh8r]

Youngblood I always think my ears are at fault for that.  Or there is something wrong with my stuff.  This thread as just removed the last couple years of panic... (yah.. I really have been mulling over that this long)  Thanks guys!

 

[andrewliu6294]

Quote:

Whenever I listen to music it always seems that the singer is coming in louder through the left channel, and it has annoyed me since the day I've started listning to earbuds. I've even thought at one time that my hearing may be better in my left ear! 

Same for me, except it's my right ear?
 
Strange..this doesn't happen in all songs, but in many of mine. Still can't figure out if it's my ears or the music, but it's driving me crazy.

 

[Riku540]

I find it extremely annoying as well. It's not just the imbalance; it feels more like the artist/producers couldn't tell where the center was opposed to it being an artistic decision.
 
There are some songs that pull it off well though in my opinion; such as Cage the Elephant's "Ain't No Rest For the Wicked".

 

[Argyris]

Quote:

Quote:

Whenever I listen to music it always seems that the singer is coming in louder through the left channel, and it has annoyed me since the day I've started listning to earbuds. I've even thought at one time that my hearing may be better in my left ear! 

Same for me, except it's my right ear?
 
Strange..this doesn't happen in all songs, but in many of mine. Still can't figure out if it's my ears or the music, but it's driving me crazy.

I've found twiddling a balance knob when I have headphones on can have a drastic effect on the centering with barely a touch to the knob. I imagine most people don't hear exactly the same through both ears, and that while this doesn't really stick out so much when listening to speakers in a room (with each ear hearing the opposite channel, interaction of the sound and the room, etc), when headphones are used it becomes more readily apparent. Something less than 1dB of correction sorts out the imbalance for me, but I've also found that the degree of imbalance seems to vary by recording. Perhaps the engineers were "correcting" for their own hearing when mixing?

 

[Riku540]

Quote:

Perhaps the engineers were "correcting" for their own hearing when mixing?

Ha! Never thought of it that way. Even if so, a computer should be able to easily tell the producer if something is perfectly centered or not. If something is off center there should be another instrument to counter it; otherwise everything just feels lopsided to the point of distracting from the music.

 

[deadhead12]

There are some albums that I only listen to on speakers for this reason.  Revolver is the one that bums me out the most cause it's my favorite Beatles Album.  I should probably go buy the mono version.  
 
Also, shouldn't this thread be in the members lounge?

 

[andrewliu6294]

Quote:

I've found twiddling a balance knob when I have headphones on can have a drastic effect on the centering with barely a touch to the knob. I imagine most people don't hear exactly the same through both ears, and that while this doesn't really stick out so much when listening to speakers in a room (with each ear hearing the opposite channel, interaction of the sound and the room, etc), when headphones are used it becomes more readily apparent. Something less than 1dB of correction sorts out the imbalance for me, but I've also found that the degree of imbalance seems to vary by recording. Perhaps the engineers were "correcting" for their own hearing when mixing?

 
I just tried the balance setting on my laptop. 97% in the right channel, 100% left, makes everything much more soothing

 

[jasonb]

Crossfeed FTW!!!
 
I love the crossfeed on my Headroom amp. I use it 100% of the time.

 

[voodoohao]

Yep i hate the channel imbalances of certain songs, especially when using a piece of new equipment, gives me the feeling of paranoia that part of the wiring or circuitry of some part of my headphones ( or amp ) is damaged or spoilt...until I realise that it's the way the song is recorded.