I use HD 800 S and with Hugo TT there was a clear change in "depth" as well as a narrowing with crossfeed, so I'm surprised that you found Hugo unable to render a change in depth. I think it was probably due to the headphones.
When upgrading to DAVE, with crossfeed off and the same headphones, there was a significant increase in depth. It's very common to feel as though I'm not wearing headphones because the presentation of the recording seems to be in the space around me, and not coming from little speakers attached to my ears. It's quite beguiling, as the sound is bigger in all directions around me and has a beautiful, open, freedom.
I'm in complete agreement with you (apart from the fact I don't own any commercial recordings where I was present during recording, so don't have that kind of perspective) and feel that although crossfeed can make an attractive difference in presentation, it significantly alters the musical balance of a recording. The bass lift is the most obvious, followed by a muddying of the bass and creating a generally, slightly congested, feel.
The brain uses 3D perception of sound to distinguish different parts in sound, e.g. different musical instruments playing simultaneously. I find crossfeed hurts this ability. This video exaggerates the effect somewhat, but the huge increase in intelligibility as it changes from mono to binaural shows how important spatial presentation is:
Thanks some great stuff there.
Nice song and performance and very obvious how flat and nondirectional mono is.
In a way the mono take is what crossfeed sounds like to me. Very upfront with very narrow soundstage width.
There is loads of stuff on Youtube with music from many genres in binaural that sound very convincing indeed.
These guys below,doing Simon and Garfunkel are not only good but there is a real surprise included!
If you listen to it rememenber to listen from the very beginning with your headphones ON!
Hearing music and natural sounds in REAL binaural makes the crossfeed on my HUGO sound like a synthetic gimmic in comparison!
Personally I am still listening to some of the BBC Proms 2017 concert streams in binaural.
Listening to those in lowly 320kbps is sometimes more realistic than the same works in plain stereo and hi res.
Binaural almost magically,uncovers and releases spatial information that is masked in plain stereo.It is a truly ear-opening experience imo. But crossfeed on the other hand, adds even more masking effects and to my ears deteriorates actual SQ more than plain stereo.I am still a bit puzzled Rob recommends it so strongly?
Binaural absolutely RULES imo. Two mics and two ears are all that is needed for realistic music reproduction via good headphones imho.
I am trying to push some classical music labels to record more in binaural but one answer I got from one person in the business was that it is still relatively new.
I informed him that it is in fact far from new.
Some of the very first recordings ever were actually binaural. We are talking late 19th century , not new .But it needs to be re-discovered by the recording companies.
I hope the BBC with their binaural Proms are leading the way and others will follow.
Cheers and thanks for the link Christer
"Sound Of Silence (3D Binaural Audio) - Simon and Garfunkel Cover - Jarvis Brothers (Ear to Ear)"