[jmills8]

I keep crossfeed off all the time because it reduces the soundstage according to my ears.

Wonder why Chord has it if many are saying it reduces the sound stage? Or does it add something to the sound that one percieves narrowing of the sound stage?

 

[Jawed]

The designer, Rob Watts, prefers to use crossfeed.

 

[phonomat]

Yep, same here. Reduced, not increased.

 

[Whazzzup]

So we can't establish consensus on cross feed on head fi? Who da thunk dat. I use red one stop of crossfeed for iem use. I use none on my TT for desktop, I get plenty of separation on my hd800S and is not necessary.
Now maybe we can generate some hype, another head fi fundemental

 

[fiascogarcia]

  I keep crossfeed off all the time because it reduces the soundstage according to my ears.

That's interesting, because I've used low or medium crossfeed, mostly with iems, as I felt like it slightly increased soundstage (such as soundstage exists with iems).

 

[ubs28]

  That's interesting, because I've used low or medium crossfeed, mostly with iems, as I felt like it slightly increased soundstage (such as soundstage exists with iems).

 
That is interesting. Because sounds from the left is now also partially send to the right channel with crossfeed on. So the "net" position of the left sounds are more to the right with crossfeed on. So in theory the soundstage should be smaller.
 
I clearly hear it with the HD 800 S. 

 

[phonomat]

Well, let's see what crossfeed does, alright. As I understand (and in veeeeeery layman terms), it eliminates the way that sounds either come from the left or the right side, which can sound weird on headphones, thereby reducing the "stereo" effect and taking everything "to the middle", so to speak, reducing the spatial locatability/soundstage. At least, that's how I always thought it worked. (Again, I'm obviously not a tech person, so my apologies if the above sounds overly crude.)
 
Edit: I think @ubs28 explained it way more concisely and clearly than myself in the post above. And yeah, my music also sounds more centered, direct and upfront with crossfeed at max on my Pioneer SE-Master1. But perhaps we can agree that the effect is quite subtle all in all.

 

[Whazzzup]

Geez you mean to say preferences influence consensus on head fi? This seems like crazy talk.
Now I'm still waiting for hype to commence but it may be already.

 

[fiascogarcia]

   
That is interesting. Because sounds from the left is now also partially send to the right channel with crossfeed on. So the "net" position of the left sounds are more to the right with crossfeed on. So in theory the soundstage should be smaller.
 
I clearly hear it with the HD 800 S. 

 
 

  Well, let's see what crossfeed does, alright. As I understand (and in veeeeeery layman terms), it eliminates the way that sounds either come from the left or the right side, which can sound weird on headphones, thereby reducing the "stereo" effect and taking everything "to the middle", so to speak, reducing the spatial locatability/soundstage. At least, that's how I always thought it worked. (Again, I'm obviously not a tech person, so my apologies if the above sounds overly crude.)
 
Edit: I think @ubs28 explained it way more concisely and clearly than myself in the post above. And yeah, my music also sounds more centered, direct and upfront with crossfeed at max on my Pioneer SE-Master1. But perhaps we can agree that the effect is quite subtle all in all.

Yeah, I'm not knowledgeable about crossfeed other than the little I've read. I think the overall purpose is to give a more non closed sound, as with a speaker system sound from the right in open space bleeds into your left side hearing, and vice versa.  Perhaps what we're talking about here is our perception of soundstage, where you might perceive it by width and I perceive it by depth?  I know the changes are very small, but the Hugo is the first piece of equipment I've used where I've noticed any change at all with a crossfeed switch.

 

[Whazzzup]

It's supposed to mimick toe in speaker set up, but I like the hype. :wink_face:

 

[JaZZ]

Crossfeed isn't meant to «expand» the soundstage, rather the opposite. What it does is gradually monophonizing low frequencies. Because the music we listen to is meant to be reproduced via loudspeakers, not headphones. Most of these recordings include one-sided low frequencies. With headphones, this makes for an unnatural experience, since in real life there's no way to experience low frequencies in just one ear. So Crossfeed is just a compensation for the lack of compatibility between speaker-based recordings and headphone reproduction. It's highly recommended to occupy oneself with it, although at first glance it may sound like a loss of soundstage width or even a reduction of detail. In fact it just makes the recording more natural. But I understand that somebody who's used to the unnaturality of one-sided low-frequency content and possibly even likes the «panorama effect» that comes with it may not be easily convinced that it represents an improvement. Technically it's a very simple process without any signal corruption worth mentioning, so it will absolutely satisfy audiophile demands, even supports a puristic approach in a deeper sense of the term.
 
Binaural recordings, on the other hand, don't need Crossfeed, as they don't suffer from the mentioned incompatibility in the first place. And with mono recordings it will (should) do nothing.

 

[phonomat]

Yup.

 

[captblaze]

There are three crossfeed modes that enhance the listening experience to give a more spatial ‘out of the head’ stereo sound field. Using advanced filtering and delay, the normal headphone stereo image is converted to give the effect of a much bigger sound stage as though you are listening to large loudspeakers or live music. The modes are indicated by the crossfeed light under the lens.
 
This was taken directly from the Hugo manual. Am I misunderstanding what everyone claims about crossfeed, or did Chord get it wrong?

 

[JaZZ]

  There are three crossfeed modes that enhance the listening experience to give a more spatial ‘out of the head’ stereo sound field. Using advanced filtering and delay, the normal headphone stereo image is converted to give the effect of a much bigger sound stage as though you are listening to large loudspeakers or live music. The modes are indicated by the crossfeed light under the lens.
 
This was taken directly from the Hugo manual. Am I misunderstanding what everyone claims about crossfeed, or did Chord get it wrong?

 
I wouldn't subscribe this characterization. The «out of head» perception may be an individual thing, but a bigger or more expanded soundstage can't result from a monophonization of low frequencies. A more natural and plausible spatial presentation is what it does to my ears.
 
BTW, the similarity of the terms crossfeed and crosstalk is no accident. Crossfeed is low-frequency crosstalk.

 

[captblaze]

   
I wouldn't subscribe this characterization. The «out of head» perception may be an individual thing, but a bigger or more expanded soundstage can't result from a monophonization of low frequencies. A more natural and plausible spatial presentation is what it does to my ears.
 
BTW, the similarity of the terms crossfeed and crosstalk is no accident. Crossfeed is low-frequency crosstalk.

 
so you are saying Chord got it wrong? I would agree that perception is an individual thing, but there is no mistaking bigger for smaller