Well the recent realization that my source sucks kinda put me in a bad mood... just when I thought my headwize craving had been cured for at least the next 6 months or so. I guess the part that annoys me is that I thought it would be a solid setup, but the advice I was given on headwize was a tad misleading.
crossfeed:
Well, it was a choice of larger soundstage vs not having some bass instrument I chose the latter. In general it gave a much more natural sound. While I am a fan of the 'headphone effect', I now REQUIRE at least the first setting on the variable crossfeed.
Say you put the balance all the way over to the left; now your wont actually HEAR the music coming from the right side, but if you take off your left ear you can then hear it. It just sort of positions the sound to the left side of your brain. The higher the setting, the closer to the top center of your brain you can hear the sound.
At the first notch the big bass seems to have moved to just above your ear, removing the buzz, but keeping a lot of the stereo effect. Thats where the soundstage takes the biggest hit. Classical seems to be the most effected by crossfeed.
Some classical junk off some complilation cd(althought it seems to apply to everything, I guess):
While the soundstage was nice on my hd495s, they sounded like they were struggling the entire time, on either Ohm setting, so I tossed'm. Nextin line, Grado SR-60. Sounded thin either way, and frankly I didn't care enough to test them thuroughly. If someone wants me too I will. 325...well not much to say I guess. Better midrange, bit more 'alive', as people might say. I constantly feel like I'm hearing an inadequacy somewhere along the line, but I can guess where it is(*cough*dac*cough*).
...well screw the rest for now, I'm not in a 'tastefull' mood...I'll just give it to you in a nutshell I guess: It sounds better. More midrange in general. Its also 'bright' I guess...but its not so much that its too bright than that its all there. You get used to the initial ear-shock. The silent space is SILENT. You don't realize how much the small amount of hiss sucks until you don't have it anymore.
well, bye for now, and have a pleasant(bad) day (*stab stab stab*)
Sirwar
P.S. I don't know who would actually PREFER the bowl pads over the flatter 'comfies'. Basically by putting them on the midrange is gone, you get mainly the punchy bass, and the highs feel thin all out on their lonesome. oh but I think the soundstage is improved by half an inch.
