[unwelcomeguest]

Hi,
 
How many of you out there are using headphone amps with a crossfeed filter? Do they make much difference? I have never really thought that I was experiencing 'fatigue' from listening to regular stereo sound through headphones, but after reading about crossfeed filtering recently I am intrigued.

 

[xnor]

I'm using a software based solution. It helps to alleviate excessive stereo separation, unnatural sound stage and fatigue, for me at least.
 
If you give it a try you should leave the filter enabled for some time before judging.

 

[Roger Strummer]

I've seen the effects vary from person to person, some people love it, some find it useful sometimes like me and others don't like them. It seems to be correlated with how used a person is to headphone listening, the headphones used and the music.
 
Personally it is particularly useful for tracks with extreme stereo separation (say early Pink Floyd), for all else it seems to have little effect for me. But just as xnor said, leave it on some time and then compare it to listening without it.

 

[xnor]

Also see this article: http://www.linkwitzlab.com/headphone-xfeed.htm
 
Page 1, second column, 3.) describes the problem.
 
Page 2, second column, 3.) describes the main objective / result.

 

[Hudson]

Quote:

I'm using a software based solution.

What are you using and can I use it with iTunes? I'd like to give it a try. Cheers

 

[xnor]

Hudson, currently I'm using bs2b but there exist many more VSTs like hdphx, crossfeed and there are also a couple of threads floating around, e.g. about the isone pro which is actually a binaural room simulator.

 

[SP Wild]

I now prefer the J River media implementation on the "subtle" setting after trying all the popular plug-ins around here (BS2B, Headfit, iso prone etc).  It's actually very difficult to go back to straight headphone imaging after using the JR for extended periods - for this reason I limit my exposure of crossfeed to closed cans exclusively - though open cans still benefit.
 

 

[Uncle Erik]

Yes, I use a Corda Cross-I that I picked up a few years ago. Crossfeed is a personal thing and people either like it or they don't. Personally, I find that it cuts listening fatigue and helps quite a bit with recordings that have heavy channel separation.

 

[shabta]

I sometimes use the crossfeed function on my meier stagedac. It is especially useful for stereo recordings made in the 60s or earlier because of the hard right left channel seperation. But I also use it sometimes with big symphony orchesttra recordings. Sometimes I find it make the soundstage of the HD800 too small. I really like the speaker-like soundstage of the HD800, but if you don't and like other things about the HD800 then maybe this is a solu8tion on some recordings. This is all a long winded way of saying that I use or don't use corssfeed depending on the recording. I definitely like having it as an option.