Xerophase
New Head-Fier
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- Jan 26, 2003
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I have a few questions about crosstalk and crossfeed and how these distortions/features affect the sound of an amp.
First, my understanding of crosstalk is that it is a negative attribute of an amplifier that reduces the soundstage. Crossfeed, on the other hand, is a feature added to amps to reduce soundstage and thus reduce fatigue for some individuals. With one considered negative, and one a feature, what is the real difference? Is the net result the same? Is it simply that crossfeed is something that can usually be defeated, where as crosstalk cannot? Do the effects actually sound different?
Second, is there a threshold for crosstalk past which you can really notice a reduction in soundstage? For instance, I was comparing the PIMETA and PPA/M3 crosstalk benchmarks:
http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio/pim...nch/32-ohm.htm
http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio/ppa.../10ma-bias.htm
Without truly understanding the impact, it would appear the PIMETA has significant crosstalk in the mid to high end of the spectrum. Is this the case, or am I just reading a disparity in numbers that doesn't really matter? If this was THD, are we talking 0.0002 vs 0.0003 or 0.0002 vs 0.3?
Also, when adding a source with its own crosstalk issues, are you compounding the problem? How close to mono are we getting here?
Finally, is there any "general standard" for crosstalk? IE, the average amplifier introduces X crosstalk with which to compare devices? In doing some searching, the only other crosstalk analysis I could find on mainstream hardware is this Anandtech review of an X-Fi sound card, which still appears to be better than the PIMETA.
http://www.anandtech.com/multimedia/...spx?i=2518&p=9
Thanks!
First, my understanding of crosstalk is that it is a negative attribute of an amplifier that reduces the soundstage. Crossfeed, on the other hand, is a feature added to amps to reduce soundstage and thus reduce fatigue for some individuals. With one considered negative, and one a feature, what is the real difference? Is the net result the same? Is it simply that crossfeed is something that can usually be defeated, where as crosstalk cannot? Do the effects actually sound different?
Second, is there a threshold for crosstalk past which you can really notice a reduction in soundstage? For instance, I was comparing the PIMETA and PPA/M3 crosstalk benchmarks:
http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio/pim...nch/32-ohm.htm
http://www.tangentsoft.net/audio/ppa.../10ma-bias.htm
Without truly understanding the impact, it would appear the PIMETA has significant crosstalk in the mid to high end of the spectrum. Is this the case, or am I just reading a disparity in numbers that doesn't really matter? If this was THD, are we talking 0.0002 vs 0.0003 or 0.0002 vs 0.3?
Also, when adding a source with its own crosstalk issues, are you compounding the problem? How close to mono are we getting here?
Finally, is there any "general standard" for crosstalk? IE, the average amplifier introduces X crosstalk with which to compare devices? In doing some searching, the only other crosstalk analysis I could find on mainstream hardware is this Anandtech review of an X-Fi sound card, which still appears to be better than the PIMETA.
http://www.anandtech.com/multimedia/...spx?i=2518&p=9
Thanks!