[BigEat]

Headroom's crossfeed has been a hallmark of their products since I first bought my Supreme back in 1995. That said, I've started using the crossfeed less and less and am beginning to really believe that the soundstage is much better without it. The deptth and sense of space if greatly enhanced. And I don't really get a sense of separation as Headroom suggests one might experience without it.

Anyone else see it the same way?

 

[ninjapixie]

Meier's crossfeed has a similar effect- smaller soundstage, less separation and detail, but it does push channel-biased instruments forward a little, instead of being to the side to make it more speaker-like. Most of the time I have it off.

 

[royalcrown]

Honestly, the best thing crossfeed does (at least to me) is reduce fatigue. I can listen for hours with a foobar crossfeed plugin without getting any listening fatigue. The sound quality is a bit worse to me, but usually not that noticeable unless I focus intensely (in which case I'm not gonna be listening for hours on end). I'd say use it when you want to listen casually without fatigue for long periods of time.

 

[tfarney]

I think it depends on the recording (doesn't everything). I love it for those vintage recordings with hard-panned instruments that otherwise just sit in one ear. On everything else? Well, sometimes it seems to open up the sound stage a bit. Sometimes it seems to mush things together. And it always seems to attenuate the upper mids a tad, which can be good or bad, depending. I don't use my Airhead much anymore, and I really only miss crossfeed when one of those vintage examples comes along.

Tim

 

[Hadden]

I left the crossfeed off after trying it a few times. It made the sound muddy and bassy, and seemed to compress everything. As a concept it could be useful if it didn't obviously color things. It did relax the tension from left right pull. I wonder if this was mostly from bad bright recordings though. It's been a while. The headroom crossfeed was OK. The one for Foobar was terrible.

 

[Todd R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tfarney /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think it depends on the recording (doesn't everything). I love it for those vintage recordings with hard-panned instruments that otherwise just sit in one ear. Tim

X2
Depends on the recording.
Usually, I'm only noticing the extra bass when it's on, but on some recordings, when using IEM's, the lack of crossfeed can actually be uncomfortable.

One that comes to mind is the opening of the Star Spangled Banner as done by Bela Fleck. It sounds much more natural with the crossfeed on. Likewise with the beginning of Weezer's Island in the sun, better with crossfeed than not.

On the other hand, sometimes the crossfeed just muddies up the sound.

Guess that's why there's a switch huh?

 

[GreatDane]

Depends on the recording x3.

When I owned a HeadRoom Micro I used the crossfeed often. I found that because it added bass/warmth it didn't work well with my HD 650 but sounded great with DT-880.

I use a Meier Corda Cross-1 in my home rig with very good results.

 

[zotjen]

I just recently ditched my Pink Floyd built Xfeed unit after using it for years. I'm finding I enjoy hearing the full stereo separation in each ear, as unnatural as it may be at times.

 

[Jerrycan]

I'm keeping it on all the time. The sound is more natural to me, the soundstage is in front in my head in stead of on a line between my ears. I think the crossfeed works great on my HDBA.

 

[psyllium]

I myself like to keep the crossfeed turned on on my Total Bithead. Gives that little bit extra bass and I don't find it to be too distorting.

 

[aaron313]

Crossfeed = mud.

 

[BigEat]

More subjectivity here than I might have guessed.

 

[alitomr]

For some reason I left the crossfeed on on my lyrix a few weeks ago and because of this thread I turned it off. The soundstage and overall sound quality is much better with it off. The biggest improvement besides the soundstage is in the highs. I am using the HD555 and once again I must say I think they are awesome. After having tried and loved the HD650 I still find it hard to believe there are many options at its price tag that can do even close to how the HD555 do. Did I mention the Grado SR80 sucks compare to the HD555?

 

[BigEat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alitomr /img/forum/go_quote.gif For some reason I left the crossfeed on on my lyrix a few weeks ago and because of this thread I turned it off. The soundstage and overall sound quality is much better with it off. The biggest improvement besides the soundstage is in the highs. I am using the HD555 and once again I must say I think they are awesome. After having tried and loved the HD650 I still find it hard to believe there are many options at its price tag that can do even close to how the HD555 do. Did I mention the Grado SR80 sucks compare to the HD555?

This is getting even more interesting. I too thought that the difference was mostly my imagination. I'm more and more convinced that the crossfeed, despite its good intentions and some benefits, really introduces some significant sonic compromises. And, from what I'm reading, that's not just unique to Headroom amps.

 

[oaklandrkg]

My post to the Headroom's crossfeed from "What are your opinions on crossfeed amps"


Quote:

Originally Posted by oaklandrkg /img/forum/go_quote.gif My response is based entirely on Headroom's crossfeed used with the HD-650s. Perhaps other crossfeeds and/or different headphones would change my perspective, perhaps not. There is no question that the crossfeed shrinks the soundstage. What it does more than 'even out' hard panned noise, is pull all the sound forwards, so that the music is coming more from the front instead of from the far sides. This is why the sound is described as less fatiguing, because it's not pulling on your ears from such distant polar directs (left vs. right). Unfortunately, this, by definition, means that the soundstage is significantly shrunk. Also, it adds a noticeable amount of colorization, mostly by emphasizing the low-ends, allowing for (IMO) the bass to commandeer the rest of the music. Sometimes, but not very often, it will 'color' to the point up misrepresenting timbre, too. If you doubt this, I suggest locating some sort of decent 'test' CD that has tracks verifying the soundstage and different frequencies. I've found that the differences are so distinct that I have a hard time not vomiting in my mouth when I hear it described as "subtle." Ok, a little overly-dramatic, but you get my point Headroom uses the word "subtle" and the fact is, they know better. The only time I use the crossfeed is with hip-hop. I feel that the altered sound helps against hip-hop's immense struggle to sound 'at home' on headphones. This genre is unique in that soundstaging is relatively unimportant, and more bass, as long as it's well defined, is almost always a plus with hip-hop and headphones. As the crossfeed collapses the vocals into the beat, bass is added, both of which help hip-hop sound more alive (IMO) when listen to on headphones. Other than that, I have no reason to use the crossfeed - the colorization is obvious, along with the shrunken soundstage, making it too distracting for my tastes. Bravo for everyone else enjoying it, but for me, its a step in the wrong direction. Since crossfeed gets so much attention, my question is, why do headphones need to imitate speakers to sound at their best? Why does the sound of one necessarily have to be correct over the other? I find it hard to believe that sound engineers have ignored headphones entirely when mastering music. And even if one is correct, why not enjoy and appreciate the differences? Isn't that the biggest part of why we use headphones; that they're different from speakers? I mean, I like apples, but I sure do like oranges, too. Too much fuss IMO opinion, as crossfeed sacrifices what it tries to save along the way. Here I was, enjoying headphones for their intrinsic sound, and appreciating these distinctions, and never once considered this passion as 'a grand quest for stereo speaker sound' - I have a stereo for that