[L-pee]

I'm using a pair of well broken in Sennheiser HD 600's with Audioengine D1 DAC and Little Dot MKIII tube amp off Mac BookPro solid state with ThunderBolt HDD and Pure Music overlapping iTunes. Most od my music is ripped from CD's at 16-bit/48kHz, some newer music is from HD Tracks in 24-bit/96kHz. All files are AIFF. And although it is a very good set up, it is lacking the emotion of a pair of good speakers and an amp. Is there any software or a plugin to Pure Music to give me more spacious sound and wider, more in-front-of-me soundstage? 
 
Any comment much appreciated.

 

[castleofargh]

you will have a hard time feeling the sound of speakers in a headphone. all of it you can give up right now. but if it's just some parts then it's possible.
more space can be faked in an OK way with surround effects.
for the "in front of me" soundstage, that is simple and works wonders, you need to look for something that can let you manage crossfeed.
also I find that getting a sound signature with more bass and steadily less trebles is closer to what I get from speakers.
 
sadly all 3 mixed together give some hideous results so you'll have to chose what's more important to you.
 
 
sorry I'm not a mac guy so I can't suggest any software.

 

[Sonido]

This question is like "How can I make my bicycle accelerate like a motorcycle?" Honestly, it's asinine to expect headphones to have the same presentation of speakers. First there's a recording issue, that most recordings have speakers in mind, and when played through headphones, you won't get that frontal soundstage. You could try looking for rare biaural recordings are tailor made for headphone listening. When soundstage is discussed on this forum, it's very subtle compared to even the headphone with the widest soundstage. The AKG K1000 has the widest soundstage of headphones, and its design has it working like speakers placed far away from your ears. I've never heard it before, but I doubt it can compare to what you get from speakers, and definitely not that frontal soundstage since the position is still next to your ears. I have the arguably the next largest soundstage headphones in the HD800, and I can tell you it's nothing like speaker presentation in any way. All it does over smaller soundstaged headphones is a sense of more depth and air on either side of your head, and even then the difference in perception might be a foot away vs coming from inside your head. I don't know about software on creating a frontal soundstage, but I doubt its results will be what a real speaker sounds like, or it would be more popular on here.
 
With all that said, your HD600 is known to have a shallow soundstage relatively, and if soundstage is big for you, a different pair of headphones would be the way to go than trying to suck out the last drops of soundstaging of your HD600 through various amping. Remember though, even then it would not be anything close to speakers.

 

[Brooko]

OP
 
Here - https://fongaudio.com/out-of-your-head-software/
 
More info here : http://www.head-fi.org/t/689299/out-of-your-head-new-virtual-surround-simulator
 
It's not out for MAC yet - but he is working on it.  It's not perfect - but if you can find a preset you like, it is pretty good.

 

[L-pee]

I do understand that no headphones will ever substitute speakers. After a long listening session last nite I've concluded that what bothered me more than narrow soundstage was listening fatigue. Although many speakers fall short in that area, I think it's more prevalent to headphones- you can't run away from it. I downloaded a trial version of Fidelia with their FHX crossfeed circuit and I must say it made the listening less intense, but much more suitable for extended listening sessions.

Sonido: did you have a chance to A/B compare HD 600 to HD 800?

 

[Sonido]

I've heard the HD600 briefly a long time ago, but never side by side with HD800. I'm sure you'll find plenty on here who have though, and I guarantee everyone will say the HD800 beats the HD600 in soundstage. If listening fatigue is your problem, I wouldn't recommend the HD800. I have no listening fatigue problems with it, but my chain provides a LOT of warmth. I would look for a more laid back headphone. Also, you should try to figure out if you prefer a darker or brighter signature. That goes a long way on whether you'll feel fatigued.

 

[Sonido]

Btw I just tried the other guys link and some demoes. Pretty much sounds like biaural recordings, which can only do so much. The soundstaging is better, but is still coming from the sides. Especially on vocals, it's still not sounding like coming from 10 feet in front of you. I guess it's just not feasible to imitate a frontal sound when the drivers are coming from the sides.

 

[Bigglesworth]

Take the drivers out of them and mount them it tiny little wooden cabinets. You could then drive them with a nice little tube amp!

 

[manbear]

A crossfeed plugin can make the sound more "in front of you," but the ones I've tried also make the sound narrower so it's a bit of a tradeoff.

 

[castleofargh]

I do understand that no headphones will ever substitute speakers. After a long listening session last nite I've concluded that what bothered me more than narrow soundstage was listening fatigue. Although many speakers fall short in that area, I think it's more prevalent to headphones- you can't run away from it. I downloaded a trial version of Fidelia with their FHX crossfeed circuit and I must say it made the listening less intense, but much more suitable for extended listening sessions.

Sonido: did you have a chance to A/B compare HD 600 to HD 800?

crossfeed does help for fatigue. and usually the older the record the happier I am with crossfeed.
 
 
if you have fatigue with the hd600, forget about hd800. if I said fatigue comes after 5hours of hd650 and maybe a little faster with hd600, say 4hours. I would place the hd800 under 30mn for me. it's a marvelous phone soundstage and microdetails are crazy good and really among the best, but it's a bright stress machine.