[plonter]

Hi guys. was just intersted in the question above.. i own a headroom ultra micro and at first i used the crosfeed all the time with my hd595, than i purchased the denon ah-d5000 and i turn it off because except from the crossfeed effect it addes some bass to the sound (that's the reason it sounded good with the hd-595) and the denon just got enough of it,
so that it doesn't sound too muffled i turn it off.

now i purchased myself a new pair of grado rs-1,and i think that the crossfeed will sound good with them,although havn't tried it yet.

how many of you got crosfeed in their amps and are you using it?
the reason i kind of stopping myself from turning it on immediatly is because i am thinking that it maybe adds some artificial colour to the sound, and then being not natural.
what do you guys have to say about this issue..?
thx!

 

[Eagle Eye]

My Headroom Micro Amp with the crossfeed is on it's way so I can't comment except to say I will be watching this thread to get some answers myself. Interesting post for sure and I am sure some of the experts here will have a variety of comments.

 

[plonter]

at the beginning, when i got my first headroom amp- total airhead, the crossfeed switch was ALWAYS on. didn't think about turning it off.
it was the default choice for me. congrat on your new amp mate!

will be glad to hear your opinions in general and on the crossfeed.

 

[cegras]

With most new recordings, on or off doesn't matter. And with the really old ones, it won't make a good enough difference. I ended up turning it on in games ..

 

[zotjen]

It's a matter of preference. Up until last year, I wouldn't dream of not using my standalone crossfeed unit. Now I don't use it at all.

 

[Uncle Erik]

It's just whether or not you like crossfeed. I have a Corda Cross-I that I frequently use with digital recordings. For whatever reason, I usually prefer vinyl without crossfeed. But since you already have it, give the RS-1 a listen both ways. Find out what you like and listen that way.

 

[plonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's just whether or not you like crossfeed. I have a Corda Cross-I that I frequently use with digital recordings. For whatever reason, I usually prefer vinyl without crossfeed. But since you already have it, give the RS-1 a listen both ways. Find out what you like and listen that way.

yeah..i will give it a try. the rs-1 sound really great without it but it also asking me to give them some.
what do you think about the crosfeed isn't natural? isn't it kinda ruin the basic sound of the cans/amp?

 

[eddie78]

I rarely use it - only for older "right-left-stereo" recordings, which I cannot stand otherwise. But if necessary, I prefer speakers before having to turn on crossfeed...

 

[Drosera]

I think a lot of people outgrow crossfeed when they get more used to headphone listening. Another factor might be that, when upgrading equipment, the reduction in sound quality that crossfeed inevitably brings becomes more noticeable.

 

[Nightmare]

I love crossfeed. Without it, material that's panned anywhere near the edges sounded to me like it was stuck right to the driver. It was distracting to be made so aware of the driver's exact physical location. Crossfeed narrows the soundstage, so even hard-panned instruments are projected as an image inside my head. Also, material that's panned near the edges get spread out into their own space instead being stuck to the edges. A lot of people dislike the narrowing effect, but I enjoy the illusion it creates.

Another problem I had without crossfeed was with material that was panned back and forth. I never fully got the travelling-through-my-head illusion. The image would fade in and out in the classic "3 blobs" presentation, and I couldn't shake the distracting awareness that its volume was being lowered in one channel and raised in the other. Now that I use crossfeed, I can't even make myself hear the volume-swaps. I just hear one precise image walking smoothly from one side of my head to the other.

 

[denydog]

The crossfeed function on my Grace unit seems very subtle to me in its effect. I can hardly tell when it's on with most of the recordings I play, but on some others it does seem to make the sound stage a little more coherent.

I generally don't like to add complexity to signal processing, but the crossfeed doesn't seem to degrade the frequency response, so I'm not hesitant to use it for that reason.

I guess I have it turned on about 50% of the time.

 

[swayne]

I have two Meier amps, an Arietta and a 3Move and the crossfeed is on all the time.

Occasionally turn it off to experiment, but it's back on again within minutes.

Steven.

 

[BigTony]

I've used a DSP crossfeed and i never really liked it; most recordings sounded worse and those that sounded a little better didn't win me over. I have spent alot of time with iem prior to buying cans, so maybe my head was adjusted to the 'headphone' sound. The squashing of the soundstage and the wierd effect on pans was most frustrating for me.

 

[Taikero]

The only crossfeed I've used has been through Winamp/foobar2000, a plugin called bs2b (bauer's stereophonic-to-binaural). It has six different settings, with varying levels of strength of application and how much you want it to apply to the upper treble range (it tends to roll off the upper frequencies).

I generally don't use DSPs much in any unless I'm not feeling "standard" music on a given day. I like the headphone feeling and presentation.

 

[Nightmare]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swayne /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have two Meier amps, an Arietta and a 3Move and the crossfeed is on all the time. Occasionally turn it off to experiment, but it's back on again within minutes.

I should've mentioned that all my crossfeed experience is with Meier amps, as well. Crossfeed threads are generally negative, but usually contain positive comments about Meier's implementation. Is he doing something different than other manufacturers?