Imaging/Soundstage issue or am I crazy

[goh2499]

I have a pair of Russian Echo N-16 headphones they're NOS. I'm noticing they sound narrow, with the imaging that is flat, left-right, no real forward or back, little up down.

Ok nothing crazy but certain songs/albums such as Led Zeppelin IV specifically Battle of Evermore and Stairway to Heaven I feel like the left and right channels are having a fight and trying to push each other out of the way. I don't get this feeling when listening to my mkIIs, M40Xs or even my Porta Pros. Most songs and albums sound fine with these headphones I can replicate the issue on multiple devices and even through my C5D.

Am I crazy or is there something in the mastering of these tracks that only come out in these headphones. Older albums and recorded live tracks have the biggest issues.

 

[nordkapp]

You are right. Soundstaging is in the recording itself. Loudspeakers will however soundstage better than HPs if placed correctly. The definition of imaging is always debatable.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I have a pair of Russian Echo N-16 headphones they're NOS. I'm noticing they sound narrow, with the imaging that is flat, left-right, no real forward or back

Barely any headphones have any real depth without Crossfeed. It has a lot to do with how left ear hears only left driver and same goes on the right side, on top of which, you have the drivers sitting smack over the ear canal, which is not how you position speakers. Some headphones have asymmetrical earpads to angle the drivers, if not actual angled mounting locations in the earcup, so they mimic from what direction speakers are relative to the listener's head. Add Crossfeed to the K701 (which has angled earpads) and HD800 and you get a lot more depth than when using Crossfeed on any other headphone.

little up down.

There really isn't supposed to be a lot of up and down variances. Even with speakers variances in height have to do with time alignment issues or reflections; on headphones it's more of how the drivers firing straight into the ear canals cause a fair bit of glare to certain instruments and notes, they'll get pushed forward and up.

Ok nothing crazy but certain songs/albums such as Led Zeppelin IV specifically Battle of Evermore and Stairway to Heaven I feel like the left and right channels are having a fight and trying to push each other out of the way. I don't get this feeling when listening to my mkIIs, M40Xs or even my Porta Pros. Most songs and albums sound fine with these headphones I can replicate the issue on multiple devices and even through my C5D.

Ok nothing crazy but certain songs/albums such as Led Zeppelin IV specifically Battle of Evermore and Stairway to Heaven I feel like the left and right channels are having a fight and trying to push each other out of the way. I don't get this feeling when listening to my mkIIs, M40Xs or even my Porta Pros. Most songs and albums sound fine with these headphones I can replicate the issue on multiple devices and even through my C5D.

Am I crazy or is there something in the mastering of these tracks that only come out in these headphones. Older albums and recorded live tracks have the biggest issues.

More like the response of those headphones (ex the same way Grados push everything to the front, apart from how they fire into the ear canals) are affecting how you perceive a "soundstage" being projected.

 

[Raketen]

What your are describing might be indicative of a phase issue, or possibly driver mismatching. For phase issue try this test out to help eliminate that possibility at least: http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_polaritycheck.php