[miceblue]

At the current moment, I'm listening to some music through an AKG K 701 with the Objective Combo while working on a post lab report involving solving linear differential equations with analog circuits, by-hand, and using computational software.
 
What's going through my head right now?

1. Why does a headphone such as the K 701 have such a drastically different-sounding soundstage from, say, a V-MODA Crossfade M-100? Is this property measurable? If so, how and what measurement is it?
2. Why does a DAC/amp such as the Objective Combo have such a different-sounding soundstage from, say, a FiiO E7? Likewise, would it be quantifiable via measurements?
3. If I were to compare two audibly transparent DACs or amplifiers, would they have a different-sounding soundstage? If so, why?
4. If the damping factor (Zload / Zsource) is greater than 8, would this affect the soundstage somehow?
5. On a subjective note, the description of soundstage still seems pretty vague to me and the it varies greatly from person to person. How would, or how should one describe the soundstage in their head? The concept of the soundstage height is still foreign to me...even with binaural recordings, the sound is usually projected 360˚ around the dummy head in the same XY plane, not in the Z-direction.
6. To me at least, the soundstage kind of encompasses the sound characteristic of a headphone (i.e. the Shure SRH940 has a very forward midrange, laid-back bass, treble in-between the two). Do the frequency response and square wave measurements all play a factor in the soundstage as well since they kind of "tell" you how a headphone will sound?

 
^ in all cases, I'm assuming the audio gear is properly driven
 
Sorry if this seems really random, it's 2 AM in my area and I'm kind of just pondering out loud with my lack of sleep. XD

 

[Speedskater]

The Siegfried Linkwitz web-page has links to many papers on the subject:
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/index.html
 
In the first chapters of Floyd E. Toole's book, he discusses the soundstage.  In the past some hall's were designed to reduce it.