[erikiksaz]

I just received a mini-rca cable from Jeff, so that i could hook up my ns500v to my cha47 temporarily, so naturally i threw in my favorite cds to listen to. Right now i have Korn's Follow the Leader cd, and something is VERY odd. I guess i didn't notice it before on my pana ct570, but the stereo separation seems to be a little too separate if you know what i mean. It sounds like most of the instruments were on the right side of the stage, or is it left side (from the artists' point of view?) Either way, on some tracks, it just sounds downright odd. The first time i listened to this cd, i thought that my left earpiece was quieter than the right. But, from what i know, korn has 2 guitarists, and one bassist. So far i picture it as from what i hear:

guitarist -- drums/singer -- bassist -- guitarist

The only strange thing is that the drums/singer is in the middle of my head, whereas the bassist and right guitarist "unbalance" the sound. Or maybe the right guitarist just carries more authority in his notes, who knows.

Just worried here, since i'm still young and learning about all this audiophile stuff. Is it good that i can separate these instruments even though they make the music sound lopsided? Or am i just hearing things

?

 

[redshifter]

although i haven't heard that recording, i wouldn't worry about it. sometimes i notice the vocals will be slightly to the left or right of center, which used to drive me nuts. this is especially noticeable on vinyl; cd doesn't seem to have the subtle positionality of vinyl and so vocals or instruments near the center are locked in the exact center.

listen to "i am the walrus" (the beatles) on headphones sometime. you'll notice the whole band slowly oozes to the right channel during the song, then during the coda the whole thing shifts to the left. people do some strange things on drugs.

my favorite headphone music tends to have a good balance between channels, and an interesting use of panning, reverb, and other effects that delight the ear. in classical music the position of the microphone(s) and the sonics of the hall are important. i am not a fan of pan-pot stereo, where the producer records a bunch of mono tracks for each instrument, then pans them hard left, middle, and right.