[xcalibur]

I need some confirmation on what exactly soundstage is...Is it the range of instruments you can hear on a recording? Is it associated to the frequency responce range of a headphone? Thanks!

 

[ServinginEcuador]

xcaliber,

Sounstage has to do with the combo of the two words. Where the sounds come from on the "stage" of teh musical presentation is how to best think of this term. When you listen to the music and hear where the instruments are coming from in relation ot each other, and in the general sense of their placement as you hear it.

Are the instruments coming from above, below, left right, straight ahead, etc. This is the soundstage.

 

[tom hankins]

It refers to how wide, and deep of an area the musicians and vocals are spread out on.( as in a stage of sound) also how solid they are in there space.

 

[xcalibur]

Oh thanks..looks like i figured it out all wrongly..eheheh

So what does a 'wide' soundstage mean? More directions are presented more accurately?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Wide is how far left to right it extends.

Deep is how far front to back it extends.

 

[TravelLite]

The Stereophile Magazine Audio Glossary is a fairly good resource for terminology and definitions.
Quote:

soundstaging, soundstage presentation The accuracy with which a reproducing system conveys audible information about the size, shape, and acoustical characteristics of the original recording space and the placement of the performers within it.

TravelLite

 

[xcalibur]

Thanks for the link...would come in handy!

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally posted by TravelLite The Stereophile Magazine Audio Glossary is a fairly good resource for terminology and definitions. TravelLite

Keep an eye out here for one with better definitions soon. The new FAQs should include one on terms.

 

[Audio-Me]

What SIE said is called imaging, soundstage is width depth and height of the sound presentation, breaks down to how much space each sound takes up in the overall sound, think of it as 3d sections of a field, or in real world situation, your listening room. I'm of the opinion that you can't get true soundstage from headphones.

 

[xcalibur]

so this is what EAX and all is trying to achieve? (or rather...simulate)

 

[tom hankins]

Audio&Me: I think your opinion about soundstage through headphones is more than an opinion, I think It's a fact. I've never heard them myself, but when people talk about the R-10's they sound like the only headphones to offer any kind of true soundstaging. My opinions are based on the HP's I own now or have heard. I would also like to try the akg k-1000 now that I have an amp to drive them.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Audio & Me is correct. I am confusing soundstage and imaging.

Let me see if I can get this straight:

Soundstage is the room ambience, size, reflections, etc.

Imaging is the location of actual instruments and sounds heard within that environment.

The confusing part to me is that it seems that imaging is PART OF the soundstage, not separate from it. Here's why:

Quote:

soundstaging, soundstage presentation The accuracy with which a reproducing system conveys audible information about the size, shape, and acoustical characteristics of the original recording space and the placement of the performers within it.

 

[r3cc0s]

EAX and the 3D modes in computer, try to delay certain frequencies and match some both channels

I find them to be terribly inaccurate and confusing

The music is recorded in positions to allow soundstage to come through speakers

Headphones are positioned badly for such accuracy
but things like Crossfeed from headroom really allow a much better representation without distorting the music

 

[wallijonn]

depends on the music type, microphone placement, and the mixer.

there is probably no soundstage, as such, in top-40 / pop "recordings". there is channel cross-over and frequency attenuation, but any recording done in a studio where the tracks are layered probably has no sound stage to speak of.

if you record a jazz act in a nightclub, the music and vocals tend to verberate and are picked up by many microphones. there is no total isolation. the "ambiance" thus produced could be thought of as soundstage.

soundstage is more than left/right and near/far, it's also up/down.

synthesisers don't produce a great sound stage for those very reasons. look to "real" instruments for soundstaging. everything else may just be mixing.

 

[Orpheus]

Quote:

I'm of the opinion that you can't get true soundstage from headphones.

heaphones are just as capable of speakers in reproducing sound, if not more.

By Stereophile's definition, any music-playback system can produce soundstage. can you hear "audible information about the size, shape, and acoustical characteristics of the original recording space and the placement of the performers within it," with heapdhones? yes, of course you can. in fact, your headphone is more capable than loudspeakers in representing this type of information. loudspeakers are handicapped by room influences, which add erroneous sound information, such as adding your own room's "acoustic characteritics" to the original recording.