What are your opinions on crossfeed amps
Dec 1, 2005 at 2:23 PM Post #61 of 67
To me I believe in crossfeed fully and I understand that it can extend your listening pleasure and time also. But I refrain from use of it for a number of reasons...

First off if I get used to it and go to a amp without it I wouldnt be able to give fair thought on that amp itself.

Second while some amps I heard where really great without there crossfeed on most I heard wear completely dry and fatiguing without Crossfeed active. Its almost like the maker put in crossfeed to cover the crap sound of the amp and the fatigue. I feel this way everytime I listen to a well known amp company with their crossfeed on, 5-10 mins is the most I can stand listening to their products without it active.

Third I respect everyone's thoughts on crossfeed and who knows I may use it one day...



Great thread! lots of usefull info here.
 
Dec 17, 2005 at 5:05 PM Post #63 of 67
I'm interested in this circuitry specifically for the playback of my own and others Audience recordings of concerts.

For studio efforts you would have to know the mind of the engineer to be able to know whether this technology is going to be useful or give you the desired results. Maybe look for photos of the work to see if they were mixing on cans or monitors....
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For the Audience or live recordings, especially techniques simply using two microphones I can believe that this may indeed be a way to create a more natural soundstage on headphones. Most of the recordings that I make utilize either an X,Y or ORTF technique that help to create the type of image that I am looking for on a pair of speakers. Arrival cues from the one speaker or the other to each ear is part of what creates a three dimensional soundstage, this is especially true on many classical recordings using spaced omnis. The only technique that I am aware of that is optimized for headphone use (which is mentioned earlier in this post) is binaural which uses omidirectional microphones and an acoustic baffle that would theoretically capture the sound exactly as how it would arrive at the ears. On a speaker playback system the results are less than wonderful. Having been kept away from my home system for an extended period has gotten me to this forum to help in developing an involving portable system, this technology seems to be exactly what I am looking for in a headphone experience.

One thing in the thread concerned me, it was alluded to that some of the crossfeed filters couldn't be completely disabled. Is this true for the Porta Corda MKIII?
 
Dec 17, 2005 at 5:19 PM Post #64 of 67
Quote:

One thing in the thread concerned me, it was alluded to that some of the crossfeed filters couldn't be completely disabled. Is this true for the Porta Corda MKIII?


No, the crossfeed can easily be disabled via a swicth.
 
Nov 8, 2008 at 1:31 AM Post #65 of 67
Oct 20, 2009 at 3:38 AM Post #66 of 67
My response is based entirely on Headroom's crossfeed used with the HD-650s. Perhaps other crossfeeds and/or different headphones would change my perspective, perhaps not.

There is no question that the crossfeed shrinks the soundstage. What it does more than 'even out' hard panned noise, is pull all the sound forwards, so that the music is coming more from the front instead of from the far sides. This is why the sound is described as less fatiguing, because it's not pulling on your ears from such distant polar directs (left vs. right). Unfortunately, this, by definition, means that the soundstage is significantly shrunk.

Also, it adds a noticeable amount of colorization, mostly by emphasizing the low-ends, allowing for (IMO) the bass to commandeer the rest of the music. Sometimes, but not very often, it will 'color' to the point up misrepresenting timbre, too.

If you doubt this, I suggest locating some sort of decent 'test' CD that has tracks verifying the soundstage and different frequencies. I've found that the differences are so distinct that I have a hard time not vomiting in my mouth when I hear it described as "subtle." Ok, a little overly-dramatic, but you get my point
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Headroom uses the word "subtle" and the fact is, they know better.

The only time I use the crossfeed is with hip-hop. I feel that the altered sound helps against hip-hop's immense struggle to sound 'at home' on headphones. This genre is unique in that soundstaging is relatively unimportant, and more bass, as long as it's well defined, is almost always a plus with hip-hop and headphones. As the crossfeed collapses the vocals into the beat, bass is added, both of which help hip-hop sound more alive (IMO) when listen to on headphones.

Other than that, I have no reason to use the crossfeed - the colorization is obvious, along with the shrunken soundstage, making it too distracting for my tastes. Bravo for everyone else enjoying it, but for me, its a step in the wrong direction.

Since crossfeed gets so much attention, my question is, why do headphones need to imitate speakers to sound at their best? Why does the sound of one necessarily have to be correct over the other? I find it hard to believe that sound engineers have ignored headphones entirely when mastering music. And even if one is correct, why not enjoy and appreciate the differences? Isn't that the biggest part of why we use headphones; that they're different from speakers? I mean, I like apples, but I sure do like oranges, too.

Too much fuss IMO opinion, as crossfeed sacrifices what it tries to save along the way. Here I was, enjoying headphones for their intrinsic sound, and appreciating these distinctions, and never once considered this passion as 'a grand quest for stereo speaker sound' - I have a stereo for that
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Oct 20, 2009 at 4:05 AM Post #67 of 67
I realize that many people whose ego (and wallets) are heavily attached to headphones might perceive me as unworthy of playing within their sandbox, or commenting on it. My post is a little antagonizing, perhaps it even borders on condescending, but I really mean no harm. I respect any opinion that acknowledges its own subjectivity, and I understand my ideas only hold a personal value. All I'm trying to do is bring some attention to the essential questions that crossfeed raises...
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With that said, lets move on to
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