I love the sound of a good pair of headphones. The transients can be very good and I hear things in my music that I do not hear when I listen to speakers.
BUT the soundstage or envelopment is lacking for me when listening to headphones. It doesn't really detract from my experience.
What puzzles me is how most are impressed and look for a wide soundstage/good envelopment from their stereo speaker system.
Does anyone else miss a wide soundstage when listening to headphones?
Do you prefer your speakers and only listen to headphones because of circumstances beyond your control? (for example, kids are in bed)
BUT the soundstage or envelopment is lacking for me when listening to headphones. It doesn't really detract from my experience.
What puzzles me is how most are impressed and look for a wide soundstage/good envelopment from their stereo speaker system.
Does anyone else miss a wide soundstage when listening to headphones?
Do you prefer your speakers and only listen to headphones because of circumstances beyond your control? (for example, kids are in bed)
I prefer the wide soundstage from a stereo speaker system, and there are a number of products available that try to give headphone listeners that same experience. The Smyth Realiser seems to do it best, but will set you back $3000. Another option is a computer loaded with Out of Your Head software. It is a lot less expensive, but does not give you personalization or head tracking. Out of Your Head may be currently available on Massdrop at a reduced price.
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I find regular stereo distracting, it tends to sound contrived and it restricts room layout. I prefer, when using speakers, to listen in mono with one speaker and allow the sound to generate it's own signature from reflections of room boundaries where I'm listening to it - sounds more natural to me that way.
For headphones it's different, did you read up on Binaural ?
Binaural recording - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For headphones it's different, did you read up on Binaural ?
Binaural recording - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Jack, I'll look into that processing software for headphones.
Bigun, Wish all music was recorded using binaural and traditional methods 🙁
Bigun, Wish all music was recorded using binaural and traditional methods 🙁
With good recordings, a good source, excellent amplification, and the right headphones, I find the soundstage to be surprisingly (and pleasingly) 3-dimensional.
That said, I will always prefer a true stereo setup since it is not so 'in-my-head'...
That said, I will always prefer a true stereo setup since it is not so 'in-my-head'...
If you want something to artificially "fix" headphone playback, you might try a spatial enhancer, also called spatial expander. I recall these were on some model receivers (I recall hearing it on a Yamaha) and boom-boxes in the late 70s to 80s, and I think as a separate stereo "effects" box. I recall these being made to enhance speaker playback, but they're bound do so some "widening" (mind expanding?) for headphone playback too.
It is all in your head between your ears.
On their own headphones provide no sense of space; no delays, no reflections and no direction. They just sit on your head. Come to think of it, on their own a stereo pair of speakers does not add any sense of space either. Turn on the music there is typically no sense of space programmed into the mix that you playback. The music from the pair of stereo speakers interacts with the room boundaries. Put your head in the chair of the recording engineer and there is a sense of space, still all in your head.
Typical program material is mixed in a control room on a pair of stereo speakers. If your listening room looks like that control room, then you experience is just like being there, for real.
Put it another way, program material is not mixed for headphones.
DT
On their own headphones provide no sense of space; no delays, no reflections and no direction. They just sit on your head. Come to think of it, on their own a stereo pair of speakers does not add any sense of space either. Turn on the music there is typically no sense of space programmed into the mix that you playback. The music from the pair of stereo speakers interacts with the room boundaries. Put your head in the chair of the recording engineer and there is a sense of space, still all in your head.
Typical program material is mixed in a control room on a pair of stereo speakers. If your listening room looks like that control room, then you experience is just like being there, for real.
Put it another way, program material is not mixed for headphones.
DT
I totally agree here.
If the soundstage or envelopment is lacking then something is wrong or not as it should be.
For starters, I would look into the frequency range spec. of the headphones, they shall exceed at the very least 35kHz. Denon AH-D5000 and AH-D7000 headset excells here with good specs. and fine materials... altho no longer available new. 🙁
Then look into the frequency spec. of the headphone amp. The amp shall be capable to amplify from DC well into the 100kHz range before rolloff 3dB and the THD spec. shall be minuscule low at the order of 0.001% or better. At last one shall consider the audio source and connection to the headphone amplifier. I generally prefer a digital source and digital connection to the headphone amplifier.
When playing a digital source, lets say a FLAC file with a decent player software such as WinAmp or Foobar one enjoys DSP features which can help to widen the stereo image and offer other digital enhancements if desired.
So with Xmas thing going on this can be easily fixed:
1.) get a decent set headphones
2.) get a decent headphone amp
3.) buy a decent CD and player (preferably AAD recorded at a time when sound engineers were such said engineers unlike today some clowns with impaired hearing who call them self sound engineers because they get to play with some studio equipment for pay)
problem solved. 😀
be careful how 'wide' you take it. creating too wide a soundscape creates a 'hole in the middle' effect which ends up giving 'blobs' of sound in each ear. when an amp/headphones combination is right the headphones disappear as the source of sound creating a soundscape in your head just as it would if speakers were being used. i find the currant trend of having to make the soundscape wider just plain stupid. recording studios try their best to recreate a 'stage' effect from single track recordings so the drummer is placed in the middle etc.etc. if you were to stand/sit at a venue looking at the stage how far apart is the individual drum components in your vision? well answer is not very wide apart at all so trying to artificially widen the drum kit soundstage is pointless.
if you listen to a single stereo microphone recording of a full orchestra from the conductor podium you should be able to pinpoint each individual or group of instruments as to their place on the stage. if you dont know where each individual group or instrument should be placed in a full orchestra then go online and have a look and familiarise yourself with it.
close the drapes, turn off the lights and close your eyes and let the music take you there, if it doesn't then your amp/headphone combination is wrong. you should have no left/right 'blobs' and the soundscape should be slightly projected forward in your head. if anything sounds hard left/right or back then its the recording or your equipment.
if you listen to a single stereo microphone recording of a full orchestra from the conductor podium you should be able to pinpoint each individual or group of instruments as to their place on the stage. if you dont know where each individual group or instrument should be placed in a full orchestra then go online and have a look and familiarise yourself with it.
close the drapes, turn off the lights and close your eyes and let the music take you there, if it doesn't then your amp/headphone combination is wrong. you should have no left/right 'blobs' and the soundscape should be slightly projected forward in your head. if anything sounds hard left/right or back then its the recording or your equipment.
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