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3D from headphones. Do you get it?

Emlin

Emlin

MQA Hater!
I've been backing off from posting what may be nonsense, but for the first time ever I started to get a 3D soundstage from headphones, about five weeks ago. It was tenuous at first, and would take a while to stabalise. Now I have it full time. HD600s.

My first headphones, back in 1972, were Sennheiser HD414s and I've had several different pairs of different headphones in the meantime. All of them gave me an "in head" experience.

What's changed, apart from age and possible dementia?
 
Nothing’s changed apart from your ability to ‘get’ headphone listening. It can take a while but a good set of cans + amp can free you of all the room interactions that can plague two channel. Although it’s nice to have both!
 
Is this double posting supposed to represent a stereo 'in head' experience ?:D

I do indeed get a holographic experience from my D650s through my Myryad can amp. I can enjoy an evening through these as much as a session through my big Quad ESLs. Radio, CD and record player.
 
Sound staging in Headphones is not normally solely in head I have a few pairs and all to some extent provide a 3D soundstage from the humble but good HD650 to HD800s I recently acquired a pair of Stax Sigmas which have the drivers positioned to the front of the ear and contained in a box like structure. While they are 70s era cans and dont have the detail and precision of say the HD800 or Stax SR007s they do provide a rather wide soundstage. Its not the same as a speaker but sort of part way between a speaker setup and headphones. Quite enjoyable. I do like having headphones as you can swap out easily and have a different presentation to suit your fancy.
 
Generalising, for me: almost always with records, digital not without some help from crossfeed or DSP plug ins. The effect also varies between recordings and headphones and, as mentioned, comes easier the more you use headphones.
 
Emlin said:
I've been backing off from posting what may be nonsense, but for the first time ever I started to get a 3D soundstage from headphones, about five weeks ago. It was tenuous at first, and would take a while to stabalise. Now I have it full time. HD600s.

My first headphones, back in 1972, were Sennheiser HD414s and I've had several different pairs of different headphones in the meantime. All of them gave me an "in head" experience.

What's changed, apart from age and possible dementia?
Click to expand...
Fascinating. I wonder if you have altered your listening perception, in the same way we reconstruct a scene in our minds when reading a book, you are now reconstructing a soundstage as you would expect to hear it?
 
Emlin said:
I've been backing off from posting what may be nonsense, but for the first time ever I started to get a 3D soundstage from headphones, about five weeks ago. It was tenuous at first, and would take a while to stabalise. Now I have it full time. HD600s.

My first headphones, back in 1972, were Sennheiser HD414s and I've had several different pairs of different headphones in the meantime. All of them gave me an "in head" experience.

What's changed, apart from age and possible dementia?
Click to expand...
I wonder how much of this is down to the type of recording, in particular the microphone configuration, mix down etc. Back in the 1970s when I first tried headphones there was a vogue for so called "dummy head" binaural recordings which were supposed to be particularly suited to headphone listening. I never got to hear any though.
 
Thetiminator said:
Sennheiser HD800/S’s combined with an SPL Phonitor is the closest you’ll get....by quite a margin.
Click to expand...

It's the headphone of primary importance in this instance, I feel. Whereas synergy between cans and can-amp is important, there are a number of amps which would do as good a job. As one who is aspiring to HD800s (or probably S), I fully expect them to be as compatible with my amp as my HD650s are currently.

MikeMA said:
Listening over headphones sends me into a trance like state.
Click to expand...

Job done ! ;) Hope you've discovered how to come out of it if playing a record.
 
The Phonitor does more than just amplify. Good, but I prefered the Meier Corda Classic with HD800.
 
The Smyth Realiser really does it, you will be able to sell your loudspeakers.......but still waiting for it to be released.
 
Thanks for all your replies.

I certainly don't think it's down to quality of amp - I was using a Behringer UCA202 when I first noticed it. I've now moved over my Emotiva XDA-2 (thinking it may have bee an artifact of the Behringer) and still get the same effect.

I've thought further about it and it may be down to this (just speculation):

For more than a year I've mostly been listening nearfield through speakers either side of my computer monitor. I was getting a good 3D image through the speakers which I obviously could see and little in the way of room interaction. I also had strong visual clues as to where the sounds were coming from if I watched youtube, iplayer etc.

Somehow with those clues and without room interaction (which you obviously don't get with headphones) my brain worked out how to decode the spacial clues without needind a room (if you see what I mean).

I'm certainly not complaining, but I am certainly very curious as to what exactly has happened. Normal hearing seems unimpaired, thankfully.

Any further ideas, comments?
 
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