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Can you make headphones sound like real loudspeakers? We're giving it a go

Not discrediting them in any way and I am sure for $4000 ish you do get your money's worth but we at Sonneteer do like to find simple solutions to problems as much as we can. From watching too much Dr Who? perhaps.
I would however say that £14.95(plus PP) is less of a risk and a dent to your pocket. :)

Haider
 
I am quite a fan of crossfeed but except for a Chord Hugo have not really had a decent portable option. Less than £15 for a neat inline design is worth a go.
 
Yes indeed there are a lot of complex options. We looked at that and headed South quite a way. Not saying that complex solutions don't work, but we asked a lot of what ifs and whys? looked at what the short comings were and then tried something else. To us it worked. We did field tests sending them out to all sorts of people to try, from musicians, to gamers to Audiophiles and then just other folk we knew who would give us an impartial review as a user.
All were positive and some amazed. So we thought we'd put it out there.

Haider
 
The Realiser is of course attempting something way beyond simulating a crossfeed type function. And I am not knocking your efforts, because anything that helps more people enjoy headphones is a good thing.

Personally I have disliked every crossfeed circuit I have heard. Hugo 2 and Phonitor spring to mind as two that just added nothing to my musical enjoyment. For a number of reasons all my listening is on headphones these days and I like them just fine. I find the compromises required fewer and less significant that with most speaker systems.
 
If you are happy I wouldn't change. But having looked at many of the other 'Solutions' I think their complexity is partly their undoing.
But for £14.95 what have you got to lose ;-)
All the best and thanks for the comments so far.
Haider
 
Sonneteer said:
Haha, well if we were to make a custom one for you it would probably be a lot more expensive sadly.

But why not try one and we can find you an adaptor?

I imagine any 1/4" requirement would be not portable? How would you be listening?

Haider
Click to expand...

I don't have any headphones that I'd use outside. I'm mostly in the living room running off the main system, or occasionally at my desk.

My Senns have a mini jack connection, so would be fine on entry, but I'd need a 1/4 adapter on exiting your device as I use an extension cord there.

The Grados would need an adapter both ends. No problem with that but the adapters I've used in the past have been very shonky...
 
Yes understood. Quality of adaptors is mixed.
We have some higher end headphones that come with either two sets of cables or screw on adaptors, so tends to be not a problem with some. Surprised Grado don't do the same.
Maybe we should try find some good solutions an offer them. But we would simply be reselling.

Always interested to hear other people's solutions to problems.

Haider
 
As implied earlier, we are working on a very similar theory (almost identical in many ways) with reference to why some prefer the sound of vinyl records over digitally recorded counterparts.

Is this of interest?

Haider
 
Take part of the right channel, invert it and bleed it at a low level into the left etc. Something like that
 
So this is some kind of crossfeed device? I would like get an idea of what this does sonically - I quite like crossfeed and might buy if I had an idea what it’s supposed to do!
 
Yes in principle it acts along that lines. We use some simple (hopefully clever) maths and so audio knowledge and logic based on actual experience. Once the maths was done we needed to make it practical and of course pleasurable to listen too as well as producing the original desired effect.
Oh no inversion is involved at all by the way. That's not quite the theory we have applied here. We very much looked back at original stereo as was designed and how we actually experience it. Then we looked at what is missing when headphones are used. Principally not a new desire, but we have tried to apply it more straightforwardly, stripping out all the overthinking etc.

We think it works. We have done extensive field testing too with people using different devices (Phones, music players, PCs, DACs headphone amps etc) to listen over a period of time and it has all been positive and reflecting our expectations.

Hopefully yours too :)

I hope this helps
Haider
 
My headphones are fairly low end compared to some here (Sennheiser Momentum 2 on ears), they still sound great to me though .

I usually listen to them with my phone as source, will I hear any benefits?
 
Not doing a lot for me I'm afraid.... marginal drop in bass warmth if anything, but can't say I noticed any difference to the soundstage or left to right spread, maybe slightly more distant.

I've tried crossfeed devices before with mixed results.... I had a Meier Corda Classic headphine amp a few years ago and I preferred it without the x-feed switched on. But 20 years ago I had a Headroom "More Static" crossfeed processor which I used with Sennheiser He-60 electrostatic 'phones and it really worked well.
 
Thanks for the feedback. are you using the electrostatics again here? All of our other feedback has been positive so for. I'd be interested in your experience over a range of music. There is certainly no inversion involved to try to cheat a wider image as some attempt. We are looking for a more natural stage without exaggeration. Appreciating that different headphone amps and headphones themselves sound different we are hoping for a better essence of reality. Almost all of the feedback we had from field testing over quite a long period as well as our own in house testing has been very favourable. Also appreciating the better equipment you have the harder it is to better it. I myself have a pair of Ultrson Signature Pros which I use for music recording monitoring as well as listening in general and with them its more a sense of relief listening with the Headspace as they are already very comfortable to listen to. My Focal(come AKGs) which are ultra clear but perhaps too much are much improved by it. Also I have a range of cheaper headphones and buds which all sound a lot more natural with it. Akin perhaps to doubling the price at least relatively speaking if that were a worthy gauge.

All the best,
haider
 
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