Its because I found that though everything sounded massive and the soundstage was huge on the c128 filter on the soekris, but certain frequencies didn't feel balanced because it was too deep and too panned. Also led to some softness in sound. Worked well for headphones but its too much for studio monitors. Back on stock filters now, but i'm missing the scale of sound from the community filters.
I think this might be because some high freq don't transmit as well as low freq over distance. So simulating a wide soundstage does mean the loss of some details because that is what would happen in real life.
@Cellist88 That's interesting. I've always liked a big soundstage and every single filter for the Soekris, weather stock or community sounds smaller than the Gungnir Multibit soundstage.
Not at this level. The issue, at least in terms of headphones, is stage proportion and cohesiveness scaling with size, along with maintaining good layering and image precision. For example in some cases where there is a very wide stage there tends to be a smaller and more distant centre image, and try as you might EQ won’t bring back the mids in these cases.
I think we all are accepting of the limiting factor of headphones. At least in terms of limited staging compared to speakers, to the point of assuming it will exist. Then something like the HD800 shows up, and to some (including me) it sounds "artificial" in its broad staging. Expectation bias at play maybe...
Listening to K1K with Realiser or OOYH will probably yield what is probably the widest soundstage possible with any headphone. However, having an overly wide, diffuse soundstage with little depth is a turnoff even for a soundstage freak like me.
EC tube amps make soundstage larger than it needs to be without the drawbacks. Dac filters which attempt to gain soundstage size will give at some other areas. HD800 soundstage is not too large, it's just diffuse and too open (meaning the high freq contribution to soundstage is out of proportion).
Yeah last time I heard an HD800 was through an EC amp. My AF makes even the Clear sound open and wide. I think that’s why I generally disagree with people saying the Focal headphones have small headstages.
Read these "rules" AND introduce
yourself before your first post
Being true to what the artists intended
(opinion / entertainment piece)
Comments on Profile Post by Cellist88