Soundstage, headstage and imaging

[evil-zen 0]

I'm getting confused by the 3 words above.

 

First of all, many people said that the AKG 501 has superb soundstage which I agree. Therefore soundstage to me means that instruments can be heard coming from different points.

 

Secondly, I've read that people said Grados have great soundstage too. But based on my listening experience using Rameish's highend Grados, they have very little soundstage. Instruments and voices sound like they all originate from the same point. Unless I'm very much deaf, I don't see the reason why grados can be described as having a good soundstage. Maybe soundstage to them is a different beast all together.

 

Sometimes I see headstage and soundstage being used interchangebly, so I presume soundstage are more commonly used to describe the phenomenon on speakers while headstage are used for headphones.

 

Lastly, what exactly is imaging? I also read that grados and etys have great imaging. And from Northern Oak sticky in the main forum:

 

Imaging - The sense that a voice or instrument is in a particular place in the room

 

So isn't imaging=soundstage=headstage ?

[Blues 0]

yeah.. I am also not very sure about these terms.. hope someone can clarify.

[ablaze 0]

i think soundstage and headstage are used interchangably to mean the same thing. imaging refers more to the precise position of instruments, how clearly each instrument is placed. of course, see my title

<---- still a newbie

so take it with a pinch of salt

[N@Z 0]

Stereophile has an extensive list of definitions. This link was posted here before:

http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?50:1

 

Although, headstage doesn't seem to be described there.

[Northern Oak 0]

My 2 cents :

 

Sound stage of headphones are usually considered as wide or narrow, small, etc i.e. they are trying to describe the size of the sound stage, how wide your ears envisaged the stage to be.

 

Imaging of headphones try to describe how well the placement of instruments it appeared to be. However, it appears that a headphone can have a smaller soundstage but good imaging because it's able to tell your ears that a particular instrument is on your left, another on the right, another slightly off-centered to the right, etc etc.

 

Therefore, imaging does not equate to soundstage, however, they are closely related but used to describe different characteristics of the sound.

 

Hope that helps. Sayonara, see you guys next week.

[ablaze 0]

bring back some cool stuff from Japan, ok?

take care!

[Blues 0]

so the best soundstage in headphone can never match best soundstage in speaker?

which is more enjoyable? speaker?

 

[evil-zen 0]

speaker wins hands down, if you have the appropriate amount of money spent on speakers and amps.

 

But for poorer people, the only way to hifi is headphones.

[ting 0]

Agree to Northern Oak

As for speaker and headphone, with headphone, you need a bit more imagination to make yourself small and put yourself infront of the soundstage, all of them are artificial unless you use very big speaker setup like last time Hugo Demo in Singapore conference hall.

[N@Z 0]

I actually prefer headstage as I like the 'feel' of being in the center of the music. In some cases I feel like being with the musicians or performers.

 

Now that you've mentioned it, how do you hear the singer/vocalist in headstage? I seem to hear them facing the same direction as I am rather than performing in front of me like in soundstage.

[ting 0]

For me, I remenber I did have same problem as you do quit long time ago, it happened few times only, the stage seems go to the back side of my head, I forgot how it changed back. Now everything is normal, especially with those phones with inclined driver like W1000, the stage can be expanded infront of me and quite deep like good speaker system. Ksc35 also quite good in this depatment, according to my memory, HD600 also have very good headstage, K501 is very wide but not deep enough. One suggestion, when use big phones, shift it toward front a bit.

[gryphon1972 0]

I think its good to have both.......speakers and headphones.....

[N@Z 0]

I tried shifting the headphones forward although it does shift the sound outside of the head, it sounds duller and not as pleasant. Judging by the eggos I think I might actually like those headphones with the angled drivers.

[ablaze 0]

angled drivers are the way to go man. The eggos, Philips HP890, almost all the AT cans, and of course..the Sony CD3Ks all employ this "tweak". anybody tried angling Etys in their ear so it points backwards too?

[N@Z 0]

Nahh, doesn't work!

 

That is your best avatar yet!