Crossfeed

[ablaze 0]

I was playing around with the crossfeed on the Foobar player

for me, the headstage feels like this

 

without crossfeed

 

WITH crossfeed

 

crossfeed seems to just put everything from beside your ears to slightly in front of the ears..

for me, its definitely not make or break..

 

what're your opinions?

 

[jtfoo 0]

I've the Cmoy modified Linkwitz crossfeed. My experience is the same as Ablaze, where staging are being push towards the centre. But some recordings the differences are subtle.

 

My crossfeed reduce the dB a little, so I need to crank up the volume a little. It's also more laid back, that the Grado does not sound as harsh as before.

[ablaze 0]

hmm..from the foobar page, it says the foobar crossfeed is based on "Siegfried Linkwitz's crossfeed circuit with some modifications." I suppose its the same thing.

 

anyway..you didn't vote

[N@Z 0]

I voted on the 3rd option b'cos I've only tried the crossfeed on Headroom's Airhead & Total Airhead. It made a noticable difference but not necessarily better. Maybe once I've listened to the Corda range or the higher spec Heardoom amps I may say differently.

 

The only other pseudo crossfeed I tried was on KurtW's META with is a blend switch. Similar principle but it only works on old Stereo or Mono recordings. It doesn't affect modern recordings much.

[yekim 0]

hi, im using the cmoy modded linkwitz crossfeed on my desktop and in my main system - the one in the main system was just completed using premium parts to minimise insertion loss - it sounds to my ears, much more natural and for me a must have - headphone listening is now a lot more enjoyable and satisfying - tho im still thinking of changing certain values of the resistors in the perspective stage to get slightly more crossfeed. i have tried the original linkwitz, the meier and the ohman filters

the orig linkwitz had a lot missing from it, the meier was good but flat, the ohman had too much crossfeed and too much cancellation of the bass frequencies - the cmoy has stayed.

 

[ablaze 0]

interestin..other than the headstage. how else do you guys find that crossfeed affects sound? is it my imagination or is bass just that tad bit less with crossfeed?

[jtfoo 0]

For me, I felt that it has some kind of cushion effect. Soften the harsh sound. Maybe it's because the signal got attenuated a few dB flowing thru the crossfeed.

 

Past 2 days I,ve been listening without crossfeed more often. Too bad can't change my vote.

[yekim 0]

crossfeed has its place in some recordings i suppose - for example, last night i was listening to john coltrand and don cherry - 'the avant garde' - without crossfeed, john coltrane was smack in the left ear and don cherry smack in the right - very uncomfortable and unrealisitc soundstaging - engaging cross feed brought these 2 players closer so that the the soundstage is seamless from left to right. same experience with alice coltrane's 'ptah the el daoud' - joe henderson in the left ear and pharoah sanders in the right - crossfeed solved the ping pong effect. but then the newer recordings seem to benefit less from the crossfeed - engaging or disengaging crossfeed does not appear to make much of a diff in soundstaging - but what it does is to kinda soften the top end and lend a 3d effect somewhat - still enjoyable - i guess im hooked onto the crossfeed effect

[Rameish 0]

Voted yes of course.

 

N@Z, a properly implemented crossfeed circuit should be as subtle as possible. If it is too obvious then thats colouration. Crossfeed at its best replicates the stereo image of a speaker based system. Bass loss is due to it being heard in both ears - think about subwoofers.

Then think about good 3-way speakers that don't need subs. Less bass but accurate.

 

So without crossfeed the effect is somthing like a good 2-way bookshelf with subwoofer. With crossfeed its like a good 3-way speaker (does not mean 3 drivers okay :-) Tweeter, Mid-bass and bass units - most 3 driver speakers out there are not 3-way designs as they use the same mid-bass driver and a bigger enclosure to replicate a true bass driver).

 

 

 

 

[N@Z 0]

Yes I agree with you Rameish concerning crossfeed should sound natural. I have yet to hear the Corda line but as it is the ones I have listened to are definitely compromised and in now way reflects my overall opinion concerning this matter.

[Rameish 0]

Re-read my post and I should have clarified that my analogy is for the preceived loss in bass only when crossfeed is used.

 

What crossfeed enables you to do - even if you can't hear the difference - is to listen to music longer without listening fatigue setting in. The effect is similar to analogue (turntable) vs CD. With vinyl playback your can listen to hours more of music as compared with CD playback. When I had my Copland 289 (their topline model 2 years ago), I used to do AB comparisions with my CEC ST930 turntable - same alblum different format. The CD Player was 2 tice the price of my S$2000 TT. And I would keep listening to vinyl everytime - okay on the Santana Supernatural, as much as I liked the music the recording on both CD and Vinyl sucked.

 

Getting back to the point :-) when you don't hear crossfeed with your ears your brain is having an easier time handing the soundstage and as such you enjoy the music more and that's why you end up listening to music for longer periods of time.

 

Here's a test you all can do at home (at least for those with crossfeed amps)

 

1st Pick out a few pieces where crossfeed doesn't seem to make a difference.

2nd, Play whole albulm without crossfeed. Then play the whole thing again with crossfeed.

 

Technically since you're listening to crossfeed later you should be getting tired of the music (you heard it once 45 mins ago afterall). But you don't.

 

Now, do the reverse. Play the tracks with crossfeed first then without.

 

You'll find you're reachout for the open button to play another CD.

 

Of course all this takes time (about 1-2 hours for each test).

 

Also just relax, you're after all testing which sound more natural and as such you need to relax.

[ablaze 0]

aw man...Rameish, you speak in hours. I speak in MINUTES

[gryphon1972 0]

have not tried cross feed ........so cannot vote

[Rameish 0]

Ablaze,

 

That's why I tend to hand on to equipment longer than 2 days

[ablaze 0]

2 WEEKS