watchnerd
Grand Contributor
- Thread Starter
- #61
Replay of true mono material over stereo speakers gives the most clearcut distinction in how image "shifting" operates, showing the relationship between quality of playback and the compensation mechanism of the hearing of at least some people.
With conventional quality, there is a phantom image midway between the speakers - if you move sideways there will be a point where the sound "dives" into the nearest speaker - there is a very clear boundary point where this switches on, or off.
With high enough quality, that boundary point is never found; the phantom image tracks your position as you move sideways - that is, the image "shifts" so that it appears to always remain "in front of you" - the tracking operates per your position with respect to speakers, and not to where the speakers happen to be - the phantom image is not constrained to be midway between the speakers.
You don't need to invent new terms of art / invent your personal lexicon to explain this.
What you're describing isn't a matter of "quality", whatever that nebulously means, it can be explained using standard terms regarding dispersion, time delays, etc.