Edition XS front/back soundstage

[BZ22]

Hello friends. I've had the Edition XS for a few days now and I'm thrilled with the sound.
However, there is one aspect of the soundstage that the Edition XS lacks a little.
The soundstage feels more horizontal, and the separation of instruments playing in the back - right/left or front - right/left is a bit too imprecise for me.
I would like to know if you have similar thoughts..?

 

[InfiniteJester]

Have you tried a little bit of crossfeed? Something like 2 or 3 on Meier's.

 

[BZ22]

@InfiniteJester Hi, thanks. Do you mean something like this?

BS2BR VST Plugin​

BS2BR VST Plugin » Resonic

Bauer Stereophonic-to-Binaural VST plugin (Resonic Mod)

resonic.at

 

[DVDdoug]

Headphone soundstage is a "personal thing". Headphone Soundstage Survey

right/left is a bit too imprecise for me.

Recordings make a difference. If there are hard-panned sounds you'll only hear those sounds in one ear. A lot of people don't like that (because real sounds in the room mix) so they prefer crossfeed.

Crossfeed blends left & right so it might make it worse. There are other headphone "enhancements" like Dolby Headphone and your computer may have something similar.

 

[BZ22]

So, I'm playing around with the plugin a bit... It does push the bass and the background instruments further back and brings the front ones further forward. However, you do lose a lot of resolution and transients. It's a nice idea to check the mix with it in between, but I'll have to test it more extensively. As much as I like the sound of the Edition XS, after a few days I now feel that despite its relatively neutral frequency response, it's not suitable for mixing. Its soundstage just sounds a bit "fake" – probably why the front-back imaging is less precise.

For example, with the HD 600, I find the front/back presentation really well done. Maybe I'll find a headphone that has a soundstage somewhere in between the HD 600 and Edition XS. It’s really difficult to find a good neutral planar, even the high-end ones have huge dips and rollercoster FR. I really wanted the Edition XS to work for me.... But it still sounds really good for listening to music.
I’ve ordered the new Sennheiser HD 490 Pro, and I think they might be right for me. I’ll keep you posted

 

[DVDdoug]

it's not suitable for mixing.

Here are some excerpts I've collected:

This is from Recording Magazine "Readers Submissions" where readers send-in their recordings for evaluation:

As those of you who have followed this column for any length of time can attest, headphone mixing is one of the big no-no's around these parts. In our humble opinion, headphone mixes do not translate well in the real world, period, end of story. Other than checking for balance issues and the occasional hunting down of little details, they are tools best left for the tracking process.

And this is from a mixing engineer, also Recording Magazine:

Can I mix on headphones?

No. But in all seriousness, headphones can be a secret weapon and it really doesn’t matter what they sound like…

Over time, after constantly listening back to my work from different studios on those headphones I really started to learn them. They became sort of a compass. Wherever I went… It became a pattern for me to reference these headphones to see if what I was hearing was “right”…

I learned them, I knew them, I trusted them. It didn’t matter whether or not I loved them…

So, can you mix on headphones? Probably. I just think you really need to put some time into learning them first…

This is from Floyd Tool's book, Sound Reproduction

Headphones entertain masses of people. Professionals occasionally mix on them when conditions demand it. Both rely on some connection to sound reproduction, that is, loudspeakers in rooms, because that's how stereo is intended to be heard. Stereo recordings are mixed on loudspeakers.

 

[InfiniteJester]

@InfiniteJester Hi, thanks. Do you mean something like this?

BS2BR VST Plugin​

BS2BR VST Plugin » Resonic

Bauer Stereophonic-to-Binaural VST plugin (Resonic Mod)

resonic.at

I like Meier more than Bauer, but you can try that and see.

Foobar2000 has Meier on Android.

 

[BZ22]

@DVDdoug I think the topic of studio monitors or headphones for mixing is a bit out of context here, but I thank you anyway.
What you quoted from my post is meant to convey that the XS isn't suitable for mixing for me personally ,due to its imprecise and too horizontal soundstage presentation.

@InfiniteJester
The BS2BR plugin actually includes a Meier preset, which indeed sounds better and more natural than the other presets.
As mentioned before, my initial impression is that a lot of information is lost, and it is not the solution in my case

 

[BZ22]

Headphone soundstage is a "personal thing". Headphone Soundstage Survey

I consider the idea that headphone soundstage is a "personal thing" to be nonsense.
The elements are always placed where they should be and how they were mixed through processing with reverb, panning, compression, and EQ.
Of course, it depends on how precisely and clearly the headphones reproduce the soundstage.

 

[BZ22]

After listening to the Sennheiser 490 Pro, I appreciate my Edition XS even more.
I believe the problem with dynamic drivers is simply the clarity, especially in the lower mids and low end.
I will stick with the Edition XS and HD 600 combination

 

[BZ22]

I am currently "learning" the XS more, and a slight EQ boost in the low-end has provided additional help in solving my issue with the soundstage.