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Headphone amp with crossfeed and no DAC suggestion?

BillG

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when i listened to Foobar2000's meier crossfeed and it seem to only move the sound from the sides to the center as if it only converted stereo to mono. this is not what i hear when listening to speakers( with speakers i still hear stereo but with more transparency,less analytical and more natural sounding than with headphones). so is this crossfeed effect poorly done or is the "speaker like" effect more than just crossfeed (more complex room reflections and sound boucing off our head/ears shape ...) and is there a software effect that mimic speakers sound on headphones more completely than just crossfeed effect ? what is it called ? thanks

There's another in @Peace that implements the Moy crossfeed algorithm. It sounds more speaker-like to my ears although it will hollow out the mids slightly - that can easily be compensated for with EQ, though.
 

MRC01

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... when i listened to Foobar2000's meier crossfeed and it seem to only move the sound from the sides to the center as if it only converted stereo to mono. this is not what i hear when listening to speakers...
Meier's crossfeed affects the portion of the signal that is different across the L-R channels. It does nothing to a mono recording, and with a stereo recording the impact of its effect depends on the degree of separation. My DAC/preamp can apply Meier's crossfeed at 5 progressive levels, all in DSP. The effect with most recordings is subtle. It narrows the stereo image if it is very wide, and makes some recordings sound more natural or speaker-like, if they use extreme stereo effects (like instruments hard-panned to L or R channel).

Headphone imaging effects are highly personal. Overall, to me, Meier's crossfeed is the most transparent, in that it is subtle and doesn't squash the music. OTOH, it doesn't make a big difference, except for a few rare recordings. I normally leave it turned off, and use it only on recordings that have extreme stereo effects (hard panning instruments to L or R channel was popular with some old Jazz albums), and for movies.
 

BillG

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I stumbled upon something last night while doing some reading on various crossfeed implementations: Apparently Dolby Atmos for headphones implements it as well. The exact algorithm it uses I can't determine. However, I will say that it sounds much more natural to my ears than Moy or Meier.
 

amanieux

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Overall, to me, Meier's crossfeed is the most transparent, in that it is subtle and doesn't squash the music.
i was nor convince by meier as implemented in foobar 2000, i was more impressed by wavesnx android app though i don't know exactly what acoustic model they are using ( i notice that on 50% of my songs it sounds better, on 25% of my songs it is barely noticeable and on 25% of my songs it sounds worse [than without the effect]). precision : i am not looking for crosfeed effect alone but the whole "speaker like" global simulation effect on headphones.
 
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