Headphone Soundstage - Like a theatre stage?

[AudioLimey]

Hello

I'm shortly to take the plunge into headphone listening...looking for some advice:

Consider this picture of a theatre stage:

(By Ed and Eddie from Palo Alto, USA - SFOperaHouse2.JPGUploaded by MaybeMaybeMaybe, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22830509)

Are there headphone that soundstage like the stage in the picture i.e.

- fairly narrow soundstage, does not stretch from ear-to-ear
- stage appears to be floating quite some way in the distance

Looking for open-back examples up to £350/$350

Thanks

 

[staticV3]

A headphone with good soundstage will enable a consistent, coherent sense of stage, but none will have this forward projection out of the box.

For that, you will need to apply crossfeed upstream of the headphone, or better yet, an impulse response which models the desired listening space, using software like Hang Loose Convolver or hardware like the Smyth realizer.

 

[Mort]

For that, you will need

Speakers

 

[myHRTF]

Are there headphone that soundstage like the stage in the picture

For the vast majority of users and recordings, headphones on their own do not create this soundstage. However, with the help of appropriate digital signal processing, this is possible with a high degree of fidelity. I'm solely listening to music this way and my speakers are used for watching TV with the family only.

As pointed out by staticV3 already, it requires so-called speaker virtualization by means of binaural room impulse responses (BRIR) that are convolved with the music. In other words, you need to add those crosstalk signals and reflections that are there when listening to speakers in a room. This may sound very complex but can be as simple as opening a file in your software music player, provided that you use a PC/laptop to play music.

For maximum fidelity, this BRIR should be personalized to your individual anatomy, referred to as head-related transfer function (HRTF). The reason is that HRTF differ significantly from person to person. This personalization can be done either by measurement with special in-ear microphones or by sufficiently accurate approximation.

Done properly, your headphones will sound indistinguishable from real speakers in a room and will give you the soundstage that you are seeking.

 

[AudioLimey]

Thank you. I am using EasyEffects on Linux and will have a look for an BRIR/Convolver Effect (@staticV3 , @myHRTF )

 

[staticV3]

Thank you. I am using EasyEffects on Linux and will have a look for an BRIR/Convolver Effect (@staticV3 , @myHRTF )

This should be useful: https://vukilis.com/my-hesuvi-configuration-on-linux/

THe WAVs linked there are generic though, so not adjusted to your own HRTF which would make the illusion more convincing.

 

[myHRTF]

I am using EasyEffects on Linux and will have a look for an BRIR/Convolver Effect

I quickly read into EasyEffects and it appears to me that it doesn't support so-called true stereo convolution, i.e. you have four impulse responses and process L->L, L->R, R->L and R->R. If this is correct, unfortunately EasyEffect cannot be used for BRIR convolution, at least not in its current version.

As an open source alternative for Linux, I would try a VST host software such as Carla in combination with a convolution plugin such as convoLV2. We haven't tested this yet, hence no guarantee that it works as expected. You can find tried and tested solutions here but unfortunately they are mostly for Windows and MacOS. In any case, the solutions presented there support all BRIR and not only ours.