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SPl phonitor one

maverickronin

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Are you a fan of crossfeed and do you need it in hardware?

If yes, then the SPL Phonitors are a decent choice. Specs aren't TOTL, but the fit and finish is excellent.

If not then there are better options.
 
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AkerSvI

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I don't mind having crossfeed, it's a nice feature.
I was looking for something that can be used in studio (reference) application.
I think i'm going to buy it.
 

maverickronin

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AkerSvI

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yes, just a reference amp. crossfeed is actually good. it can be useful in studio use cases.
 

Bob-23

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crossfeed is actually good

Phonitor is a renowned brand - and they're very experienced in implementing crossfeed. I guess, you'll get a
good one. As far as I remember they work similar to the 'meier-crossfeed' which I clearly prefer over other ones.

I couldn't listen a minute without crossfeed, and after having realized it digitally for a year or so, I have recently come back to hardware crossfeed , it sounds better to me - but, well, haven't done a rigid A/B-comparison, so I might be biased...

Nonetheless, I think, it's never wrong to have at least one crossfeed hardware implementation, for instance, if you listen to a source which you don't want to process through a digital equalizer (or can't: cd-player) - and maybe to the benefit of sound quality.
 

fabriciom

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Ive been using the original phonitor for years, the other day I tried canopenner and it blows it away.

haven’t tried the new versions.
 

Trouble Maker

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Does crossfeed help at all with the 'in the head' feel, or is that primary headphone dependent with much of it being related to open vs closed back?
 

Trouble Maker

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Understand, and my personal preference is speakers at home. But in an open office closed back headphones are a must. Even at home since we seem to be going towards work from home, at most I would probably do open back headphones. In case the wife is home or her next gig is work from home I don't want to disturb her. I also don't have a big want to take up a huge footprint in our spare room with a big desk and speakers. So anything that can help them sound less in the head is a benefit. :)
 

fabriciom

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Understand, and my personal preference is speakers at home. But in an open office closed back headphones are a must. Even at home since we seem to be going towards work from home, at most I would probably do open back headphones. In case the wife is home or her next gig is work from home I don't want to disturb her. I also don't have a big want to take up a huge footprint in our spare room with a big desk and speakers. So anything that can help them sound less in the head is a benefit. :)

I know what you mean.

I live in an apartment and play with music production. I can't have monitors.
 

maverickronin

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Does crossfeed help at all with the 'in the head' feel, or is that primary headphone dependent with much of it being related to open vs closed back?

If crossfeed does work for you (it doesn't seem to work for everyone) it will mostly serve to move the soundstage forward and reduce the extreme left to right stereo separation.

How much it helps with that does depend on the headphones. The more out of head they are to begin with the better. With IEMs, crossfeed won't really move the apparent source of a sound any further forward than my nose. With the HD800 things can seem like they are 6 to 12 inches in front of me depending on the mix.

OFC crossfeed just doesn't seem to work for some people. Common complaints from those who don't like it are that it collapses the soundstage and muddies everything up. Personally I get headaches without it.

Bs2b is good to start experimenting with if you've never used crossfeed before.

There are better crossfeed and/of full HRTF simulations like Canopener and TB Isone which are much nicer, but harder to use for general listening outside of a DAW.
 

Trouble Maker

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Thanks @maverickronin ! I was actually wondering exactly that, if there some something simpler, cheaper, free to try it out to see how I liked it.

Will these primarily work with media you already have/own locally via software players (winamp, foobar), or is there a way to use these with any streaming services? I listen via Spottily, web player if on the work PC. Sorry, this is a new area for me so I have some basic knowledge gaps.
 

maverickronin

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Will these primarily work with media you already have/own locally via software players (winamp, foobar), or is there a way to use these with any streaming services? I listen via Spottily, web player if on the work PC. Sorry, this is a new area for me so I have some basic knowledge gaps.

It's easiest to use them in a player that has a plugin structure like foobar or Jriver.

It's possible to get system wide processing, but it's kinda finicky. I think EQ APO has a crossfeed option which would probably be the most stable. I've tried various software loopbacks through VST hosts but always had either dropouts or unacceptable latency.

I eventually gave up on software processing because I got tired of each individual source sounding different. I got an ADI-2 DAC and just use its internal DSP for everything now. It's much more limited than a VST host, but it always works with everything and has near zero latency.
 

fabriciom

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Audio Hijack for OSX is what I use.

I also use Realphones which has system wide integration but I use it mostly with logic.
 
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