The Phantom Image

[onion]

BACCH has a headphone filter - when wearing headphones and listening to music processed by this filter, it sounds like the music is emanating from speakers positioned where the front rt/lt speakers are, with stereo imaging intact. This gets very confusing for the brain at first, as you become convinced that you are listening to music without headphones on.

There is a recent review of the system that goes into this aspect slightly

review

 

[ernestcarl]

BACCH has a headphone filter - when wearing headphones and listening to music processed by this filter, it sounds like the music is emanating from speakers positioned where the front rt/lt speakers are, with stereo imaging intact. This gets very confusing for the brain at first, as you become convinced that you are listening to music without headphones on.

There is a recent review of the system that goes into this aspect slightly

review

Looks nice, but, Good lord! the price of that system is a lot:

Theoretica Applied Physics BACCH-SP adio 3D Sound Processor
Price: $34,430 USD (as configured).

And here I thought run-of-the-mill SPL Phonitors were expensive.

You know what, I think I'll just stick with the cheaper plugins for now.

 

[PaulD]

BACCH is crosstalk cancellation filters, to make binaural recorded or encoded audio sound like it is coming from headphones when it is being played by speakers, here is the research lab that developed it https://www.princeton.edu/3D3A/BACCH_intro.html There are other xtalk cancellation filter options, perhaps BACCH is the best, it is a limited use case.

There are plenty of other headphone HRTF simulation options, I quite like the Waves NX, which I use with the head-tracker when I have to do that sort of thing... https://www.waves.com/nx
(edit - "that sort of thing" is listening over headphones with an HRTF filter to simulate listening to music over speakers, sort of the opposite use case to xtalk cancellation)

 

[ernestcarl]

Huh. So, in fact, it’s completely the other way around. The only way to find out how good this is if we can actually demo it... anyone here in the forum with actual experience?

 

[onion]

A few members on this forum (myself included) have some form of BACCH-sp. There are a couple of threads discussing it:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pro-edition-for-those-considering-bacch.7917/

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...cch4mac-pro-edition-a-report.2373/post-172418

I have the BACCH4Mac 'pro' version (around $5k), rather than dedicated DACs (which start upwards of $20k). The main benefit for me is listening to stereo music played though speakers. The 'enhancement' does depend on how the music was recorded/ engineered. Some music is recorded with weird 3d sound-field choices and does not work as well.

Interestingly, reversing the position of the binaural mics during calibration (with rt mic going into lt ear) shifts the soundstage by 180 degrees with vocals sounding like they come directly behind the listening position.

I recouped most of the cost by selling other audio gear that I had accumulated previously in a sucker's quest for audio nirvana. I'm mostly done now, apart from some room treatment stuff.

 

[ernestcarl]

A few members on this forum (myself included) have some form of BACCH-sp. There are a couple of threads discussing it:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pro-edition-for-those-considering-bacch.7917/

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...cch4mac-pro-edition-a-report.2373/post-172418

I have the BACCH4Mac 'pro' version (around $5k), rather than dedicated DACs (which start upwards of $20k). The main benefit for me is listening to stereo music played though speakers. The 'enhancement' does depend on how the music was recorded/ engineered. Some music is recorded with weird 3d sound-field choices and does not work as well.

Interestingly, reversing the position of the binaural mics during calibration (with rt mic going into lt ear) shifts the soundstage by 180 degrees with vocals sounding like they come directly behind the listening position.

I recouped most of the cost by selling other audio gear that I had accumulated previously in a sucker's quest for audio nirvana. I'm mostly done now, apart from some room treatment stuff.

Your description reminds me a bit of LEDR test recordings I've heard here (quite impressed me first time I heard it): https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_ledr.php