The simplest form of crosstalk is by putting a mattress or some other form of absorbent barrier between two speakers. Making Speakers Better Headphones than Headphones Crosstalk Cancellation It is correct, but clearly from a source that deems crosstalk an enemy more of the time. The image above shows a simplified representation of crosstalk. The intention of the sound engineers behind each recording, and their choices are crucial toward determining if crosstalk is a foe or friend. Yet, this same playback method can also obscure interaural cues that were originally embedded in the recording, argue other researchers (see “ Crosstalk Cancellation”). This creates ITD cues below 700Hz that establish a sense of left-right direction to sound around the arc of the stereo triangle. This is because there are credible arguments for the generation of plausible interaural cues through the playback method of stereo loudspeakers, where the output from both speakers mix with each other the sound from the left speaker can reach both ears and vice versa. This is where things get really tricky and recording-dependent. The reality is that there are legitimate arguments both in favour of and against crosstalk. This is a depiction of crosstalk, albeit from a source that deems it undesirable. The most famous example of it is the Meier crossfeed. While HRTF correction deals more in ensuring played back signals reaching the eardrum more closely mimic that of an external sound source, crossfeed attempts to retrieve interaural cues that may emerge from the crosstalk of speakers.Ĭrossfeed refers to the introduction of crosstalk: where a low-level signal from the right channel is played on the left, and vice versa. More involved systems like the BACCH-hp add head tracking for dynamic cues, at the cost of complexity and finances.
Some use a HRTF (without a loudspeaker or room as intermediary) generated by calculation, like Genelec others, like Smyth and Darin Fong, use actual measurements of loudspeaker setups with the listener’s own ears and a dummy head respectively.Īfter all, measuring the HRTF of a known external sound source and processing the headphones to replicate it readily achieves externalization. Programmes that do so include the BACCH-hp from Princeton’s 3D Audio and Applied Acoustics Lab, Darin Fong Out of Your Head, the Smyth Realiser, Creative Super X-fi, Waves NX and Genelec Aural ID.
#Meier crossfeed plus#
Bearing this in mind, numerous attempts have been made to exploit the benefits of headphones while improving both tonal and spatial accuracy through using sophisticated processing to yield the net response of a speaker playing in a listening room plus the listener’s Head Related Transfer Function (HRTF). Nonetheless, headphones also offer a compact setup, reduce noise leakage, and can offer low bass extension much more affordably than speakers (albeit without full-body tactility). Yet, room reflections that resemble the direct sound of the speaker may actually help in generating a sense of enjoyable spaciousness outside of the head. On one hand, it means that speaker boundary interference response, which can massively distort midbass is absent. One is the absence of room effects, which is a double-edged sword.
Headphones have several characteristics distinct from loudspeakers. Making Headphones Better Loudspeakers than Loudspeakers
#Meier crossfeed series#
“A Deep Dive Into Harman Curves” Series Navigation: This is the second article of a three-part series that aims to situate the Harman curve in context, as the latest installment of a curious tradition that has largely existed on the fringes of audiophilia.