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Sound stage with headphones


joessportster

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Ok I have believed that it would be impossible to simulate a sound stage with headphones, I've always found headphones to be constrictive in that regard, everything inside your head not out front

Chesky Records just Freaked me out with one of there Binaural albums (Explorations in space and time, track 3, War) some percussion started out at left ear and went around my head but sounded like it was 6 feet out in front of me :o . I had to get my wife to listen to make sure i wasn't alone in hearing this

If you get a chance you gotta check this album / track out. its awesome :D

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Sounds like your ears just got schooled.

A well-executed binaural mix over headphones can be very addicting....if not a little depressing once you unplug after a long session. :unsure:

The basis for VRM (by Focusrite) and similar headphone DSP technologies.

My question becomes.

If they can reproduce this effect for a couple seconds, why wouldn't they master an album like this ?

I would bet more people would use headphones if the music they heard thru them presented itself more like a front sound stage. I know the lack of sound stage was nearly the death nail for headphones in my case ( what has saved them for me is inner detail i am only able to hear via headphones)

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If they can reproduce this effect for a couple seconds, why wouldn't they master an album like this ?
Because at its core Binaural is not a mastering effect, its a recording technique.

I wouldn't put too much stock in finding a plethora of musical recordings utilizing this technique (it's strictly headphone only), rather instead look for amps (DACs or AVRs) with DSP features specifically available on their headphone jacks. That way, the DSP can bring to life the majority of your 2-ch library. Yamaha and Pioneer come to mind first, but I'm sure there are many others at the moment.

I would bet more people would use headphones if the music they heard thru them presented itself more like a front sound stage.
Depends on whether or not the recording lends itself to the processing.

Also have to have a good soundstage from which to model....lot's of variables there including peoples' individual tastes.

Now...

If NFL radio networks started broadcasting OTA with the stadium ambience in binaural format behind the announcer for example... :emotion-25:

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Signal convolution is hardly "revolutionary". Their particular processing algorithm may be proprietary and their hardware may have some very handy features, but that's no excuse to tout this technology as something amazing or worth your first born child, IMO.

My impression is that it is the measurement process and the transfer function identification which is novel. Also, they don't use deconvolution (inverse filtering) since the problem is ill-posed, but rather least squares and in some cases model-based methods for estimation. I have not heard it, but am intrigued by their claims. I will say that if I put on a set of headphones and aside from tactile feedback could not distinguish the sound from the speakers, then I would consider that revolutionary. Haven't heard it, would certainly like to.

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  • 1 month later...

Have you tried listening to any ASMR videos? Quite a few of them are binaural.

If you're not familiar with ASMR, it's a physical response to certain stimuli, which often causes a tingling sensation in the scalp. ASMR videos purposely contain some of those triggers.

Some are certain low-level noises, whispering, and some are role play.

This one is a "space travel agent booking". The production values are very high (many ASMR videos are obvious bedroom productions and are really amateurish) and the scientific references are accurate.

Departure Ep. 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oapgiZc5i-g

There is a second episode, but it's a bit weaker and is a cliffhanger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYpI8847naw

Just searching for "ASMR binaural" on YouTube brings up lots of hits:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=asmr+binaural&sm=1

Totally unrelated to all that is this blues guitar jam that sounds really good on headphones. I was surprised to be able to hear the ambience of the room so well. Kumi Adachi is the girl playing guitar in the middle of the three guitarists.

Kumi Adachi - Catch Ball - Live at Blues Alley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQZCE_zmROs

Edited by Islander
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Tried out a Yamaha PM7X trumpet Pickup Mute™ in combination with the ST9 Personal Studio today.

:blink: Now that's binaural audio done right!

While playing in a store full of other customers, with the right headset and volume setting, it was hard to resist the temptation to doff the cans to insure I wasn't pissing everyone off. It's absolutely convincing.

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Ally (ASMRrequests) does some amazing stuff. For this eye exam role play, she has a virtual phoropter, the device opticians use to measure your vision.

ASMRrequests - Eye Exam, HD & Binaural Sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Wu1X8ASUY

This one is a modelling photo shoot with her odd assistant, Salmon.

ASMRrequests - Modeling Photo Shoot, featuring...Salmon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8kWZhyxc8U

This is something different. It's about as minimalistic as it could be. The person scratches the microphone's foam wind cover. In binaural stereo. That's it. Close your eyes and feel your brain being tickled.

[ASMR] Binaural Pure Touching Microphone + Hand Movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z47ZXZG-45g

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To get back to the original topic, have you heard of head-fi.org? They have lots of reviews of headphones, naturally, and in one review I saw the expression "three-blob soundstage". That suggests the 'phones had defined left, centre, and right apparent sound sources, rather than a seamless sound stage. There are all kinds of headphones with all kinds of sound stages.

Here's the homepage: http://www.head-fi.org/

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To get back to the original topic, have you heard of head-fi.org? They have lots of reviews of headphones, naturally, and in one review I saw the expression "three-blob soundstage". That suggests the 'phones had defined left, centre, and right apparent sound sources, rather than a seamless sound stage. There are all kinds of headphones with all kinds of sound stages.

Here's the homepage: http://www.head-fi.org/

Been a member there for some time now :emotion-21:

I will be checking out some of the you tube stuff tonight

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gave the you tube links a listen, truthfully the only one i cared for was the blues link, The others just to noisy, and the blond with all her lip clicks and pops WAY TO ANNOYING for me to set through more than a minute or so

I get what they were doing, I have Chesky Binaural recordings and love them, he does some of the brain tickle stuff as well, Freaked me out first time he whispered in my ear. I would have swore he was actually there, I had my wife and boys listen as well and they all agreed

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I know what you mean about the lips clicking and popping. Some ASMR clips by others are much worse for that.

If you liked the blues clip, here are a couple of Kumi Adachi playing solo. I'm not crazy about her fashion sense, but she sure can play.

Kumi Adachi - Lose Control: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNBXF8bu29Q&feature=related

Here she does a great job of covering a Jeff Beck song.

Kumi Adachi - 'Cause We've Ended as Lovers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcFlY9YikWg

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