Crossfeed what is and why you probably need it!
As always I don't know why I take some time before really accept and understand a new way, is something related about my personal character, that as to be sure about something, before recognise it. Crossfeed was one of that, at first test I didn't like it for a simple reason, I tested with wrong gears, wrong music tracks and I didn't go in deep on the overall technical aspects.
As a reviewer, I received a Headphone amplifier to test, the Phonitor Xe from SPL company and as a reviewer before complete my test script I always have to go in deep on all aspects of the gears features. Crossfeed was one of them, so after I took 20 min to read the SPL page about it, I was fascinated by the whole concept, and especially by two sentences: “false and exhausting representation ” and “relaxed listening experience”.
So let me break it down on why the crossfeed so enlightened me, PS. Next 3 bellow pictures are coming directly from the SPL site where you can find more technical information on how crossfeed works on Phonitor XE Headphone Amplifier.
Listening on headphones is different from listening on loudspeakers and not only, is different from listening in any circumstance from live concert to any real life situation. In real life any sound source is received from both ears with different level and time that will be varied and based on listener and source position. When an artist creates a track, they generally pan for the speaker sound stage. This can create some weird sound on headphones, especially when things are panned hard left or right.
HiFi Example
The left ear receives the direct sound from the left speaker plus the right channel which in this case will have a lower level and a slight delay.
Same thing for Right ear that will receive Right speaker sound signal plus Left speaker with a slightly less level and time delay.
HiFi Vs Headphones
With Headphone the biggest difference is the lack of crossing signals of the sound signal from the left speaker to the right ear and from the right speaker to the left ear. These crossing signals are missing in conventional headphone listening, because there are no signals crossing from one side of the headphones to the other. This results in:
Unnaturally wide stereo image
Not as the artist intended reproduction
Center imaging with less focus
Exhausting and fatigue listening section
So what Crossfedd is doing?
Crossfeed is able to correct the false stereo imaging crossing signals of the channels on both ears with level and time difference.
In Easy words, every ear will receive the main channel plus a small amount of second one. This results in a complete improvement of the 4 points that I mentioned earlier plus happiness and less stress in normal life situations!
Now let me explain what is crossfeed for me. I use to listen a lot stereo HiFi before really going in love also with Headphones, soundstage in HiFi is typically located on horizontal field, moving on headphone i really appreciated the absence of room acoustic problem and absolutely no time to spend on speaker position to achieve better results. Who has HiFi gears knows exactly about what i talking about. Headphones are like they are, you wear it and here we go, a bass response that every HiFi listener is dreaming and new micro details emerging from a rediscovered tomb in ancient Egypt after thousands of years.
But i took also a small amount of time before understand that the new Experience has also some limitation, soundstage is no more in front of you, but inside your head and above on a virtual vertical rather than horizontal soundstage.
And I don't finish, most of the time I got the feeling that more instruments than necessary were present in the song, like for example, two Drums rather than one or two violins rather than one, to be not confused with TwoSetViolin YouTube channel since they are really two!
CROSSFEED OFF
CROSSFEED ON
This photo above is the most intuitive example that came to my mind. Is like to wake up in the morning looking around for your eyeglasses, and who like me wear glasses can understand about what I talking about!
How to test the Crossfeed for FREE
I generally use Foobar2000 with WASAPI interface, is free and is working great. To test the crosfeed is very easy after install Foobar you will need to the install the Meier Crossfeed plug in, then from Foobar Preferences select DSP Manager, double click on Meier crossfeed on the right in Avaiable DSP to activate it and choose crosffed strength based on your personal taste.
I have something to say about this option, is free and is working, but probably like me you could get some distortion during transient response. In any case is a great way to test the Crossfeed and how is working before move on more reliable plug-in or Analog one to not degrade the sound quality.
Analog Crossfeed Vs Digital Crossfeed
The Phonitor XE has one of the best and most refined crossfeed that I never test, with the possibility to set not only the level, but also the angle, my favourite settings is a level of 3 at 30 degrees.
Conceptually, the digital one should give the same feeling as the analog one, but until now I have not found a plug-in able to go even closer in sound quality to the Phonitor XE headphone amplifier.
Perhaps probably this is why the first time I tried crossfeed it didn't convince me at all!
The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun
The stereo remaster of Heres Come The Sun is one of the best songs to truly understand the potential of crossfeed.
Not only does the stage open, but everything becomes more natural, less fatigue and alive.
So i told you what is the Crossfeed, how is working, how to test it. But now let me give you some music tracks to test and really understand why you need it.
When you test crossfeed Is important to take also in consideration the following points:
Don't switch on/off crossfeed immediately, listen half song without and then with the crossfeed
Crossfeed effect is not immediate in all songs, that's why I did for you this track list
10 Best Tracks to test the Crossfeed
Placebo - Every You Every Me
Without You I'm Nothing is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Placebo, it was released on 12 October 1998.
Guitar intro without crossfeed will be unnatural and fatigue, the guitarist is located inside your right headphone yoke rather than a natural position on the stage and your left yoke will seem not to work properly, so much that I had to stop the song to check my ears and headphone!
Reise crossfeed of 2/5 level will be enough to open and giving life to the overall soundstage and as the artist intended reproduction.
Dave Brubeck - Trolley song
Focus on Alto sax, starting from the intro to the end, it has no definite position in the soundstage with an exaggerated and confusing stereo imaging. Also the separation between the instrument, Alto Sax, Bass and Drum without crossfeed is not only out of focus, but also irrealistic and so exhausting that make me want to throw away my expensive audiophile headphone setup!
Crossfeed will clean all the image, adding texture, details and a less fatigue experience.
Whitney Houston - I Have Nothing
The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album was released on November 17, 1992, by Arista Records.
The beautiful voice of Whitney Houston (best female voice of all time for me) without crossfeed is fighting between left and right channel, center imaging is completely compromised.
Give a little of crossfeed it will add dynamic and extension to the unique Whitney voice and let you dream of having Whitney in front of you, but let your eyes close cause I am afraid is just a dream that in any case is better than nothing.
Barry White - Love's Theme
"Love's Theme" is an instrumental piece written by Barry White in 1965, and recorded and released as a single by White's The Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1973. Barry White decided to not to put on any vocal track in the song, that's made it so special.
Without crossfeed is like listening 2 different songs together, one for every channel, left and right. Crossfeed will connect your brain with the artist, open the channel communication, clean the soundstage and add detail to all instruments. If you focus on the right electric guitar you will also notice how much cleaner and clear will be.
John Coltrane - Say It (Original Rudy Van Gelder Master)
This is one of my favorite Coltrane record, Ballads is a jazz album released in January 1963 by Impulse Records.
In the original recording and not the Remaster where Coltrane appears more in the center of the soundstage, John Coltrane is on the Left playing Saxophone.
The original release without crosfeed it loses its romanticism and intimacy, Coltrane appears too distant and detached from the all scene.
Between the two versions i prefer this one because I find it more intimate, naturally without crossfeed the remaster appears more natural and spontaneous.
Tears for Fears - Woman In Chains
Woman in Chains is a song by the English band Tears for Fears, released as the second single from their 1989 album The Seeds of Love.
A lot of reverb accompanies the whole song, removing detail on the mid-range and high frequencies.
By adding crossfeed, voices are reborn with more contrast, high frequency become more detailed and instrument like cymbals are more defined and clean.
The result is a much cleaner and more textured song.
Nils Petter Molvær - Khmer
Nils Petter Molvær is a Norwegian Jazz trumpeter, composer, and record producer.
Hearing this song without crossfeed on headphones is how to hit your ears with a hammer. Drums is fatigue in an exaggerated way, it moves from right to left without a precise location, giving you the false idea that there are two drummers rather than one.
Lavinia Meijer - Solitude
Lavinia Meijer is a South Korean-born Dutch harpist. This album is absolutely fantastic and full of emotion.
Excessive reverb without crossfeed disturbs the low notes, making listening almost impossible. The decay times are infinite and all the contrast between low and medium-high frequencies are lost. The result is a confused song that certainly does not convey what the artist wants to communicate.
Paul Kelly - From Little Things Big Things Grow
Beautiful live recording with a wide soundstage, but that doesn't mean Paul's voice has to be the same.
Paul kelly must occupy a solid center position with a well-defined, clear voice and with a good intelligibility.
Adding crossfeed will make the voice more focused with more texture and less coloration.
The new imaging will place the instruments clearly on the left and right of the vocal.
Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
Written by Chris Cornell, the song was released in 1994 as the third single from the band's fourth studio album Superunknown (1994). It is one of the band's most popular and recognizable songs.
Similar situation like in Every You Every me of the Placebo, guitar intro appears only on the right channel in a unrealistic situation that result fatigue and unnatural before Chris Cornell is starting to sing.
This was only a short list that I did in 2 days, but could be much longer. As you probably notice, crossfeed is nothing about losing the width of the soundstage, but only about improving separation, clean the all scenes and make it more realistic and natural adding extra detail to instruments and vocals. Left and right channel will finally work together as an a single speaker, as a single band or Orchestra and as the artist intended!
I noticed that the crossfeed is a little bit controversial among the users. Opinions are different from those who appreciate it to those who don't like it. One year ago in 2021 i perform a complete Acoustic Treatment in my Home Theater-Studio. After the treatment I had an incredible improvement both in the low frequencies and in the intelligibility, everything was much clearer and more precise but I also noticed a loss in the sound spaciousness. The new sound was much drier and less alive, which I didn't immediately appreciate at first. It took about two months to get used to and before i really realize that the sound quality was now much better. I think that with the crossfeed the situation is very similar, it takes time to really appreciate it and once done there is no turning back.
Is important also to say that not all songs are effected from this improvement in the same way, some like those I mentioned above are a great test, but other you probably will not notice any change in the sound quality. Most of the time sound engineers are probably adding crossfeed directly in the new remaster, Placebo - Every you and every me or John Coltrane - Say it, are an example. What really was making the difference is that I could for example, listening my Sennheiser HD800S on the RME ADI-2 DAC FS (that is a little bit too aggressive and punchy for the HD800S) for 3 hours without any problem when crossfeed was on. Generally, after 1 or 1.5 hours i am done and that's also one of the most satisfied things about it.
Corssfeed is the next level and is interesting discover that was a technology that appear already in 1950s. My brain is now connected with the music and the artist, and as soon I understood it, I start to love it, before sound was unnatural and irritating because it was isolated to only one ear, no way of going back and I am afraid about next review a of Headphones amplifier that will not have the magic crossfeed button.
