Awesome! Out of curiosity, are there circumstances where you prefer just keeping the SP off and listening traditionally? Or is the SP engaged all the time now?
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Andrew Quint Reviews the Unique BACCH-SP Stereo Purifier
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Justdafactsmaam
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So far I have only found one track where the other mage was a bit too big. There is an interesting adaptation process. At first it’s just utter amazement. Then a brief period of wondering if it will grow old and feel like a gimmick. Then comes acclimation. Once acclimated conventional stereo becomes difficult to listen to. It sounds very wrong on a number of parameters. Not just the very poor imaging. The BACCH eliminates a couple sources of listener fatigue. At this point IMO any assault on the state of the art in two channel audio requires a BACCH SP.
Keith_W
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I agree. I only have the "poverty" u-BACCH VST for Windows, and it has been a game changer. It is the 4th most important intervention I have made to my system, behind room, speakers, and Acourate.
Justdafactsmaam
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If you can ever upgrade to the head tracking version it makes a big difference
Justdafactsmaam
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$6K including the Mac Mini
I already have a Mac Mini through.
Justdafactsmaam
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Then it’s $5k
Since I rotated my Genelec Ones/ W371a arrangement in my listening room, the measurements are a bit worse (but the room is much nicer). But BACCH is back to delivering an obvious improvement again. You should give it a go!
Justdafactsmaam
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That’s interesting. What were the old and new measurements? What changes did you make in the room?
Originally, speakers either side of piano with sofa about 1m away from bay window (rear). This obstructed the door. Now speakers on prev side wall, with piano rt side wall, bay window left and sofa up against opposing wall. So less symmetry and sofa not ideally placed. Measurements from BACCH similar to previously but GLM definitely worse for rt side than before (rt is 1st image). Prev, both left and right were flat.
Justdafactsmaam
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And BACCH room correction filter with head tracking is on its way. So things will only get better
Davide
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Does crosstalk cancellation work only at the listening point or also over a large area?
Keith_W
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Depends on your speaker's radiation pattern and how they are set up. Ideally you should use highly directive speakers and set them up to attenuate the first reflection point. You then get a very narrow sweet spot.
I have heard them with less directional speakers - while there is an effect, it is less dramatic.
This is an extremely interesting thread. I've always been fascinated by imaging effects of stereo systems. This ability is not a directly measurable quality in an any audio component, although certain loudspeaker characteristics can have some bearing.
As part of our nature, we can localize sounds in 3D spaces, that we can do this is pretty amazing. The brain is able to perform a time domain analysis of the event arriving from both ears. Even in a reflective environment like a room, we can normally quite accurately determine this (a dropped object, a voice, etc.)
With stereo reproduction using speakers, it's an approximation of a live event. It's "fools" our ear-brain into thinking it's a live event. It's not perfect. Certainly, all of the points in Justdafactsmaan's list come into play. It seems to me that headphone listening would eliminate items 1 and 5 and change, maybe possibly improve upon item 2. There is also no crosstalk introduced with headphones. There is only the original "crosstalk" between the microphones/ recording techniques (part of item 2).
It's safe to say that owners of the BAACH SP are not headphone users, especially considering its price.
As part of our nature, we can localize sounds in 3D spaces, that we can do this is pretty amazing. The brain is able to perform a time domain analysis of the event arriving from both ears. Even in a reflective environment like a room, we can normally quite accurately determine this (a dropped object, a voice, etc.)
With stereo reproduction using speakers, it's an approximation of a live event. It's "fools" our ear-brain into thinking it's a live event. It's not perfect. Certainly, all of the points in Justdafactsmaan's list come into play. It seems to me that headphone listening would eliminate items 1 and 5 and change, maybe possibly improve upon item 2. There is also no crosstalk introduced with headphones. There is only the original "crosstalk" between the microphones/ recording techniques (part of item 2).
It's safe to say that owners of the BAACH SP are not headphone users, especially considering its price.
STC
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The sweet spot is for one listener only but you can have one or two sitting behind or infront of the listener. In any event, the sweet spot is more stable where you can nod, turn and even lean about few inches to the sides and the image remain stable compared to conventional stereo.
The is no crosstalk between microphones. The crosstalk XTC deals with is “interaural crosstalk”, i.e., sound from the left and right loudspeakers being heard by the opposite ear.
You can do it for free which is more precise. there are also other options some free and some was sold for as little as $10.
Hi STC,
I was talking about Stereo reproduction in general, and in particular Justdafactsmaam's list, Item 2: "The limitations of conveying accurate spatial cues in two channel playback". At least part of the reason why stereo recordings don't sound more like live music is in the microphones/recording techniques. Two stereo microphones do not exactly function the same as a person's ears do in a live music setting. That's why I used "crosstalk" in parentheses.
I was talking about Stereo reproduction in general, and in particular Justdafactsmaam's list, Item 2: "The limitations of conveying accurate spatial cues in two channel playback". At least part of the reason why stereo recordings don't sound more like live music is in the microphones/recording techniques. Two stereo microphones do not exactly function the same as a person's ears do in a live music setting. That's why I used "crosstalk" in parentheses.
Comparing this and a typical approach to correcting a speaker is a little apples-and-oranges. If it's using head tracking and custom HRTFs then I think it's plausible the high frequency performance is good. And I don't think we need measurements to accept that this would make a big impact on the sound. Crosstalk cancellation would inherently be a pretty drastic change to the sound, whether or not it worked.
STC
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Hi Paul,
XTC for loudspeakers playback makes it like listening to headphones but without the inside head perception. Therefore, how the recording made is immaterial. The sound which we hear is unique to us. The frequency shaping by the pinna, ITD and ILD will be different. Microphones unless it is binaural do not have frequency shaping and the ITD and ILD will be different in any case. The mastering engineer than decides what’s best based on his HRTF and so the circle of confusion continues. If we understand that the purpose of XTC for loudspeakers is meant to deliver the left speaker sound to the left ear and the right speaker’s sound to the right ear without the interaural crosstalk then it can be easily understood why some recordings have more 3D compared to others. In any event, even poorly recorded sound will sound more detailed just like headphones listening without internalization.
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