Component contributions to “sound stage”

First it is so evident that if spatial information is not encoded rightfully from the recording engineer NOTHING will ressuscitate this information lost for ever...

Then the recording is not a factor which we can control. I did not even mention it.in the right system /room no album present the exact same soundstage. This difference correspond to each recording. We speak about a system/room able to create more so or less so an interesting soundstage for sure already encoded in the vinyl or dac.

@livingwellinco : "The soundstage is unreal." Really, man!

Now saying that only reveal you know nothing about the relation between physical acoustic and psycho-acoustic... And the importance of sound direction for evolutive survival of man as a prey ...And hunter... And sound direction perception ( and the impediment of stereo crosstalk )is the COLLECTIVE perception which our brain create the soundstage impression because of the specific acoustic parameters between 2 speakers and room. Do you call colors illusion? It is not even wrong, it will be an ideological abuse of words.

The soundstage is a real perceived phenomenon which can vary for each of us even with the same system/room... But it is there...

Soundstage is recorded on the source. So look for components that reproduce the source most accurately.

This is true but misleading...

There is a recorded album acoustic trade off choices by a recording engineer,yes, and  to convey it without too much loss by a dac and amplifier is one important thing yes, but to translate this reproduced set of bits and electrical impulses in your room ask for a speakers /room tuning and controls...

And the impact of speakers/room controls in the soundstage and imaging creation comes from the huge impact of the pressure distribution zones of the room , the position of speakers/listeners, the timing of waves, the reverberation control, the balance between reflection-absorbtion-diffusion , etc...

Acoustics rules the gear and his experience from design to listening not the reverse...

Soundstage and imaging are acoustics concept not gear design concept...

Speakers design in relation to room ...

For headphone the amplifier/pre which play the second role in creating a better virtual speakers/room soundstaging impression may appear more important. But even with headphone the acoustic design of the shell cup and his acoustic content will be the first factor. The problem is most headphone do not have acoustically well designed shell/cups nor any resonators tuning inside as my K340... ( i dislike generally headphones because of the "inside of the head soundstage" because of their lack of shell acoustic room tuning among others factors for sure ) 😊

----Then Speakers/room as no1...

----Amplifier and preamplifier No2

----Dac design as no3

Speakers /room are always the main factor but this fact can appear to be reversed or contradicted in favor of number 2 or 3 in each specific situation with a specific gear pieces and a specific owner situation and history and needs ...

But at the end we cannot replace acoustics principles as the first rule with historical relative impressions of each different listeners in his specific constraining situation as the rule...

Speakers/room relation is the main factor nevermind our anecdotal but very real for sure gear dependant impressions ...

What i said is true for our usual classical owner of stereo system situation ...

But the crosstalk disruptive effect of any stereo system cannot be cured by speakers/room relation only nor any other classical gear upgrade.

We must buy the BACCH filters to improve not only soundstage dimensions and impressions but localisation of sound source and listener envelopment, then immersiveness.

«Dr. Edgar Choueiri, a plasma physicist and Professor of Princeton University, delved into the world of 3D audio with one mission: crack the code on cross-talk cancellation. Within his research lab over the past decade, he was able to perfect cross-talk-cancellation of two loudspeakers to produce true 3D audio that replicates any binaurally recorded or virtually constructed soundscape perfectly. »