I’ll accept that it might be possible for two ears to perceive the location of a source in relation to distance, but I’m not sure that the effect can be recreated with only two speakers. I’ve seen lots of mixing boards with a knob for right and left placement in the mix but never one with near and far or high and low. Probably because there is no way to do those.
Soundstaging and Imaging: The Delusion about The Illusion
Soundstaging in a recording—be it a live performance or studio event—and it’s reproduction in the home has been the topic of many a discussion both in the forums and in the audio press. Yet, is a recording’s soundstage and imaging of individual participants, whether musicians or vocalists, things that one can truly perceive or are they merely illusions that we all are imagining as some sort of delusion?
https://www.stereophile.com/content/clowns-left-me-jokers-right
https://www.stereophile.com/content/clowns-left-me-jokers-right