Headphones are really bad at resolving space for anything that should appear near the centre of the "soundstage". Even the good folks at HeadRoom will admit tha

Headphones are really bad at resolving space for anything that should appear near the centre of the "soundstage". Even the good folks at HeadRoom will admit that. (I'd like to mention here that those guys are the most honest folks I've run across in the audio world -- they'll tell you when the cheaper model is the better buy, and they'll point you to outside sources for things they really like but can't sell, like custom-fitted in-the-ear monitors.) Cross-feeding helps, but the "inside the head" effect for centred sound is unavoidable unless the original recording is binaural. I love 'phones, but if you want the experience of musicians in front of you, cans can't.