Nearly all recorded media is mastered for speaker playback. When that same content is reproduced through headphones, the sound stage collapses. Distance disappears, the stereo image shrinks to a point between the ears, and the spatial scale that was intended for speakers — the width of a concert stage, the depth of a film score — is lost entirely. Action sequences feel claustrophobic. Concert recordings lose their sense of venue.

MaxWide restores spatial scale to headphone playback. It creates the impression of listening in a room — a theater, a concert hall, or a studio monitor setup — rather than inside the listener's head. The effect is immediate: vocals and dialog move to a natural distance in front of the listener, instruments spread across a convincing stage, and the acoustic space gains width and depth.

How it works

MaxWide constructs the spatial impression of a physical listening environment using four tunable parameters:

• Distance to the stage — moves vocals and dialog away from the listener's head to a natural perceived distance, simultaneously adding stage width
• Width of the stage — sets the horizontal spread of the sound image
• Size of the hall — defines the perceived room dimensions (width and depth) by controlling simulated reflected sound
• Initial reflection time — adjusts the propagation delay of early reflections to match the selected hall size

These parameters can be configured to simulate different environments — from an intimate monitoring setup to a large theater. Multiple presets can be prepared, giving the end user selectable modes suited to different content types.

MaxWide is effective even on monaural sources, adding spatial dimension to content that has none.

Per-headphone equalization

MaxWide integrates a custom equalization stage using Eilex's VIR filter technology. This serves two purposes: it corrects the frequency response characteristics of the specific headphone model, and it compensates for tonal artifacts introduced by active noise cancellation (ANC) circuits. The VIR filter provides the resolution needed for precise correction across the full frequency range, including the low frequencies where conventional FIR-based approaches lose accuracy.

Compatibility

MaxWide works with all audio sources — CD, compressed formats (MP3, AAC), multi-channel content downmixed to stereo, hi-res audio, and monaural material. It is compatible with all headphone and earphone types, including noise-cancelling models.

The one constraint: MaxWide should not be combined with audio that has already been processed with 3D or virtual surround effects, whether applied in the player software or built into the headphone hardware. These processes conflict with MaxWide's spatial rendering.

Where MaxWide fits

MaxWide is designed for any headphone listening product — smartphones, tablets, laptops, dedicated headphone amplifiers, and TV headphone outputs. It pairs naturally with Harmony or Focus for compressed audio restoration, and with HD Remaster for high-resolution upconversion.