Could headphones be used to evaluate speakers?
If a speaker manufacturer made recordings of music played on their
various speaker models and the recordings were made using identical
acoustically designed recording rooms with consistent recording
equipment, could those recordings be used to give a prospective buyer a
way to evaluate different speakers by using high fidelity headphones?
Could this be a way to allow prospective buyers to get a good or very
close evaluation of speakers?
I know there are many variables
within a buyer's home that will effect a speaker's actual performance
(audio equipment, room design/acoustics, etc) but couldn't this at least
provide a buyer a way of narrowing down speakers to a final speaker he
may want to further evaluate or purchase?
It sure
would be easier for a manufacturer to ship recordings and a pair of
headphones than ship large floor standing speakers for evaluation.
If a standard
recording setup were defined and consistently used, I could even see
where a third party would provide the service of making the speaker
recordings in their studio for different speaker manufacturers.