Headphones vs loudspeakers


Could you tell why headphones sound better than loudspeakers in general? When listening to music through headphones you hear more details, more ambiance and at the same time the sound is more pure than through loudspeakers. It's also as if you can listen to inferior CD-player without sacrificing much of the sound quality. Even with an excellent audio system the sound has less immediacy and is not so detailed as with headphones. What is the problem with audio systems? Are we dealing with psychoacoustics or...?

Chris
dazzdax

Showing 1 response by james63

Well my hifi life is short compared to may here. I have been into the gig for about 10 years now. My hifi life started with headphones at college. I need headphones because of my roommate. I had bose speakers at the time (ignorance is bliss!). I bought what else... bose headphones and really like them at the time. I then started on a quest looking for what was better that bose (if possible.... j/k). I bought a pair of Sennheiser 650s and a pair of Grado Alessandro Music Series Two and the rest is history.

I have owned thousands of dollars of headphone gear (10+ pairs of top models from many of the top companies) and all kinds of amps. After 4 years of playing with headphones I have sold them all but Sennheiser 650 (first love) and Grado RS-1s. They both are collecting dust right now because I own a house now. I love the sound stage of speakers and every thing else that headphones do well speakers can too. They just cost more $$$.

At night I listen to my first pair of "real" speakers (B&W 703s) that are now in the secondary system in the bedroom. I do break out the headphones for old time sake but they always leave my ear ringing so I try not to use them for too long.

For those that do not own good headphones you should go out... no run out and buy a pair. They can be a real eye/ear opener.... just hope that you have a good speaker system or you will get to itch to upgrade.