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Headphones to keep you honest

This forum hosts endless debates about the relative merits of the many parameters that go into high-end audio reproduction, but I don't recall ever seeing headphones mentioned as a sort of baseline standard by means of which to judge the acoustic merits of one's system. Of course, most of us will prefer listening to speakers over listening with headphones; there's no denying that the experience headphones inevitably create of music directly input to the brain, as it were, is not "natural," even if it has its own weird solipsistic appeal. But: we also know that headphones solve many of the problems we throw a lot of money at to address in our systems: room acoustics are mooted; distortion is vanishingly low; frequency response is flat and very extended (even at the low end, although felt bass is lacking); detail is hard to match. The list goes on.

So here's my question: why not use a good pair of headphones as a tool to identify both the strong and the weak elements in one's speaker-driven system?

I recently acquired a set of HiFiMan HE1000 headphones and, using a long cable, I'm able to listen with them at my sweet spot. Plugging them directly into the discrete headphone amp of my Marantz SA8005 in order to match the volume level of my speakers, I can then directly compare the sound of my system to the nearly perfect reproduction the headphones provide. And if I want to listen just with the headphones for an extended time, I can cancel the main speakers but drive the subwoofer at a lower volume; this gives me the visceral bass that no headphone can supply, as well as enhancing the illusion that the sound is coming from in front of me (an illusion the HE1000s are better at all by themselves than any other headphone I've used).

Has anyone out there followed a similar practice? Does anyone use a good pair of headphones to identify where improvements might be made in their main system?

128x128snilf
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

Pretty sure the term for this is called begging the question. Your approach only seems to make sense because you first assume the headphones are somehow better. This even in spite of listing a whole bunch of ways they are not. Nevertheless, somehow, they are better. Headphones are the standard. We should evaluate speakers using headphones as the reference.

Okay. 

But I have to then ask, what's your reference for headphones?

😂😂🤣🤣

cindyment's avatar
cindyment
351 posts
 

Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close.

larsman's avatar
larsman
1,732 posts
 

I use both headphones and speakers; as I live in an apartment and cannot listen at concert levels, I get a much more visceral experience with headphones than with speakers - goes right down from the skull through the bones. And no, I don't use 'Beats'. Great headphones with the right gear is a superb experience.

'Often seen as a luxury item' is a 'problem with headphones'? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 And this was said on an audiophile forum!!! 😂😂😂 Thanks, I needed a good laugh today...

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,823 posts
 

I use headphones as a reference all the time FWIW.  Sound approach!

cd318
2,636 posts
 

@cindyment ,

"Headphones are rarely ever flat. Not even close."

 

I've sometimes wondered why this was. Is there some kind of anomaly in the space/time continuum that prevents a truly flat pair from ever being built?  Even after a century? Not even one.

 

You know with speakers some designers argue that most listening rooms aren't particularly flat so their speakers don't need to be either. Hence it's a case of finding the placement you prefer, often by trial and error.

I haven't yet heard a good explanation as to why headphones aren't flat.

Not even with professional mixing and mastering cans.

The reason usually given there is that a little lift in the upper mids allows you to more easily hear recording defects as for example in the industry standard Sony 7506s.

However, how can it be that even an established company such as Beyerdyamic can have such differences in frequency response throughout their range? The DT880s look about as comfortable as a pair of headphones can be, but I've yet to hear a pair.

And why are Grados such a like them or loathe them design?

I haven't heard a pair of Sennheiser HD600s but I suspect these might be the phones for me. Recently the price has really shot up and I wish I'd picked up a pair of Amazon when they were going cheap

And of course there is always the old worry with Sennheiser of picking up a fake pair etc. There are sites detailing how to identify a genuine pair but I don't really want that hassle.

Perhaps it's not the headphones, perhaps it's us, the listeners? Folks seem to have arguing about the so-called Sennheiser HD600 veil for a very long very long time.

 

Is this destined to remain a perennial problem with all high resolution transducers? The more you can hear, the more you can hear that's wrong?

Anyway, I did get to hear some briefly at a show a few months back. They were expensive, they were large and heavy, but they sounded otherworldly in a way I've not yet heard any speakers sound.

Looking back I think I should have spent more time in that room but it was a good show, and in a good show there's never enough time.

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