Speakers vs. headphones

rv, since circumstances require that you use headphones at certain times, you owe it to yourself to try a really good headphones set up. Two very different experiences, headphones/speakers. Overall, I prefer listening on my speakers, but those times when I want my listening to be private headphones are great. Still other times I want the, what is for me, the very intimate and immersive experience of headphone listening. However, while I agree that relatively inexpensive headphones can sound good, it is not until one experiences what great headphones can do that things get really interesting.

mahgister makes a great point, as usual, about the benefits of acoustic control of the listening room, but in doing so he also explains why headphone listening can be so good - room effects are completely taken out of the equation. It is for this reason that I think it is not a matter of “better” or “worse”. If one does not object to the “sound inside one’s head” effect and can make the adjustment away from the usual “large soundstage in the room and in front”, an excellent headphone setup can compare very favorably and even surpass just about any loudspeaker in most audiophilic parameters with the possible exception of the visceral impact of low frequencies.

I own Stax Lambda Pro electrostatic headphones with the T1 dedicated tube driver and the sound is fabulous. Amazing detail, tonal truthfulness, dynamics and very articulate and extended bass lacking only that visceral “whole body” feeling. Stax, because of their design do a pretty good job of moving the “soundstage”, while still “inside your head”, to somewhat in front of your head. This is why Stax refers to them as “ear speakers”.

Highly recommended!

@mahgister - Neither my speakers nor my headphones are 'better' than the other - they are two completely different ways to experience music. If somebody thinks their 'headphones are better than their speakers', it means that they prefer headphones to speakers, not at all necessarily due to room treatment or protecting others from the sound. 

First frogman thanks for your kind words...

Second you are right at the end, it is up to anyone taste and needs...

But third i must correct something you said about eliminating the room...

Because ALL headphones had a SHELL geometry and an internal acoustic content, which correspond to the room geometry and acoustic content...And if someone can eliminate the room properties using headphone, he cannot eliminate the shell properties itself...

Then all my 7 headphones , 2 stax included, had their own acoustic signature like any room...

Because of that i MODDED all my headphone to eliminate vibrations, to control the electrical noise floor from them and even to change their acoustic settings for the better, FOR ALL OF THEM...I succeed...But when i decided to modify my room acoustically i succeed also and reach a better S.Q....

Also ,contrary to the general opinion, even a small SQUARE room like mine is EASY to use and transform acoustically to a so great effect that most headphone cannot  compete with , even in intimacy and details count...But we must have a dedicated room ,not a living room, and we must treat the room with reflective  absorbing and diffusive panels in equilibrium..Not only that we must use an active mechanical control of the room to modify the pressure zones distribution...

It is my experience...

Many facts in audio are beliefs that are unfounded, for example it is not true that near listening can eliminate the "room effect" in a small room, all changes in the acoustical settings impact on the near listening field ALSO in my room and not only on the regular listening position away from the speakers... It is like that in any room of relatively small size...

It is not true that a small square room is "bad" because of the resonant bass modes like  some claims and even  acoustic products sellers ...If we know how to change the pressure zones distribution in the room, a small square room (13x13 feet by 8 feet 1/2 high) can be astounding in bass, soundstage, imaging, intimacy, listener envelopment etc...,Mine is ...

Of all the facts erroneous in audio the more widespread is the illusion that the sound come from the gear electronical design first....It is false.... The acoustic settings of a room is the most important factor , not the dac, the amplifier or even the speakers if these speakers are rightfully choosen for a specific room to begin with...

All audio engineering push the market to upgrade expanse and had no interest to educate people about acoustic....

The vocabulary of engineering about sound is absolutely not the vocabulary of acoustic about sound, but at least the acoustic vocabulary is CENTERED about the timbre playing tonal experience and the relations between different sound sources in the room...

But like you already know people in audio thread spoke about bass and highs, about cold or warm, neutrallity etc...None of these words describe sound nor music... They describe the way the electrical design MAY contribute positively or negatively to sound experience nothing more... But who listen ONLY to his amplifier?

mahgister makes a great point, as usual, about the benefits of acoustic control of the listening room, but in doing so he also explains why headphone listening can be so good - room effects are completely taken out of the equation. It is for this reason that I think it is not a matter of “better” or “worse”.

You are right like i already said, it is up to personal choices and tastes and needs...

But it way easier to modify a room to reach an optimal S.Q. than modify the shell headphones... No headphone shell is perfect like no room is perfect BEFORE mechanical,electrical and acoustical controls... This is basic science not my taste...It is my experience...

And the living dynamic and bass, and INTEGRATED image of the sound is better in my room because of my acoustic settings, even intimacy... I listen music with the sound out of my head and with the intimacy of an headphone...

The main reason why many people PREFER headphone is simple, they dont have the luxury of a dedicated room which they can transform acoustically... I understand that... But i must describe my experience for those who have the time and a dedicated room...No need for headphone after that because they will be unsatifying, fir many reasons, like confort, not only the S.Q. ....

@mahgister - Neither my speakers nor my headphones are ’better’ than the other - they are two completely different ways to experience music. If somebody thinks their ’headphones are better than their speakers’, it means that they prefer headphones to speakers, not at all necessarily due to room treatment or protecting others from the sound.

I am in full agreement that acoustic control of a room is extremely important and you make some excellent additional points. However, I don’t agree that with headphones there is a parallel (“correspond”) as concerns the elimination of room effects. “Shell geometry” is akin to speaker enclosure geometry. In both cases the driver is being surrounded, or at least supported by an enclosure. Speakers (enclosures) are situated in a room and their output is then subject to that room’s acoustic effects. Headphones sit on one’s head and their sound does not interface with the room acoustic. That is the advantage.