Room dimensions and the ratio of direct sound to early reflections are the critical variables here — without those, it's hard to give a definitive answer rather than a preference.
That said, some general principles apply. Sitting farther from speakers increases the ratio of reflected sound to direct sound, which in a typical rectangular room means more interaction with the rear wall and side walls — potentially muddying imaging and adding coloration depending on how live or dead the room is.
Sitting closer to speakers that are wider apart can preserve a good stereo image while keeping you more in the direct-sound field, but only up to a point: too wide and the center image collapses and you lose coherence.
The equilateral triangle rule — speaker-to-speaker distance roughly equal to listening distance — is a reasonable starting point for most rooms and most speakers, but it's not universal. Speakers with narrow dispersion reward closer, more focused listening; wider-dispersion designs are more forgiving of room interactions.
The deeper issue is that in a rectangular room, certain distances from the front and rear walls will excite bass modes more than others. So the 'better' position often has less to do with near-field vs. far-field preference and more to do with where the room lets you sit without a bass null or boom. Tools like the Room EQ Wizard modal calculator can tell you where the nodes are before you even move a piece of furniture.
