Speakers VS Headphones......Ugh!

[Rbertalotto]

I've been searching for the best, lower cost, Higher end two channel audio system. Currently I have the following gear, much of it aquired used at great prices. I'm on a "Low Cost Audio Mission"
Yamaha C50 preamp
Yamaha M45 Power Amp
VTA ST120 Dynaco tube clone kit I built
Schiit Sega Preamp
Schiit Modi+ DAC
Schiit Loki EQ
Cambridge Audio Azur 804 Integrated amp
Bluesound Node2i Streamer
Andover Songbird Streamer
DOUK 2Tube Preamp ($109)
Jamo S803 Speakers
B&W D601 Speakers
ELAC 2.0/6.2 Speakers
KEF 103.2 Speakers
Klipsch RP-600m Speakers
Parts Express C-Note Speakers
Magnapan MMG speakers
B&W Subwoofer
Topping MX3 Integrated Amp
And a few more Chinese amps etc.....

For months I've been trying different combinations and all sound OK....Sometimes the sound is better than other times. I figured it is my 68 year old ears that are the deciding factor. Constant tinnitus, damaged hearing from way too much rock n roll, motorcycles, firearms, machine tools......Figured I'd just have to live with sub par audio and enjoy the music.....

But then I bought a pair of Phillips 9500 headphones and connected to the DOUK 2tube, $109 amplifier, fed by the Andover Songbird streamer, the sound is simply magnificent!!! These old ears can hear everything! Great sound stage, great bass and warm, sweet highs......Like it sounded back in my early 20s...

Wish my audio equipment sounded half as good.....Not sure why this is, but it is what it is.....Anyone else experiencing the same thing?

 

[sqlsavior]

Direct injection with no reflections, from a single driver.

Electrostatic loudspeakers in a near-field setup would sound closest, I'd bet.

 

[birchoak]

Headphones are as close to a perfect listening environment as you can get---no room variables screwing up the sound waves, drivers one inch from your ears, no reflections. If you get a small pair of good speakers and put them on your desktop, linked to a subwoofer, you can get pretty close.

 

[Rbertalotto]

"If you get a small pair of good speakers and put them on your desktop, linked to a subwoofer, you can get pretty close."

This is true. I have the set of C-Notes right in front of me on my work bench, driven by a Pyle Class-T amp fed from an Andover Bluesong and they do sound great. Total investment for under $300......About two feet from my head.

 

[twiiii]

But the sound reproduced isn't natural in any way. The sound was mixed with engineers and producers using loud speakers not ear phones. Mic positions were chosen give the best results with loudspeakers in mind not earphones. The raw sound of a recording is supposed to be mellowed by room acoustics and air absorption produced by speakers in the home. Take your system outdoors if you want to get up close and personal don't restrict your self to fatiguing head phones. Do I use head phones. Have for over 60 years, but mostly to make recordings in harsh environments without the luxury of a recording room or studio. So headphones are a tool like my analog and digital recorders, mixers and microphones were in the past. Just like your sound system is today. You just have to learn how to use it properly in the environment you have chosen, Don't like the sound! Modify the environment. Can't do that, use headphones!

 

[Snade]

I've had a similar experience. My hearing in my mid-60's is ok, but I'm sure it's diminished somewhat.

I've been experimenting with a lot of low-cost newish gear including Schiit gear and Elac speakers with ok to mixed results in my smallish listening room. It's all fun.

But after avoiding headphones for millions of years, I recently put together a setup with the Schiit Vali 2 tube headphone amp, Modi DAC, Sennheiser HD8XX headphones (ordered from Drop) and my source is Amazon Music HD (unlimited library of every album I would care to listen).

This setup sounds fantastic (never any harshness) and I find myself listening to entire albums (old and new) with much appreciation. I still like to tinker with different stereo setups with real speakers, but I spend more serious listening with my headphones. They just sound better.

Cheers,

Snade

 

[Lavane]

Many of those little Chi-Fi headphone amps are single ended. Either all tube, SS or hybrid. I have a hybrid and an all tube headphone amps. They sound very nice.
Much better than plugging headphones into most of my SS gear. One exception was a SS preamp with a single eneded headphone amp built into it.
I have a VTA ST-70 I built myself. I like it. Maybe it's the tubes your using in it?
It is hard to beat a good set of cans and amp though.

 

[SoundMann]

When one listens to speakers they are also listening to the acoustics of their room. Headphone listening removes the room and its reflections, distortions and losses from the sonic equation.

 

[PastorTube]

Headphones are all different too….like speakers in that each one will sound different to each person. Headphones can’t reproduce the subsonic frequencies that the body feels with speakers or subwoofer. Does anyone listen to headphone with a subwoofer to feel the low subsonic frequencies?

I have not heard yet (this is not to say it does not exist) a pair of headphones that reproduce the soundstage that speakers do. Some electrostatics come close but ….

dont get me wrong I love my headphones and they sound great. Sennheiser HD580, Audio Quest night hawks, and yes even my Koss Porta pros All sound great. But they are not speakers.

 

[Sandman1221]

I had a similar revelation as the OP when I got some B&O closed back over the ear headphones, music sounded amazing!, but I listened at too high of a volume and got tinnitus which with care has slowly faded.

But it turned out the reason the headphones sounded so great, compared to my stereo system was: 1) the tweeter voice coils in my speakers were stuck in 43 yr old thick dried out ferrofluid and barely making any sound; and 2) my 22 yr old integrated amp was slowly failing and that included increased THD. Fortunately the amp had a separate headphone amp that was never used until I got the headphones at year 22.

Fast forward 3 years, the tweeters got new ferrofluid, and the 25 yr old amp failed and got replaced with a new integrated amp. Now my stereo system sounds great!, and I do not even want to listen to music with the headphones, just no comparison in terms of sound stage.