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Will Speakers Ever Sound As Good As Headphones?

DesertRatt

DesertRatt

All Bark, No Bite!
It might be arguable, but my premise is that headphones have so many advantages over speakers that they sound nominally better at any level, from entry to state-of-the-art.

Of course, it is agreed that headphones don't do well for dance parties or grating on neighbors' nerves. They are a different experience. But as to basic SQ, can they be bested?
 
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Well, I think my DCM TF-700's sound just like the live performance of any kind of acoustically produced (not studio) music; such as classical, acoustic jazz or folk, where you know what the instruments sound like and they aren't processed, like in a studio. A friend lent me his Sennheiser HD-580's to try and I switched back and forth between my speakers and the headphones and it sounded the same, so I bought a pair. So I went the reverse direction from your post, comparing headphones to my speakers.
 
Headphones don’t do anything as well as a quality speaker. Their frequency response is more variable due to the shape of individual ear canals and placement. The image is more like standing on stage between the band members. There’s no depth most of the time, and the bass doesn’t have the physical presence of a full range speaker that’s capable of hitting 20hz.

What headphone do well is provide portability and reduce the annoyance to family members who don’t feel like listening. Even that advantage is diminished with open back cans. My sundara’s leak quite a bit of sound.

All that said, quality headphones are more fun than mediocre speakers.
 
Growing up my dad had some Koss Pro4AAA headphones, and I got into them to a point. Over the years I've had various models including some pretty good Audio Technica and Sennheiser, but they have never become my preferred mode of listening. So based on my subjective experience, I reject your position that headphones have so many advantages over speakers...
 
It isn’t arguable: I have never heard headphones that match a really fine set up in an acoustically correct room.

Don’t get me wrong headphones are great, easy, and some sound wonderful. The bang for the buck is unmatched. But headphones play in a different league.
 
A23gt said:
Headphones don’t do anything as well as a quality speaker. Their frequency response is more variable due to the shape of individual ear canals and placement. The image is more like standing on stage between the band members. There’s no depth most of the time, and the bass doesn’t have the physical presence of a full range speaker that’s capable of hitting 20hz.

What headphone do well is provide portability and reduce the annoyance to family members who don’t feel like listening. Even that advantage is diminished with open back cans. My sundara’s leak quite a bit of sound.

All that said, quality headphones are more fun than mediocre speakers.
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Yes, all of this.

I don't like the headphone experience at all and don't ever use them. Get some decent speakers and annoy the neighbours.
 
when I can feel headphones in my chest without damaging my hearing, I might conclude that they're the near equal to a good speaker. For me, the quality of a headphone doesn't come close to the all-body sensation that good speakers deliver. I use headphones in my home recoding studio, but I never use them when I listen to music for pleasure.
 
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The "problem" with headphones is that they isolate one ear from the other. That's not how we hear, or how speakers work. Headphones need some kind of "crossfeed" circuit in order to sound right. Very few headphone amps have that circuit.
 
bass you can feel... and actual sound "stage" and imaging..


But I disagree with the argument that headphones vary greatly with shape of head, ears, and ear canals being a big drawback.
my seakers FR curve looks absolutely NOTHING alike the one published in magazines... the room has such an insane impact on speakers that headphones are clearly at an advantage.

And ear canal shape plus personal sensitivity curve are independent of whether you use speakers or headphones.


For some music, I really prefer the intimacy of headphones, for other I want the wide stage and presence of my stereo.
 
I have owned a few pairs of Sennheiser headphones over the year from lightweight portables for my iPod to high end for the home stereo. I never really enjoyed listening with headphones. The pair that sounded closest to speakers are the HD-558 (surround sound), but I still prefer sitting in front of a good pair of speakers.
 
I have never found a headphone to give me what a decent speaker can. I was given the chance to listen to a very high end set of Grado headphones at a dealer in the Atlanta area. Think we’ll over 3,000 dollars. While they were nice, they didn’t give me that sense of being in the venue.
Later I had the chance to listen to “The Million Dollar System.” This included the Von Schweikert Ultra 11’s. They played some classical music and you were literally in symphony hall. My wife was there and she was blown away. This is a woman that just puts up with my obsession, but in this case, she said she got it.
 
If I were comparing something like the "Avantgarde Acoustic Trio Classico" with matching horn subs for 200'000 bucks to a pair of 2000 bucks headphones... I think the speakers win.
Because they can deliver music that you feel at 100 Decibels, filling the room around me.
Like an orchestra would if you sit in the audience.

On the other hand, if you have a singer/songwriter doing a solo studio session with an acoustic guitar and the microphone close to their mouth so you can hear all the finest details of their breathing... at least to me, the headphones win. Because it then really DOES feel like you're not just some guy in the audience, but rather sitting right there on the stage.
 
DesertRatt said:
It might be arguable, but my premise is that headphones have so many advantages over speakers that they sound nominally better at any level, from entry to state-of-the-art.

Of course, it is agreed that headphones don't do well for dance parties or grating on neighbors' nerves. They are a different experience. But as to basic SQ, can they be bested?
Click to expand...

A better question would be "will headphones ever sound as good as real speakers?" The answer is they can come very close with binaural recordings. Absent that then no the canned in your head experience will always be present.
 
DesertRatt said:
It might be arguable, but my premise is that headphones have so many advantages over speakers that they sound nominally better at any level, from entry to state-of-the-art.

Of course, it is agreed that headphones don't do well for dance parties or grating on neighbors' nerves. They are a different experience. But as to basic SQ, can they be bested?
Click to expand...

Yes, if your Stereo is wide, very wide. And your preamplifier lacks panorama controls. I listen to a lot of 10 feet-1 city block wide early Stereo. Need proper mono mixes of this material for headphone duty. Try listening to the Stereo mix of any 1962 or older Mercury recording as an example. Most are hard left, hard right.
 
Sgt Shultz said:
A better question would be "will headphones ever sound as good as real speakers?" The answer is they can come very close with binaural recordings. Absent that then no the canned in your head experience will always be present.
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True binaural recordings, very tiny minority of recordings ever made, made with a proper dummy head. Not compatible with speaker listening.
 
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