[4N6]

Having tried to achieve the best sound through both, I would say that speakers are better, but with a few caveats.
 
As mentioned, to get great sound thru speakers you have to have proper set-up in a well-shaped and properly treated room. This is not possible for all people, so I would presume a majority of people with speaker set-ups are not getting the best sound that the speakers are capable of.
 
Relatively speaking, speakers cost much more money than a pair of headphones when trying to achieve equally great sound.
 
With these thoughts, for me, music through speakers sounds more like real musicians playing in in real space. The spaciousness, soundstage, imaging, three-dimensionality, and bass attack with air movement (feeling it in your gut) that speakers provide simply cannot be matched by headphones.
 
Headphones can sound amazing, but the sound will always be more "artifical" than what good speakers can provide.

 

[David1961]

Quote:

Having tried to achieve the best sound through both, I would say that speakers are better, but with a few caveats.
 
As mentioned, to get great sound thru speakers you have to have proper set-up in a well-shaped and properly treated room. This is not possible for all people, so I would presume a majority of people with speaker set-ups are not getting the best sound that the speakers are capable of.
 
Relatively speaking, speakers cost much more money than a pair of headphones when trying to achieve equally great sound.
 
With these thoughts, for me, music through speakers sounds more like real musicians playing in in real space. The spaciousness, soundstage, imaging, three-dimensionality, and bass attack with air movement (feeling it in your gut) that speakers provide simply cannot be matched by headphones.
 
Headphones can sound amazing, but the sound will always be more "artifical" than what good speakers can provide.

l heard high end speakers with both high end amp and source for the first time and was truly amazed, before then l'd got it in my head l'd only listen to music via headphones, but that listening session changed my thought, while l will always use headphones the only downside is you're restricted to movement unless you have a portable rig, regarding the placement of speakers, the living room in the new home l'm moving to is 12' by 12' so l'm hoping where l'll eventually position them will work out fine.
 
 
 

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

Relatively speaking, speakers cost much more money than a pair of headphones when trying to achieve equally great sound.
 
With these thoughts, for me, music through speakers sounds more like real musicians playing in in real space. The spaciousness, soundstage, imaging, three-dimensionality, and bass attack with air movement (feeling it in your gut) that speakers provide simply cannot be matched by headphones.
 
Headphones can sound amazing, but the sound will always be more "artifical" than what good speakers can provide.

These points are all true. You can get half decent speakers for what the LCD-2 costs, very good speakers for what the Omega 2 costs, and pretty great speakers for what the SR-009 or a used HE-90 or R10 will cost you. Speaker proponents will point this out to mean that headphones aren't such the great value that they seem, but they miss the point that they are comparing SOTA headphones to entry to mid-level speakers - not exactly the same thing. More typical mid-level headphones are $300-500, and you can't get much in the way of speakers for that, other than the occasional deal on Audiogon.
 
A truly fine speaker like the Andra or the Ankaa provide a transcendental experience of being in the studio or the concert hall where the recording took place, an experience not (yet, perhaps) reachable with headphones. However, they will run you over 25 grand, an amount impossible to spend on headphones even if you use a Pinnacle as your amp.
 
The E-W and the Rockport also really demand active listening, stand up and move around and you lose some of the amazing sound.
 

 

[David1961]

Quote:

These points are all true. You can get half decent speakers for what the LCD-2 costs, very good speakers for what the Omega 2 costs, and pretty great speakers for what the SR-009 or a used HE-90 or R10 will cost you. Speaker proponents will point this out to mean that headphones aren't such the great value that they seem, but they miss the point that they are comparing SOTA headphones to entry to mid-level speakers - not exactly the same thing. More typical mid-level headphones are $300-500, and you can't get much in the way of speakers for that, other than the occasional deal on Audiogon.
 
A truly fine speaker like the Andra or the Ankaa provide a transcendental experience of being in the studio or the concert hall where the recording took place, an experience not (yet, perhaps) reachable with headphones. However, they will run you over 25 grand, an amount impossible to spend on headphones even if you use a Pinnacle as your amp.
 
The E-W and the Rockport also really demand active listening, stand up and move around and you lose some of the amazing sound.
 

l know l said the only downside with headphones was movement, when l said that l was only thinking about the Stax sr007's l have, l do have a portable rig which consists of, Shure se535's, Pico Slim and an ipod so l'm not restricted to movement while listening to those, also l get the same sound quality no matter where l go, but because listening to music is a big part of my life, also hearing high end speakers for the first time has prompted me into wanting to listen to it in different ways.
 
 
 

 

[DaveBSC]

Quote:

l know l said the only downside with headphones was movement, when l said that l was only thinking about the Stax sr007's l have, l do have a portable rig which consists of, Shure se535's, Pico Slim and an ipod so l'm not restricted to movement while listening to those, also l get the same sound quality no matter where l go, but because listening to music is a big part of my life, also hearing high end speakers for the first time has prompted me into wanting to listen to it in different ways.

Understandable. My situation is a lot like yours, I also have neighbors that I can't bother with speaker listening, and my current living room is really not well suited to speakers anyway - too shallow. I'm also in my home office most of the day, so I can spend several hours a day listening to my Omega 2s while getting work done. I might be able to listen to a living room system for an hour or two a day, which makes a $10K+ setup a little hard to justify.

 

[TheAttorney]

For me, movement is where headphones have some advantages over loudspeakers.
 
With the Stax 2.5m extension cable, I have 5m of cable to my O2 Mk1's, which allows me to wander around most of the room.
I can sit down, stand up, wander around and, importantly, go to the window and "stare out to sea". All whilst maintaining exactly the same sound stage.
 
Of course, I can do that with loudspeakers as well, but that magical 3D sound stage disappears as soon as I leave the sweet spot.
 
The obvious downside with a longer cable is the risk of tripping over it, plus a slight loss in SQ. But for me, the advantages outweigh this.

 

[David1961]

Quote:

For me, movement is where headphones have some advantages over loudspeakers.
 
With the Stax 2.5m extension cable, I have 5m of cable to my O2 Mk1's, which allows me to wander around most of the room.
I can sit down, stand up, wander around and, importantly, go to the window and "stare out to sea". All whilst maintaining exactly the same sound stage.
 
Of course, I can do that with loudspeakers as well, but that magical 3D sound stage disappears as soon as I leave the sweet spot.
 
The obvious downside with a longer cable is the risk of tripping over it, plus a slight loss in SQ. But for me, the advantages outweigh this.

Hi TheAttorney,

When l get the SR-009's which l'm placing an order for around the same time l receive the BHSE, l'm also ordering with it the 5m extension cable, as you say though the worry would be tripping over it, regarding a slight loss in SQ, l have an extension cable for my SR-007's [ l'm getting another for the SR-009's because it's a different cable ] and have not detected any difference in SQ, having said that l need my ears syringing, joking aside l can't wait until l get the new headphone system l'm getting next year.
 
                                                                                                    David.
 
 

 

[vmvietnam]

I like speakers but it will be hard for my neighbors when I ROCK on so I have to choose head-phone instead of ! God bless my neighborhoods!

 

[David1961]

My brother is in a fortunate position because his next door neighbour is deaf, so he can play his music as loud as he wants, the only downside is that she's got a new dog, so she can't hear it barking but my brother can.
 
                                                                         Who let the dogs out !

 

[rgs9200m]

I had a long session in the sweet spot with the TAD Monitors as the recent Axpona audio show (driven by Atmasphere amps with about a hundred tubes it looked like to me).
They did draw me in and were relaxed and resolved simultaneously, but I didn't think they offered more magic than less expensive upper-level offerings like Sonus Fabers, Revels, Dalis, Joseph Audios, Von Schweikerts, Vandersteens, Merlins, Ushers, Thiels, or Totems.

 

[rgs9200m]

As far as speakers vs. headphones, it's a different experience & I wouldn't give up either. I *love* listening to, say, the Beatles catalog thru headphones for all that extra insight and micro detail and really enjoyable musical information.
You can hear the mixing going on and see how the production was designed. It's analytical, educational, and joyful at the same time, and it sinks deep into my ears and beyond.

 

[ponkine]

I take both
 
Headphones have  "that something" Speakers don't have
 
and Speakers have a different "that something" headphones don't have 

 

[Icenine2]

Or you could buy a Smyth Realizer and have your headphones sound like speakers.

 

[West726]

Quote:

Or you could buy a Smyth Realizer and have your headphones sound like speakers.

Even like somebody else's speakers, for that matter.

 

[gurus]

Speakers for the mid-bass visceral impact. Tho it got pretty close with the K1000/Snell Sub driven by Krell 300i.