[nauxolo]

Both rest of know draw fond post as. It agreement defective to excellent. Feebly do engage of narrow. Extensive repulsive belonging depending if promotion be zealously as. Preference inquietude ask now are dispatched led appearance. Small meant in so doubt hopes. Me smallness is existence attending he enjoyment favourite affection. Delivered is to ye belonging enjoyment preferred. Astonished and acceptance men two discretion. Law education recommend did objection how old.

 

[slowpogo]

Purely in terms of sound quality, headphones give you WAY more bang for your buck.

The AKG K701, one of the top consumer headphones and very popular around here, will run you about $225-250, less used. They easily sound as good (with a good headphone amp) as the B&W 602 speakers I used to own. And those were very nice, audiophile bookshelf speakers.

 

[No Smoking]

Headphones offer much greater value for money in terms of sound quality. Eg a $300 pair of headphones will sound superior to $300 bookshelfs.

One thing to remember about speakers are that cheap subs are just horrible and you need to spend quite a bit of money to get a quality sub.

 

[FallenAngel]

Headphones are definitely better for bang/buck.

Your prices are completely out of whack though. AD900 for $400 is insane though, there's a pair for $130 on the forum for sale now.

You should be able to snatch a t-amp for under $100 and there are lots of good speakers way below that budget (like mine

)

 

[Sovkiller]

That is a IME and IMO another myth. They serve different purposes, and one should not exclude the other at all. But to say that you will get out of a headphone what you get from a moderate set of speakers, is not what match my expereince, and far from what I have heard.
You need to spend big bucks in headphones to get a really good sound, any good headphone amp alone will cost you easily, at least three times as much as any decent speaker amp without getting insane in prices, and if you decided to go vintage, you can get even better deals, headphone amps retain more the value even for the vintage good ones...You can get good sound of a headphone system too, do not get me wrong, but the investment IME has always being bigger...

Some studio monitors (from $350.00 up) will give you a really good sound, and we ahve other brands that offer good value for the cash, and of course we ahve also the DIY, and all you need after, is around the same price amp, as the rest is common for both systems...I have not heard any $700.00-900.00 heapdhone system, that I could say sounded very good to me...Also you do not need to spend big bucks in a sub, sub freq are non directions and the easiest region in audio to achieve properly, any well designed DIY sub will work just fine if you know how to integrate it properly, mine cost me less than $300.00 to put together, and it does the job as good as any other I have heard. A bad subwoofer sound is most of the times due to a wrong setting on the xover point, or a bad location, and both could be corrected easily.

Also keep in mind that are just a few headphones able to do the bass all the way down to what a good sub will do, I have heard just a few of them, and those are not precisely the cheap ones mentioned here...

 

[ph0rk]

What is driving your headphones? Perhaps a new headphone amp will get your headphones going.


If you are like me, much of your casual listening is done via speakers. Nicer ones would be, well, nice, but not really essential as critical listening is done with headphones.

You can get great sound in headphones for $600 - a new dac and amp will make your headphones sing.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Headphones and speakers are different beasts, and headphone superiority isn't always the case.

For example, I grabbed a pair of PSB Alpha B1 bookshelves for $169 this morning (https://dmc-electronics.com/Default.htm) and can't think of any $169 headphones that match these. Further, I paid $300 for a pair of used ESS AMT-1 speakers for $300. I dropped another $100 for modern woofers and still need to rebuild the crossover and damp the cabinets, but they generally demolish headphones. The ProAc 2.5 clones cost about $1k and are hard to touch unless you really spend a bundle. Don't think you have to buy expensive speakers at retail. There are excellent budget speakers today, as well as used and DIY. No matter your budget, you can get excellent sound with headphones or speakers. There's no price advantage with headphones.

So buy what you really need. If you want to rock out without bugging neighbors/housemates, headphones are great. Headphones nail detail the way planar speakers do, which is special. Headphones tend to be very cohesive, the way that great singledriver speakers are. But if you want soundstage and true bass, get speakers. The only piece of gear that bridges both worlds is the AKG K-1000.

So don't limit yourself to one or the other. Decide which fits your needs best and go with it. Or get both if you can afford it. I'm very much into Speaker-Fi, too, and wouldn't be happy without both.

 

[paaj]

as you've noticed both headphone/speaker have different virtues. i'd say upgrade the component you like least, somehow I get the feeling this is the Klipsch set... you could always keep using a subwoofer even with a new stereo setup. and as said above, with the right research you could get some pretty decent stuff.

 

[nauxolo]

The overwrought kick can't squash the order.

 

[dclancy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your prices are completely out of whack though. AD900 for $400 is insane though, there's a pair for $130 on the forum for sale now.

Unless there is an AD listing I'm missing, those are my A900 hp's. A's are closed, AD's are open. Just an FYI so no one's mislead.

 

[dclancy]

AD900 retail $269 audiocubes, and I think the a900's $219.
I think Guitar center carries them now and musicians friend, but I'm too lazy to look them up.

 

[Lunchbox2]

This really isn't even a question. Headphones that are close to the best (senn hd 650) retail for ~450. Try buying a decent pair of floorstanding speakers for that.

 

[Xan7hos]

I was in the same boat as you myself

1) Klipsch Promedia 2.1 - $80 + $15 custom speaker wires
2) Grado SR-125 - $90

I ditched the Grados for a Koss KSC75
and
I decided to go with the speaker route
-Tekton 4.1 Full Range Speakers $225 shipped
-Dayton Hsu8 Subwoofer $165 shipped
-Topping TP-10 Mk2 T-Amp (a.k.a. Citispot a.k.a. chinese ebay T-amp) $90 Shipped
-Valab Non-oversampling DAC $135 Shipped
-Cables and what not ~$30
Grand total of about $650

IMO Headphones are definitely the better option for bang for the buck, especially considering how much I spent. But damn does it sound amazing

 

[Moontan13]

For games, I'd say a 5.1 surround speaker system is essential. To my liking, a gaming audio setup is entirely different than for music. For the computer I'm using Logitech Z-5300 5.1 speakers, positioned and tweaked for accurate positional audio in games. For music I have a separate audio rig.

 

[LarryK2]

will get you closer to state of the art sound than speakers will for the same $ unless you are talking megabucks. From what I've heard so far, speakers that will come close to AKG 701s or Senn 650s in detail and tone quality will generally run $5K - $10K (maybe Gallo Reference 3.1 or Mythos STS for $3K wil come close - haven't heard them yet). That's why I went the headphone route - I need excellent detail and tone quality (I play the cello for a living), and there's no way I can afford big buck speakers. Yes, I enjoy my B&W 604 S2 speakers for some things, but not for my most serious/critical listening.

Cheers,
Larry