[PFKMan23]

Nope. It's a space issue for me.

 

[tin man]

I got my first set of decent phones (and little amplifier) about nine years ago, when my daughter was a baby. It was the only way for me to listen to music during nap time. And babies sleep a lot! When she got a little older, I sort of neglected my phones. Recently, I realized that I could be listening to music before the family wakes up or when they are watching something stupid on TV. Now I'm getting back into them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif 3) Speakers or headphones, the source costs the same amount. I contend that the amps cost similar amounts (though speaker amps go into much higher figures), so the actual transducer is the only volume difference here. To state that headphones give you ten times the sound quality of speakers at a given price is patently ridiculous. ......... your perception of value depends greatly on your perception of sound quality.

I agree with this perspective. Headphones are an alternative way for me to enjoy music. And as such, they have their pros and cons. And just like the old vinyl vs. cd debate, I'm grateful to have both headphones and speakers to listen to music.

 

[ironmine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgoodnight /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a studio/listening room that looks great but has maddening acoustics. The only way to make it sound good is to put 4 large bass traps and AT LEAST 4 2'x4' absorption panels - which make the smallish (11x14x9) room look really ugly and uninviting. Without the acoustic treatments, on the other hand, the room is the favorite in my house for reading, relaxing, etc. Up until now, headphones (HD580, K1000) have been my alternative mode of listening (e.g. when the family is asleep), but now I am giving serious thought to turning things around: make headphones as my primary sound source and use speakers as secondary. I will report back on my experience after a couple of weeks, but I was curious and interested in other people who went the headphone route for the same problem with room acoustics. Thanks, RG

Hello RG!

Don't get discouraged by the poor acoustics of your room. Here's my advice to you: diagnose your room with software called Room EQ Wizard. You will find peaks. You can set up filters in this program to bring these nasty peaks down. Then add to your foobar the VST-plugin called Electri-Q. It's a very powerful 80-bit equalizer. Set it up to bring your room's peaks down. You will not believe how much it will improve the sound of your room!

 

[tattoou2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PFKMan23 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nope. It's a space issue for me.

Same here.

 

[salannelson]

Nope. The reasons I got into it was because
*Headphones are cheaper
*Headphones are relatively portable
*They isolate (the ones I buy anyway) so that I can concentrate on my music when my deaf dad is watching TV in the room next to me...

 

[ironmine]

I bought expensive phones because at that moment I could afford them

And also because headphone listening makes the music flow more through your mind, while speakers tend to stream the music more through your heart. Figuratively speaking!

 

[Ninkul]

I'm with a couple of others, headphones and speakers give entirely different experiences.

But i first went for headphones due to price:quality ratio alongside space/volume limits. The price:quality ratio of headphones compared to speakers i argue is cheaper but the term "quality" is subjective, if you include the experience of headphones vs the experience of speakers as part of "quality" instead of just what you hear then... yeah.

 

[Miths]

Mainly neighbour concerns for me. Particularly as until I started again this year I hadn't actually been listening to music much at home for years, so I was primarily interested in a decent setup for games and movies.
Since those activities often take place in the middle of the night for me, I imagined the neighbours in my apartment block wouldn't be too happy if I used a loud surround setup (and low volume just doesn't work with movies for me, as I can't often can't hear the dialogue) - I know I sure as hell wouldn't if they were subjecting me to that kind of noise

.

The lower price of a decent headphone setup is certainly also a big plus though. An even relatively acceptable 5.1 surround setup - including receiver - doesn't come particularly cheap, comparatively speaking, and if I did go with a speaker setup I wouldn't settle for a two speaker stereo system as movies and games still take up much more of my time than listening to music.

 

[spacemanspliff]

Headphones are great if you can't do speakers.

However, my nearfield setup gives me headphone sound quality without the room interfering much. Plus, my wife can be sleeping in the next room and not be bothered. That is at low levels honestly, bit still perfectly full sounding.

Compromise? Lambda Sigmas with 404 drivers lol. Someday.

 

[Zombie_X]

Well I have some great vintage Jamo monitors (ones made in Sweden), but space forced me to pack them up. Overall I prefer the sound of my headphones since they provide more resolution and a deeper look into the music.

The neighbors on either side of my house are never home so I can usually crank my speakers up pretty good.

 

[charliex]

Nope - it's family who kept telling me to turn it down or shut the door..

 

[RallyMaster]

It was more the fact that I don't want to disturb others or hear people around me. I just want to be inside the music. My parents would always complain when I listened to music, so now they can't hear it.

 

[xkRoWx]

I will definitely get into speakers, but right now headphones all I can, and barely afford.

 

[Bradan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sherwood /img/forum/go_quote.gif I cannot support any of this. All the bits that aren't opinion are flat out wrong. 1) I just sold a very nice speaker amp for $150. I can hardly buy an equally well-designed headphone amp for the same cash. More watts does not always equal more money. A good headphone amp shares a great deal of components with a good speaker amp. 2) You still need a preamp, of course. Any headphone amp with a volume control also contains a preamp. 3) Speakers or headphones, the source costs the same amount. I contend that the amps cost similar amounts (though speaker amps go into much higher figures), so the actual transducer is the only volume difference here. To state that headphones give you ten times the sound quality of speakers at a given price is patently ridiculous. I can get better bass and imaging out of a $500 pair of speakers than I can out of any $5000 pair of headphones. your perception of value depends greatly on your perception of sound quality.

QFMFT!

 

[satshanti]

In my younger years I worked as a high-end hifi salesman, listening to and selling 6 figure speaker-based set-ups (Mark Levinson, full-range electrostats, the works), but also a lot of good mid-fi, so I know the potential quality of a speaker set-up. As far as resolution and fidelity is concerned, a speaker system will in my opinion cost you at least 5, but probably close to 10 times more than a comparable headphone set-up.

The only thing that's missing is the natural, easy-on-the-ears-and-brain soundstage that even low-fi speakers have in spades (provided the room acoustics are favourable). This is the reason why in the old days I rarely listened to cans, even though I owned the top-of-the-line Beyerdynamic at the time. I could never really get used to the so-much smaller headstage of headphone listening.

Years later, actually only about a year ago, I rediscovered headphones, because circumstances no longer allowed me to listen to my speakers (neighbours and family members), and for a while I really missed the spatious sound of my speakers, until I started the process of recreating that experience in the digital domain through Foobar DSP's with Dolby Headphone, a bit similar to the way the Smyth system recreates the speaker sound through its in-built DSP's. One should maybe not compare one with the other, and of course I'll have to forego its head-tracking aspect, but these DSP's don't cost anything, and even through all my system upgrades, I'm still very much enjoying my virtual speakers (see this thread).