[pearljam5000]

well the title says it all....

 

[SysteX]

No. In my experience the headphones will sound significantly better.

 

[nc8000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SysteX /img/forum/go_quote.gif No. In my experience the headphones will sound significantly better.

Yes that is also my experience, but bear in mind the inherent limitations of headphone, ie. soundstage and you dont get the physical effect off bass as you do from speakers. This whole question was one of 2 reasons for my bedroom setup. I knew I would never be able to afford high-end in a speaker system but could get there in a headphone system.

 

[niktheblak]

Well, it all boils down to personal preferences. Generally headphones sound much better than similarly priced speakers for one reason: room acoustics.

The main difference between speakers and headphones is the distance between the speaker cone and your ear. When this distance grows, the system will become liable to all kinds of acoustic interference. A speaker's performance can never be judged by considering the speaker alone. The performance of a speaker is always affected by the listening room it's in. I.e. the speaker doesn't exist by itself, it forms a complete acoustic system with the listening room. Changes in room acoustics can affect the sound of the entire system in a very drastic manner.

Headphones do not have to care about room acoustics. They output the sound almost directly to your ear so there's none of that complicated reverberation, interference, standing waves and attenuation issues that largely determine the sound of a speaker system. Therefore headphones will always have the upper edge against speakers -- they can focus to producing good sound instead of fighting room acoustics.

When considering the price of speakers, you always must also consider the cost of building a listening room. A pair of truly brilliant speakers can cost e.g. $5000, but they will still sound like crap in a small concrete-wall room of an apartment flat. But a pair of $1000 headphones will sound great regardless in what room you listen them to.

So, when buying speakers, always factor in the cost of a large house with a dedicated listening room in addition to the price of the speakers. That might increase the price a bit.

 

[stevenkelby]

For my money, cans give 5 to 10 times "better" sound.

That is, I would have to spend 5 to 10 times more on speakers to get the same "sound quality" from speakers. My idea of sound quality won't be like yours though of course.

I'd say thats true for me at any price range really, cheapy to top end.

So my $1000+ ED9 suit my music listening needs better than $5k to $10k loudspeakers I've heard in the last 4 years in that price range from B&W, Monitor, Mission, Krix, Richter, Jamo, Focal, I think thats it!

Of course it depends whats important to you. Cans at any price will never have the sub bass air movement of a good cheap sub of course, and some people just need that. But for detail, resolution, accuracy, freq. extension, tone, musicality, etc etc, and enjoyment, cans win.

 

[judas391]

Interesting question, once headphones reach the 400+ mark I can barely the notice the difference in SQ. On the other hand, the difference in SQ in higher quality speakers is much more noticeable.
I'd rather spend $1000 on a good speaker system than headphones because of the loudness factor.

 

[aaron-xp]

It really depends on what you are looking for. While I haven't heard a $1000 headphone (The Orpheus is more than that actually.

), I'd assume that it is not possible to sound as airy and spacious as a speaker setup, regardless of the cost (my free 2.1 cheapo speaker set sounds much airier than my K601.

However, for similarly priced speakers, headphones tend to beat them in terms of resolution and sheer "sound quality", whether in smoothness of mids or tautness of bass notes. However, unless binaural recordings are used, the spacious air is really lacking, which I find rather irritating at times, when everything else seems so beautiful.

 

[Duggeh]

I have a £500+ pair of speakers ($1000+) and several pairs of £500+ headphones.

I'd pick the speakers, all things being equal, every time.

 

[gates_2]

i'm willing to bet my K1000's sound better than most speakers at that price(but you have to keep in mind the other components in the system)

 

[Azure]

Again, like others have said, it's all subjective. I personally prefer my cheap $40 speakers to the DT990, SA5000, D2000, and SR-404. Unfortunately, I have to stick with headphones for 2 reasons:

1. I listen at night so speakers would really bother others in the house/neighbors
2. Room is rather small/clustered, so speaker placement would be a pain in the butt

I would love to take the $1000 pair of speakers over the $1000 headphone, but I realize that I wouldn't be able to use the $1000 pair of speakers to their full extent in my present circumstances.

 

[carlosgp]

In my experience $1000 headphones will sound much better than $1000 speakers. The headphones will be high end, while speakers will be low end.

Of course headphones will continue being headphones with all their limitations --and advantages. You will not feel bass in your body, for example, as stevenkelby said.

 

[Duggeh]

Before the whole apples and oranges arguments comes up here can we please clarify what is intended by the term "better" in this context. Because if we are talking about things like micro detail the headphones will win no matter what the speaker budget is.

In terms of pure musical involvement a reasonably well set up set of decent speakers, and there are a lot of very good speakers at the £500 mark particularly if you buy used, will slaughter a pair of headphones.

The caveats already mentioned in this thread obviously apply of course, most especially the room and the placement.

 

[purk]

I heavily prefer my L3000 (2.4K) over my Paradigm Reference 100 V.3 (2.4K) everytime. In fact, I only use my Paradigm Ref. for my HT only, and about 10% for music listening. My Paradigm Ref. just can't match the pure musical production of my L3000.

 

[Blackmore]

I was thinking about the same thing. If you buy used and will drive them with good amp, you can get a very good results.
But than again, it still be your preference after all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggeh /img/forum/go_quote.gif In terms of pure musical involvement a reasonably well set up set of decent speakers, and there are a lot of very good speakers at the £500 mark particularly if you buy used, will slaughter a pair of headphones. The caveats already mentioned in this thread obviously apply of course, most especially the room and the placement.

 

[CarbonTi]

Yes. But vastly different listening experience so not comparable.

$1K will get top end in virtually any headphone so almost any at that price would be well represented. Speakers at that price would present a far narrower selection.

If this question gets at making a choice between headphones and speakers, I'd go with speakers, nearfield monitors specifically, if your listening environment can support it.