[vcoheda]

headphones FTW.

i live in a studio apartment and do almost all of my listening late at night. i've heard some great speaker rigs, but i just love headphones - mainly for the details and intimacy of the experience.

 

[whaleyboy]

Headphones

.

I almost always listen to music on my cans. I occasionally use my loudspeaker setup when I have a party or something like that - one thing about speakers is that you can share the music with more people so for those circumstances I keep my other setup around.

 

[ISALULA]

Exclusively Headphones for me since three years, I had a speakers set up during twenty five years.

 

[robm321]

I mainly listen to headphones for practical reasons, but I would always prefer to sit in front of my speaker set up. For me it sounds better than any headphone set up I've heard. YMMV...

That being said, I think headphone listening will continue to take almost all or most of my listening...

 

[ktm]

I listen speakers/headphones about equally.
I swap over to headphones to make the wife happy.
I prefer speakers, but enjoy the sound of headphones too.

 

[Michgelsen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vcoheda /img/forum/go_quote.gif headphones FTW. i live in a studio apartment and do almost all of my listening late at night. i've heard some great speaker rigs, but i just love headphones - mainly for the details and intimacy of the experience.

The intimacy is precisely what's so great about (great) headphones: the feeling that the artist is performing just for you.
Sure, speakers bring you a feeling that you're there, but headphones bring me the feeling that the artist is here for me. I love that.

 

[tke398]

Had a decent vacuum tube based speaker system and sold it for a down payment on my first house 7 years ago. After 7 years of listening to computer speakers I decided to get into headphones. Now, with the addition of kids, I know I made the right choice since I can now hide everything in the master bedroom without the fear of kids burning themselves on tubes or tripping over wires.

I like the fact that headphone based setups are a fraction of the cost of speaker setups and can use my leftover cables, power conditioners and other accessories.

 

[athenaesword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michgelsen /img/forum/go_quote.gif The intimacy is precisely what's so great about (great) headphones: the feeling that the artist is performing just for you. Sure, speakers bring you a feeling that you're there, but headphones bring me the feeling that the artist is here for me. I love that.

hmm i beg to defer. I might not be using the highest end of headphone equipment. listening to desktop>predator>hd650 right now. you just don't get the kind of soundstaging you get with speakers. There's no image that the artist is in front of you, but rather, his or her voice's coming from the left and right.

The best things I would say about headphones are the details/clarity without sounding fatiguing. usually, in order to reach the same kind of details for speakers, they'd have to be fairly bright and harsh. at least in the price range of a couple grand.

 

[b17m4p]

i think intimacy, in terms of audio

,means different things to different people. for some sound stage and that type of immersive experience is imperative to a sound they would call intimate; you won't get that with almost any headphones (with none I've herd).

 

[USAudio]

Well, I've had my SqueezeBox3/VDA2/VHP2/HD650 setup for awhile now and I have to say overall I am very happy with the headphone listening experience:

1. No more room acoustics issues anymore. Not much of a soundstage either but worth the tradeoff to me.
2. I get to listen a LOT more than I did before with no worries of waking the family, disturbing their TV watching, etc.
3. I don't have to be in a separate room from the family while listening and can move around from the sweet spot and still be IN the sweet spot!
4. My wife is happy because she has her living room back
5. I am getting EXCELLENT sound quality for a fraction of the price (and space) of my speaker-based system

 

[tyrion]

When I use headphones it is mostly late at night, otherwise it's speakers. I would go headphone only out necessity. I have a great headphone rig at the moment but a part of me wants to put that money into my speaker rig. I do understand the intimacy argument made by some. To me it's more of an isolation that makes it easier to concentrate on the music. I believe it's easier to be distracted with speakers. However, when I don't allow myself to be distracted, my speakers are just as intimate as my headphones.

 

[USAudio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif ... I do understand the intimacy argument made by some. To me it's more of an isolation that makes it easier to concentrate on the music. I believe it's easier to be distracted with speakers. However, when I don't allow myself to be distracted, my speakers are just as intimate as my headphones.

It's probably just me and my hearing (in)abilities but I have never been able to get the same level of immersion or details from my speaker-based systems as I can with headphones, even with high-volume or even nearfield listening. Some of you are just blessed with golden ears ... enjoy them!

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by USAudio /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's probably just me and my hearing (in)abilities but I have never been able to get the same level of immersion or details from my speaker-based systems as I can with headphones, even with high-volume or even nearfield listening. Some of you are just blessed with golden ears ... enjoy them!

Definitely no golden ears here.