[Bovice]

Just curious, if you were to spend equiv money on a pair of headphones vs a pair of audio speakers, which would you get the better sound quality from?

 

[ZARIM]

It's depend how much you spend and use for like Desktop speakers or floor standing. But two are very different and possibly headphones will shows more details in music.

 

[silverkaze]

I had this question before too, this is what I got from my research:
Most people are agreeing on that headphones and speakers have strengths in different fields, as speakers give you a way better sound stage and deeper bass ( partially because we receive bass response by our body as well, not sure if this is true), headphones provide more resolution and details. Also some people are saying that it is a 1:10 price ratio for speakers to match the quality of headphones if you want a speaker to be on the same detail level as your headphones, that is, details only.

 

[Painful Chafe]

With headphones you get rid of the problem of in room response. You can spend $20k on a set of speakers, stick them directly in the corners of a square room and you will be shocked how bad they sound. Speakers respond greatly to distance from wall and shape and volume of a room. I have heard the same speaker I own now in several other homes(I worked for a stereo store doing A/V wiring) and they sounded very different in some homes. Sometimes pretty bad. It's impossible to screw up the sound with headohones and very hard to screw it up with IEM's(isolation, different tips, etc).

As far pricing goes. I would agree with the 1:10 price ratio. A $300 set of IEM's or cans will sound much better than a set of $300 speakers. I've got a buddy that prefers listening through his Westone 3's than his Paradigm Studio 100's($2800).

Plus you have to remember sources for a set of speakers like the Paradigm's should cost a minimum of $2000, more realistically $3000 to be up to the level of those speakers. Sources for a set of high end IEM's or cans for a really good set up would be $500 or so.

 

[mnagali]

will vary depending on what's best for you: speakers are great for sharing the sound with many people, headphones are great for sharing it with another person, and custom earphones while having the best portability are pretty much limited just to your own ears.

 

[krmathis]

Considering it would have to be portable I would definitely say ear-/headphones.

 

[JxK]

For me, even if I could somehow obtain for free top of the line speakers they would be wasted since I lack the space and desire to set up a dedicated listening room. Not to mention the fact that speakers will annoy everyone around me. Even open headphones don't leak beyond a closed door.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Speakers.

Everyone seems to overlook used and DIY speakers.

The Quad ESL-63s were about $650. They're better than any headphones I've heard.

 

[kunalraiker]

There isn't really comparison to be made, you should've searched before posting OP.The answer is what you know, what this Forum is about.

 

[mark2410]

headphones v speakers


how many headphones can i have? how many sets of speakers can i have? that said ive recently acquired some new speakers and i do rather like them

 

[R300]

I've got a pair of naim speaker that cost me about £1.1k years ago. For hearing detail and gaining insight into the music, my £250 senn 580Js blow them out of the water, but for a big, powerful sound, like you're at a gig, speakers are the better choice.

Horses for courses.

 

[thebigcanman]

they arent comparable.

When i sit in front of my speaker system (worth around $3.5k in all) im far beyond the point of listening for details. I listen to a lot of jazz: when i audition speakers i look for a wide soundstage, i listen to the how far the music drifts past my ears and how cleanly the sound is able to cut through the environment. I want to be able to close my eyes and can pick out exactly where each member of said jazz quartet would be sitting. This wouldnt be possible with headphones


I've auditioned $25k speakers and i have auditioned HD800s..there is no comparison what soever;quite simply, the highest end speakers will destroy the highest end headphones. They offer that atmospheric feature that headphones just cannot. If i listen to 'A Kind of Blue' i can imagine Miles in front of me, coming from a specific spot as if he is actually standing there. If i listen to it through headphones, this quite simply is impossible as the sound is directed straight into my ears. However, I am sure you have heard the term 'a great headphone' album or the like. Headphones have an ability to reproduce music at extremely intimate levels. Its a completely different experience, which many (myself included) prefer. Personally, one of the reasons IEMs are so great is because the sound feels like it is coming right from the middle of my skull. I could never get this feeling with speakers.


If you were to spend take a $250 pair of speakers or $250 headphones, the headphones would blow them away. But there are many that would choose speakers.

If you were going to spend $2500 on headphones and $2500 on speakers (with comparably priced amps) i think the speakers would take the cake. But there are many that would choose headphones.

The bottom line? they arent comparable, at all. The only similarity they have is that they both reproduce music. It is not the job of headphones to emulate speakers, or vice versa.

 

[TheWuss]

to reiterate what has been said countless times i'm sure, it doesn't make sense to pit speakers vs. phones vs. IEMs without any context.
i have a pair of JBL Northridge E100 floor standing speakers. and they are nice, sure.
but when i turn them up, i don't hear them. i hear the glass in the window rattling, and the sound bouncing off the plaster walls and wood floor, etc.
so, in my home, headphones will always sound better. that i can tell you.
but, if i heard them in an acoustically treated room? who knows?

 

[thebigcanman]

putting expensive speakers in a terrible listening room is like listening to your HD800s on the bus

 

[haloxt]

Detail-wise, the only way you can hear soft inhales and exhales with speakers is if you are very close to them, with headphones it is much easier to hear. But soundstage-wise, my Zino sounds like badly placed surround speakers, but my pro 900 (removed all plastic stickers on upper holes and some other mods) actually sounds like it has a quite superior soundstage to my $1000 speakers. This is using my best dac and headphone amp/preamp connected to speakers and headphones and quickly switching between the two to compare soundstage, and with soundstage test tracks, and movies and games with a lot of spatial data and sound from behind. I'll soon be testing pfr-v1's soundstage ability vs the pro 900, first thing I'm very curious about is just how well it can do footsteps behind me despite being front-facing drivers since Sony claims its good for games and movies heh heh.