[TempleOfEar]

now my ears are spoiled by them! last summer when I bought a pair of hd600, I just could not go back to listening to my mission m35i loudspeakers again- the quality difference was too much so that the speakers were put away in shame and later sold for price that didn't matter. And those were good speakers, mind you. the best I had heard around $500. And back than that was a ridiculous amount of money for speakers for me. Well after watching apocalypto at a local movie theater that was suppost to have the best AV system in LA, (arclight cinemas) I was promptly blown away and decided to try speakers again- this time I went for aperion audio 5.1 system that's right under $1500. And that was resonable amount of money this time since I figured that would be enough to up the quality from HD600s... And in order to raise that money I ended up selling my headphone system... but boy was that a mistake. this system doesn't even come close to the impact HD600 was able to deliver. So I'm left wondering- how much money do i have to spend on speakers to match the quality of $200 headphones? why is life such a struggle? why is rose red? thanks for reading my rambling... but seriously, can you guys help me? what speakers do you have that matches up to your headphones? I'm gonna return the aperions and try the DIY speaker route.

 

[TzeYang]

how about, spend money on a special room, with proper dampening, setup??

Speakers rely on enviromental acoustics quality too!!

Anyway, another reason why i went with headphones. The quality they deliver at a cheaper price is hard to beat.

 

[F107plus5]

Yeah; the room acoustics is what destroyed my speaker system as well. In our old house it was great, and I probably wouldn't have even ventured into phones had we stayed there.

 

[ferrstein]

Agreed. I have two sets of large planar speakers. The pair that I cherish the most due to rarity and cool factor (Acoustat Model 8s) are in a room that unfortunately just doesn't sound good. My other pair of excellent planears (Acoustat Monitor 4s) are in a perfect room. It's hard to beat the sound I'm getting in that room. I still like headphones, though... there is no variability to their sound for anything other than the loudest background noise.

 

[Quint]

I prefer headphones too. Much purer, resolved presentation, IMO--and, most importantly, the influence of the room is gone. That's the biggie.

 

[Hi-Finthen]

As has been mentioned, "the room' speakers are set up in along with your position in it, can be thought of as a component in the chain making up what will be heard; I've read elsewhere, these room dependant factors, making up as much as 30% importance in the at ear effect of the ever dwindeling increase of preformance of high end gears . In room positioning from all interelated bounderies around them as well as reflective / absorbtion surfaces become critical down to singular inches and degrees of toe in as well as sitting in the "sweet spot" of course. We all know this, but how much it really does make or break a systems potential preformance is not given the weight it really should be, as compromises are made as to its importance for various good reasons, and more money thrown at upgrading components.

Point being of course, all this is eliminated with headphones and a high level of potential sonic preformance is achieved at a much lower cost IMO, rather than loading a room properly with soundwaves, as we are forever sitting in the sweet spot.

I'm shocked at just how good my home stereo sounds as I go to bed at night and in the morning, it is wonderful ;-] That is, until I set upon my head my headgear as I set before my computer screen or recline in the stratolounger, or lie in bed.

Actually the best of both worlds at a considerable savings from trying to get the home set up to sound this good. I believe it is much less expensive to persue this route for both enjoyment and with others socially, and then with self in the high end sonic cocoon of headgear at the lower end of audiophile investment dollars spent.

 

[laxx]

Room acoustics is so important. The reason I sold my speakers was when I moved back home after college, the placement of my desk/bed was very awkward. After I set up my speakers, I had to listen to them at ridiculous volumes for me to hear it. But once I walk out of the surround spot (like, walking to go to the bathroom), I realized how loud I was listening. It was like a silent spot where I was sitting. I tried repositiong the speakers when I gave up on surround sound, but ultimately chose headphones since it's much easier to work with.

Little did I know how much I ended up spending. =[

 

[stayfrosty]

Headphones are MUCH cheaper than speakers, you have to think of the material costs, speakers are big headphones are tiny

Ohh and Laxx are you sure that you didnt have one of the speakers plugged in backwards? If you reverse the polarity some of the sound will cancel out where the waves cross. So off to either side it would sound much louder than if you were in front of both speakers.

 

[Balisarda]

I'll diverge from the rest of the posts discussing room setup. Rather, I'd like to suggest listening to loudspeakers differently than to headphones.

For detail, microdynamics, and even to some degree rhythm and pace, I've never heard loudspeakers to match my HD 650. But loudspeakers do at least a couple things better than headphones.

Loudspeakers produce a superior soundstage. Soundstage depth is greater, and the soundstage is presented in front of the listener rather than inside his head. That's more realistic, more natural, and oftentimes more fun. I think that's pretty neat.

Loudspeakers reproduce superior bass. Big cones move more air--much more! One feels the low frequencies (as humans are meant to) and needn't listen for them (which humans don't do very well). Baroque organ music sounds better on loudspeakers than on headphones; there's no way around that.

One last thing--and this depends entirely on the loudspeaker and headphone being compared (and the listener, too!)--but I find myself more emotionally involved when listening to the best loudspeakers than when listening to the best headphones. I have more spine-tingling or goosebump moments.

To sum up, I might say that headphone and loudspeaker are both excellent brushes, but the headphone has a much finer tip, which is an advantage or disadvantage depending on what strokes one is trying to accomplish.

 

[ferrstein]

Very well stated... and the reason I plan on keeping both a loudspeaker system and a headphone system in my home.

 

[laxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stayfrosty /img/forum/go_quote.gif Headphones are MUCH cheaper than speakers, you have to think of the material costs, speakers are big headphones are tiny Ohh and Laxx are you sure that you didnt have one of the speakers plugged in backwards? If you reverse the polarity some of the sound will cancel out where the waves cross. So off to either side it would sound much louder than if you were in front of both speakers.

Yea, I'm definite. When I realized the volume differences, I checked and everything was put in correctly. I think it's just because My room is like a rectangle

____________
|..................|
|..................|
|___________|

and my desk and speakers are like
____________
|..........xdeskx|
|............bed |
|_______xbedx|

I face ^
x's denote speakers.

It was pretty weird.

 

[Hi-Finthen]

Great conclusion Balisarda and as we agree along with ferrstein, with us it is not either / or but both. However, after sharing their sources, I have concluded to refine my headphone experience as it is a better return on the invested dollar spent / benefit ratio in terms of resolution than persuing that aspect of sonic reproduction further with my home set up. Especially in light of the utility of the transportability of my head gears, such as on my upcoming vacation.

 

[rshdhead]

I used to believe a great headphone could sound equally as much as 10 times cost of speaker set when I was listening to RS1/RA1 first time a couple of years ago. That believe has been fading away over time as I have been trying more and more headphones and speakers. The learning experience is costly but worthy.

A good HP, like GS1000(some say K1000), always has advantage in detail over speakers, any speakers. But some HP designers, like HD650, favor more neutral sound so make it closer to speaker.

I have some popular headphones, HD650,SR325,RS1,GS1000 etc., along with popular amp, singlepower SLAM(for 3 weeks), CEC HD53R, RA1 etc. and have hardly listen to them for a while. Occasionally, when listening to a new favorite music with my speakers, I liked to put on my HPs to see the difference. Each try HP failed me so far.

Setting up speaker sometime is non trivial. Once you know how to place them properly, it shall reward you greatly.

 

[Hi-Finthen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rshdhead /img/forum/go_quote.gif I used to believe a great headphone could sound equally as much as 10 times cost of speaker set when I was listening to RS1/RA1 first time a couple of years ago. That believe has been fading away over time as I have been trying more and more headphones and speakers. The learning experience is costly but worthy. A good HP, like GS1000(some say K1000), always has advantage in detail over speakers, any speakers. But some HP designers, like HD650, favor more neutral sound so make it closer to speaker. I have some popular headphones, HD650,SR325,RS1,GS1000 etc., along with popular amp, singlepower SLAM(for 3 weeks), CEC HD53R, RA1 etc. and have hardly listen to them for a while. Occasionally, when listening to a new favorite music with my speakers, I liked to put on my HPs to see the difference. Each try HP failed me so far. Setting up speaker sometime is non trivial. Once you know how to place them properly, it shall reward you greatly.

I do suspect you are listening in a nearfield configuration? Also, I would like to know the spearkers and its amplifier(s) which is only 5X the cost of the specific headphone rig you are comparing. I would not be suprised a given $4000 speaker/amplifier set up would not have you wanting to turn to a $1000 given headphone rig Both sharing the same sources.
Due to sonic superiority alone, however i do suspect both systems would have some compromises which an indevidual may be prone to being better able to live with for its strenths.

Personally I would like to assemble a line array of Grados, or at least hear one such speaker set up ;-}

 

[DarkWolf]

My Grado 325i sounds much better to my ears than any Senn I have heard.. I have owned HD590s for several years after choosing them over HD580/600.

That said, the speaker system my unlce built downstairs blows them out of the water. He hand built replica DMC Time Windows and a 15" or so sealed sub. He runs them bi-amped with all matched Halfler amps and full digital crosservers. He spent countless hours with some fancy software, measuring and tuning the crossover/EQ curves. The result is amazing. My 325i are great, but his setup is totally different. It has way more detail (that's right!) and transparency, as well as the naturally improved soundstage, (not the Grado's strong point anyway) and don't get me started on bass responce! The only gripe I have with his system is that I hardley ever get to use it. I have no idea how much it would cost to simply buy something that sounded that good, but it would be several grand for sure. The total cost of my phones and amp in use is just over $500.