[chelboed]

I was trying out cans at BB the other day. I had my Turbines on OTW over there. As soon as I dropped a can on my head...any Can they had...it was immediately noticeable that the soundstage was much broader. Cheap Philips, Klipsch One's, Aviator's, the illustrious Beats Pro (LOL...lol...L-to-da-O-L)...anyhoo, they all had a bigger sense of spacial airy room that I really like. Much more so than my Turbines, MD Trib's, S4's, Remix's, Bass Freq's...and any other universal I've tried.
 
I also agree that it has alot to do with the track playing. I was listening to a song by Galactic off a live album...may have been Moog Marmalade, I don't quite recall. I remember feeling as if I could close my eyes and see the musicians sitting around me, placed here and there. So yeah, the source...music...and transducer all have a part in the illusion, I suppose.
 
 

 

[Siddhant Merh]

According to my hearing the earbuds deliver much larger soundstage compared to IEMs ..but they don't isolate

 

[tienbasse]

According to my hearing the earbuds deliver much larger soundstage compared to IEMs ..but they don't isolate

Which makes sense since soundstage will increase when placing drivers further away from eardrums. Hence the huge advantage of full headphones versus IEMs.

To come back to the initial question: it is possible to get a relatively good soundstage by choosing the right IEMs AND the right source.

I own and have tried a number of DAPs, and honestly so far, Opus #1 has been the DAP bringing the biggest soundstage I've heard.
For IEMs, IE800 are certainly beasts when it comes to soundstage, so wide that I actually don't like it.