[concordus]

I would say that noise from surroundings makes huge impact to sound.
 
So counting for the same amount of money, headphones will always win. 

 

[telecaster]

Simple as that.
Heaphones lack 3D staging. It is simply because opposite channel never reach your ear thus your brain cannot recreate the 3D staging.
 
Speakers can create the 3D soundstage because left channel is heard by both your left and right ear, as the right channel is heard by both ears. In consequence your brain recreate the 3D space just like sounds coming from the real world.
 
Every other consideration is only depending on how much you are willing to pay for both technologies!

 

[JamesHuntington]

Quote:

Simple as that.
Heaphones lack 3D staging. It is simply because opposite channel never reach your ear thus your brain cannot recreate the 3D staging.
 
Speakers can create the 3D soundstage because left channel is heard by both your left and right ear, as the right channel is heard by both ears. In consequence your brain recreate the 3D space just like sounds coming from the real world.
 
Every other consideration is only depending on how much you are willing to pay for both technologies!

Very good argument. I agree a lot, but I notice my brain can become used to either way. Direct comparison, I agree. But after about 5 minutes of headphone listening and I'm back to whatever feeling I had with speakers, pretty much.  

 

[mulveling]

Quote:

I would say that noise from surroundings makes huge impact to sound.
 
So counting for the same amount of money, headphones will always win. 

 
I had a hard time transitioning from headphones to speakers because of this factor, and the lack of coherence displayed in many multi-way speakers (versus a point-source driver). Then there's the higher expense, and the overwhelming pool of choices that can't be easily swapped in/out like with headphones. It's a lot more difficult; hell it's quite easy to assemble an expensive speaker system that sounds awful. 
 
You can't run serious speakers in a bad room (e.g. small bedroom, low ceiling, crappy construction quality) and not experience seriously negative room interactions. However, with good speakers and a decent room, the latter becomes more of an asset than a liability. I like running a close to near-field setup (e.g. 7-8 feet away from each speaker), which significantly reduces the severity of room interactions. Further out is too far IMO. My speakers are also a phase-coherent point-source coaxial, so they're just as coherent when close-up. They also have a horn-loaded compression driver (handling from 1K up) which further reduces the effect of room interactions without reducing the sweet spot to a pinpoint (you want it just big enough for you and a couple of lady friends ). I don't want wide dispersion, and I don't want beaming -- controlled dispersion is best. Also, furnish the room sensibly! With some furnishings in play, a little bit of acoustic treatment goes a long way; you don't need to spend a lot of money piling them in there. Don't have your gear and chair as the only stuff in the room. If the room looks like a nice and comfortable living space, then chances are it won't sound terrible either -- though this doesn't give you license to botch the speaker placement with a WAF-approved location!
 
An additional point in the headphones vs. speakers debate: headphones may have some inherent advantages, but speakers have always had the far bigger market share (in the high-end). There's vastly more money and demand there, so there's been way more R&D spent developing speaker cabinets & drivers, and high-end speakers are more likely to benefit from high-tech materials and manufacturing techniques. The best speaker drivers are of better quality and far more impressive than the best headphone drivers.

 

[Happy Camper]

Simple as that.
Heaphones lack 3D staging. It is simply because opposite channel never reach your ear thus your brain cannot recreate the 3D staging.

Speakers can create the 3D soundstage because left channel is heard by both your left and right ear, as the right channel is heard by both ears. In consequence your brain recreate the 3D space just like sounds coming from the real world.

Every other consideration is only depending on how much you are willing to pay for both technologies!

There are many players with crossfeed.

 

[nicholars]

Isnt that what Binaural recordings are for?

 

[Destroysall]

Quote:

Isnt that what Binaural recordings are for?

While binaural recordings can be considered three-dimensional, I don't believe that's the context being used here. The 3D sound stage a loudspeaker can bring is much different than what a headphone can do (for the most part). Loudspeakers can reproduce sound naturally with great imaging. A good headphone can do the same, but you will still hear it "in your head".

 

[jk6661]

Not with a Smyth Realiser you won't. Trust me.
 

 

[gurus]

Headphones cannot overcome the laws of physics. So if you have $$$ and as important a good listening room a speaker system will win all the time. No comparison. It's not in your head. SIC.
 
But I have heard $100,000 systems sound like crap because of room acoustics. So typically, I have seen more chances for someone, and that includes the experts, to get a speaker system wrong than a headphone one.

 

[Happy Camper]

I have been listening to a pair of Bose active desktop speakers having their way with a pair of T-1s on a good headphone amp last week. Speakers are a superior device that you need to spend a grand or more on a reference set of cans to come close. I have been listening to headphones exclusively for too long. So yesterday I installed the DAC in the speaker riq.....oops. I need to listen to my speakers more often.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

I have been listening to a pair of Bose active desktop speakers having their way with a pair of T-1s on a good headphone amp last week. Speakers are a superior device that you need to spend a grand or more on a reference set of cans to come close. I have been listening to headphones exclusively for too long. So yesterday I installed the DAC in the speaker riq.....oops. I need to listen to my speakers more often.

This is true happy camper, and part of me does love headphones, but speakers...man thats where its at, i hope i have room for an awesome speaker setup sooner rather than later. Even some monitors in my room might happen

 

[dePhil]

[size=10pt]In my opinion, for soundstage, imaging and full-scale PRAT - speakers win, hands down.[/size]
[size=10pt]Or may be not? [/size]
 
[size=10pt]Anyway, my personal rating:[/size]
[size=10pt]1) Multi-channel audio set-up (appropriately treated room + good pre-processing & amplification + decent speakers + good multi-channel recording)[/size]
[size=10pt]Feeling the music with all of your body and a precise space-imaging is a vital part of the experience for me.[/size]
[size=10pt]From the Daft Punk’s Tron Legacy to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 (and many more in between) – I sooo much love the bass-kick that makes the space and time resonate, when the volume goes a bit up. Or how a dozen speakers can position and master around all the instruments, voices and effects. [/size]
[size=10pt]Many composers/artists have been creating the music with exactly this in mind. I can hear magnificently the artillery salutes (deep bass passages, etc.) on a good HP, but can I feel it, as originally intended? No need to menion movies, I think [/size]

 
[size=10pt]2) Two-channel audio with normal stereo recordings[/size]
 
[size=10pt]3) Headphones[/size]
 
[size=10pt]However. Here comes my first "but" - since I've given up on my happy, irresponsible and  careless single life [/size]

[size=10pt]  - close to 100% of my listening goes with headphones.[/size]
[size=10pt]And then comes the money.[/size]
[size=10pt]I am a complete HP-newbie and so far invested almost nothing in it - my entire HP set-up costs less then half of the front left speaker alone. [/size][size=10pt]The front right costs nothing - my daughter poked through the driver with Sophie the giraffe. And yet - for most of my music the HP is doing just perfectly fine compared to the "big rack".[/size]
So - headphones win. Will update again, when retired in the countryside. 

 

 

[MelvinV]

I personally think that speakers are better than headphones when it comes to sound.
 
But, speakers are extremely expensive compared to headphones, they require careful placement and a proper room with treatment.
And the neighbors will cry and you have no privacy when you listen to your music.
 
They both have pros and cons, but speakers do sound better but are just expensive as ****. Headphones however are just "plug-and-play", no complicated placement or something like that.
 
I do personally prefer headphones because of where I live currently, and I don't even have speakers right now. My PC room is only around 4m by 4m after all.
 
Just my 2 cents.

 

[YtseJamer]

Quote:

This is true happy camper, and part of me does love headphones, but speakers...man thats where its at, i hope i have room for an awesome speaker setup sooner rather than later. Even some monitors in my room might happen

 
You should try the Totem Forest, they sound amazing with Metal music !  http://totemacoustic.com/en/hi-fi/columns/forest/

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

 
You should try the Totem Forest, they sound amazing with Metal music !  http://totemacoustic.com/en/hi-fi/columns/forest/

 
Hmm, those werent even on the radar

the only other speakers i had been considering were with the Salk Songbirds(the only salks cheap enough) or like maggie 1.7s, but im not sure i have the space for the maggies. After all ive read about the Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne im really excited to be able to go listen to them. Just finished setting up a in house audition a little further up in ohio from me