[Solude]

Say it with me, headphones are a compromise.  If you don't have a reason to be using headphones instead of speakers... don't.  I have a few.  Wife, ability to play any time of the day, kids and did I mention wife?  But if I could have my speaker rig back I would in an instant.  Costs a lot less to build a good speaker rig than a good headphone one too.

 

[krmathis]

I have been solely using headphones for the last 2 - 2 1/2 years.
But now that I have a more suitable listening room I am seriously thinking about acquiring a speaker rig again. Nothing massive, but a compact pair with stands.
 
May not dethrone my headphone rigs, but at least it will fill the whole apartment with music when I am moving around.

 

[orkney]

I sold off nearly all my HP stuff over the past few months, largely due to an impending move. I now have a simple but well-matched Primare CDP/integrated system built around Harbeth speakers, and a VERY modest (and portable) HP setup using ESW10JPNs or Shure SE530s. I can honestly say that I very rarely miss my last big HP setup, terrific though it was. The chief barriers for me were comfort and time to just sit and listen. I'm either working and listening or doing something in the house and listening, and now the family listens along. Still love the JPNs and would probably spring for a version of the Pico slim that included a DAC, but otherwise I don't see myself reinvesting in HPs in a big way anytime soon.
 
best,
 
o

 

[4N6]

Complete agree with the first statement, and completely disagree with the second.
 
Quote:

Say it with me, headphones are a compromise.  ......  Costs a lot less to build a good speaker rig than a good headphone one too.

 

[Xan7hos]

Let see..I've gone through 8+ headphones, ranging from KSC-75s to my HE-5, 6+ headphone amps. Throughout that time, I've never had the urge to sell off my Tekton loudspeakers (though I did change amps once)

 

[mulveling]

Quote:

What keeps me in the headphone world... Upgraditis it´s so much easier to cure to feed your upgraditis with headphones rather then lumpy speakers. And the fact it´s so quick and easy to change sound signature.

I have the solution to your dilemma. Buy the speakers & amp you REALLY want, and then get into high-end vinyl. Cartridges are SMALL, easy to ship/trade, and relatively easy to swap (if you have an interchangeable head-shell and/or arm-wands). Cartridges have almost as much impact on sound-signature and quality as speakers do, and probably more than with headphones.
 
Then, buy some cool TTVJ or Eddie Current piece to use as a dual headphone amp/preamp - in case you want to keep a nice set of headphones around.

 

[4N6]

Mulveling...You are EVIL!!!! 

 

[mironathetin]

I have a pair of speakers in a good mid-fi quality. Before I started to upgrade, I tried to understand what simple things I can do to get the best out of my current setup. Things I have to do, even with new and improved speakers.
 
The one thing that ended this experience were the resonances in my living room. I have them in low frequency (44, 88Hz) and higher frequency (300- something) that just limited the maximum volume of the music to extremely low levels. 
 
Now, with a great set of speakers, you don't want these limits. But to get rid of them, I'd have to replace my beautiful wooden floor with a carpet, cover my leather sofa, hang thick curtains in front of my 6 meter window, probably add an acoustic ceiling and buy some ultra deep resonance absorbers to put into the corners of my room. Easily 15.000 Euros or more.
 
--  NEVER -- !! I still want to live there! And I love wood, leather and glass.
That's why I invested in a really decent headphone amp and a set of great cans. One of the good decisions I made, if you ask me.  
 
Please have a very close look into the demo room of your hifi dealers. They have all the things installed that I described to achieve the best possible acoustics. Then think if you really want this in your living rooms, before you invest all your money in speakers, expensive pre- amps etc. only to discover that this was only the start and there is much more to come.

 

[n3rdling]

Headphones have resonance too

 

[transient orca]

Quote:

Headphones have resonance too

But not with the room

 

[florinbaiduc]

Like others said, the headphones have a better price/performance value. But if you have 5000 USD to spend, and can play the music at the right volume, speakers will definitely sound better (as in more natural, organic, etc). It has to do with the dynamics of sound, listening just with your ears vs listening with the entire body, natural stereo crossfeed, etc...

 

[DDVX]

For people with speakers. Does anyone ever soundproof their room? Does it help enough to be able to play at any time? I understand the cons to speakers in an apartment or temporary living space, but if you own a home, it seems like soundproofing a room would make it about as private as headphones. (Never experienced a soundproofed room though so not sure how effective it would be). It seems like for anyone willing to spend $10k plus on a speaker setup, they would take the time to not have to worry about surroundings.

 

[Bones13]

I'm sure that folks that design a listening room for just that purpose will at least consider additional materiel in the wall to dampen sound outside of the room.  The easiest is to just put fiberglass batts in the interior walls of the room, not just the outside walls.  I have seen using double sheetrock, with/without sound deadening between the layers.  There are even especially designed sheetrock for sound deadening.
 
Most of the time though, the effort is focused on improving the sound in the room.  The secondary effect is less sound getting out.
 
Now on the other hand, I have seen wall openings to larger spaces, such as stairways, used as a bass trap.  This would effectively be the opposite of soundproofing the room.