That’s cool. It might be less about a use case and more about convenience, which can, in turn, translate to a comfort zone. I don’t have the space in my study to read, write, etc., while have speakers blast at me, with appropriate distance from the walls or each other. That translates to HP use, and then habituality.It’s a bit OT, but a speakers system requires much more effort to get right.
Room acoustic treatments, speakers and equipment placement. Damping and isolation of gear. More cables mix and match, more components mix and match.
Headphones systems are much more plug n play, choose the headphones you like, match an amplifier and you’re done (not referring to source components as they, more or less, share the same considerations for a headphones/speakers system).
Once you get it right, there’s no comparison IMHO.
BTW, I sit in front of my speakers system with my laptop, work/email/read. Not much different from listening to headphones.
Until recently, I had a pair of very good SF bookshelves in my study. Other than the fact that my room was the bottleneck, the speakers just didn’t command my attention the way a pair of HPs can. And it’s not just these speakers and not just my room.
Even when I hang out at friends’ who are massively invested in the 2-ch world or at dealers’ with treated rooms, I love the ride and realism speakers can provide, but end up returning to HPs.
Not sure if I would use the word “intimate” or “engaging” but HPs give me more of that emotional response.
But yeah speaker component mixing and matching can be more of a thing, and loads of fun.
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