[aliquis]

A week ago I ordered the Alessandro MS-1, I've never heard those or the Grados thought but where recommended them when I asked about headphones/headsets on a swedish training forum. In any case since I read the post where the best buy speakers might have sounded better I must ask:

Do headphones offer a better sound quality value than speakers?

I have always thought/suspected so and thouse a pair of headphones for say $200 owned very many speakers but now I've started to doubt and wonder if I was wrong?

I do understand that whatever speakers or headphones doesn't have to be more expensive to create the better quality they are so the best buy speakers can just have been nicely built/selected and then probably makes in mass volume in some low income country like china or so and that the value therefor is much better than regular speakers. (And as I've understood it all the grados are more or less the same headphones but with different pieces tuned and because they are rated as better phones they sell for a much higher price?)

In any case and still, will the Alessandro headphones or other phones aswell offer better sound quality than many speakers does? Will they for example sound better than mine? (Not the correct question thought since I have my computer on the side of them and rarely sit just between them and listen to music, so the room/experience is far from perfect, if I would have my computer sitting just between them or sat down in the couch I suspect the sound would be much better.)

Also once again if I may ask: What headphones would you have suggested me for mostly sitting at home listening on trance/techno/electronic/synth/industrial/ebm/chip/computer music?

And if I where to get another pair of phones for whatever the Alessandros aren't good for (say closed and with a large sound-stage) which ones would you recommend as a complement? The Audio-Technica ATH-A500 (AKG k81 dj if portable)? Or should I have just bought the beyerdynamics DT770 or similair and been done with it? (Yeah right, that seems to have worked great with you guys!)

Is this the Head-fi curse already starting to get me even before I have got any headphones?!

(I have wanted to get a nice mp3 player but I really want a flash based iAudio but would have wanted to have it with the new sigmatel chips instead. So far the only nice player with those which I know about are from Samsung thought but it doesn't seem as leet as the iAudios except the chip choice so I haven't bought any.)

 

[aliquis]

As I've understood it thought the fun thing with headphones are that you can experiment with different ones and switch sound profile and so on while not investing that huge amount of money, try that with floor standing speakers of higher quality/price tag and you'll be bankrupt immediatly =P

 

[sgrossklass]

It's all been discussed to quite some extent before. The answer usually is yes and no... if you keep headphones' limits with regard to imaging and bass impact in mind, a high level of fidelity is more easily obtained with them. Besides, cans are a fairly personal thing indeed, and some people spend a lot of time and effort looking for "their" sound. Speakers, however, can do some things that headphones can't for simple physical reasons. For having fun, speakers may be the better choice, while for analytical listening I'd prefer headphones. (Nearfield monitors tend to fall somewhere in between.) Since a top-notch speaker setup is hard to do (requires room treatment, and a sufficiently large room to begin with) and quite expensive (the Linkwitz Lab Orion speakers still are around $5000 and need large rooms), having a top-notch headphone setup and a decent speaker setup seems more practical to me overall.

 

[ChaseD13]

the sound quality of a 1000$ headphone setup compares to that of a speaker set that would cost between 5-10 times that much. possibly more

the downside is that only one person can enjoy headphones at a time




if you want to hear high quality music for yourself then headphones are the way to go.

of course if you hang around here for too long all your cash will be gone, so either way you lose (money)

 

[aliquis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgrossklass It's all been discussed to quite some extent before.

Yeah, and so I figured, but I don't know what I should search for really to find it, also I had some personal information for it aswell. Quote:

Originally Posted by sgrossklass The answer usually is yes and no... if you keep headphones' limits with regard to imaging and bass impact in mind, a high level of fidelity is more easily obtained with them. Besides, cans are a fairly personal thing indeed, and some people spend a lot of time and effort looking for "their" sound. Speakers, however, can do some things that headphones can't for simple physical reasons. For having fun, speakers may be the better choice, while for analytical listening I'd prefer headphones.

What is it that makes speakers more fun then? The company and bass you can feel? Quote:

Originally Posted by sgrossklass (Nearfield monitors tend to fall somewhere in between.) Since a top-notch speaker setup is hard to do (requires room treatment, and a sufficiently large room to begin with) and quite expensive (the Linkwitz Lab Orion speakers still are around $5000 and need large rooms), having a top-notch headphone setup and a decent speaker setup seems more practical to me overall.

K, thanks for your opinion.

 

[ellover009]

A good set of headphones can beat most speakers, where the speakers win is soundstage, and you can please multiple people at the same time, headphones you would need another pair.

 

[TheSloth]

I've been wondering about this recently. I'm coming to feel that the value of speakers is dependent on the room. If you have a dedicated (doesn't need to be big), quiet room that is reasonably symmetrical and not too resonant, you can do as well with a speaker rig as a headphone rig, assuming you are talking about the $1-2k (total) range rather than the $500 total range. At $500, I don't think you can find a speaker setup to match an equivalent price headphone system, but at $2k and a good room, I think it's much harder to call.

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aliquis What is it that makes speakers more fun then? The company and bass you can feel?

Visceral impact, intensity, and true soundstage.

 

[aliquis]

I live in a normal room thought, this room is probably 5x4 meter or so, 2.5m high, stiff concrete as walls, wooden floor. My speakers / couch are along the long walls but only in the 3.5 m area to the right, computer and open space is on the 1.5 m to the left.
(For whatever reason I bought "gum pads" to put the speakers on instead of the included spikes, I don't know where I have the spikes now... I where also stupid enough to buy some Tara Labs Prism Nexa speaker cable for expensive cash. Also does it matter if I only have it scaled + connected or should I really solder on some real connectors and use those?)

Doesn't say much thought

I don't know how to make it better either, also my subwoffer is very hard to place good, I almost always get standing waves in the corners and quite dead sound in the middle of the room, I don't think the phase shift knob does much to change that either. Might be that I'm a noob thought.

Did anyone have a comment about what might had been the best/a better headphones choice? If I would get something more would the AKG k81 dj be the first headphone people would suggest?

In prices it seems Sennheiser is quite competive here (Koss are very cheap now to) but Grados are expensive.

AKG k81 dj is 790 sek + shipping in sweden.
Grado SR60 is also 790 sek (free shipping)
SR80 is 1090 (free shipping)
The Alessandro MS-1 ended up beeing 725 sek includling shipping but I might get as much as +35% on that due to taxes.
Sennheiser HD555 is only 789 sek! HD595 is 1295 or something. Add shipping to both.
Philips SBCHP460 is 348 sek + shipping (saw someone suggested those or similair instead of the k81 dj)

Will be fun to get the alessandros and later visit a real store and try to compare different once and draw your own conclusions.

 

[vapman]

In my opinion, headphones are a better value but they will never be able to recreate the soundstage of speakers. Here's how I think about it:

A Nice set of Headphones
Sennheiser HD595 - $289
JMT Pimeta - $150
iPod - $200
Line Out cable - $30
Total Cost: $669

A Nice CD Stereo
NAD C542 - $499
NAD C320BEE - $399
Epos 5.1 System - $1,500
Total Cost: $2398

Just for comparison, a REALLY nice set of headphones
TTVJ Emmeline Raptor/GS1000 Package - $2,049
iPod - $200
Line Out cable - $30
Total Cost: $2279

And there you have it.

 

[aliquis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckickflip Sennheiser HD595 - $289

Just for fun, remember those are 1283 sek ($179) here while for example the Grado SR80 which you get for $95 is 1090 sek ($152) here so the price difference probably change what people think is good value or not. Are you for instance really really stupid if you get the SR80 for $152 when you could get the Sennheiser HD595 for $179?

 

[Torm]

Problem with speakers is the room - a sub optimal room can make even the best speakers sound "bad".
No such issues with headphones - and you can use headphones at work!

 

[Towert7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aliquis Do headphones offer a better sound quality value than speakers?

Yes. I've found for the "average price range", you would have to spend 5-10 times more on a comparable speaker setup. Of course, there are some things speakers just do better, and there are some things headphones just do better. But in general.


Quote:

Originally Posted by aliquis Also once again if I may ask: What headphones would you have suggested me for mostly sitting at home listening on trance/techno/electronic/synth/industrial/ebm/chip/computer music? And if I where to get another pair of phones for whatever the Alessandros aren't good for (say closed and with a large sound-stage) which ones would you recommend as a complement? Should I have just bought the beyerdynamics DT770 or similair and been done with it?

I recommend the Beyerdynamic DT770pro, as they are nice headphones for what they do. They have plenty of bass for the type of music you listed, and they do great for games with a nice sound stange. They will make a nice companion to your Alessandro's. Who knows, you may end up prefering the beyer DT770pro over the MS1.

 

[kappadonna]

While room interaction is important, many people are putting too much emphasis on such.

 

[AdamP]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckickflip In my opinion, headphones are a better value but they will never be able to recreate the soundstage of speakers. Here's how I think about it: A Nice set of Headphones Sennheiser HD595 - $289 JMT Pimeta - $150 iPod - $200 Line Out cable - $30 Total Cost: $669 A Nice CD Stereo NAD C542 - $499 NAD C320BEE - $399 Epos 5.1 System - $1,500 Total Cost: $2398 Just for comparison, a REALLY nice set of headphones TTVJ Emmeline Raptor/GS1000 Package - $2,049 iPod - $200 Line Out cable - $30 Total Cost: $2279 And there you have it.

In that really expensive package on the bottom I honestly think that the iPod/line-out will not cut it. I'd go with a different source.