Best speakers vs. the best headphones....

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: jsbush

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: TechnoKid

Originally posted by: spidey07
speakers because you actually "see" a band in front of you, see the instruments, etc.

headphones the band is in your head playing.

are you saying that headphones have poor imaging? or that speakers imaging is superior to good headphones?

I'm saying they both have great imaging. One just puts it in front of you similar to music that you hear in real life, the other puts it in your head.

It both goes in your head, your not making much sense.

Sure I am. when listening to a nice set of speakers the band literally in your living room. That's what it sounds like.

with headphones there is no band in your living room. you have music coming from inside your head.

Two very different ways of enjoying music.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: BaboonGuy
speakers easily. thing is you have to get a $10,000 set of speakers to match a $1000 set of headphones

Match in what?

mainly tone and accuracy.

 

[Pathogen03]

For the money, get yourself a pair of Sennheiser HD580s or HD590s for $150-$200


They are so comfy...

Hahaha! As i was typing that last line, i almost shat myself, as there was a 4 minute silence in one of the tracks im listening to, and it started back up with a crowd cheering and i was so confused -- I had forgotten my headphones were on.


My headphones blow COMPUTER level sound systems away. My Brother is a sound engineer, he owns the sound systems in a few clubs in Orlando, Florida and he runs sound for all sorts of shows. I have some truly audiophilic experiences.


A high-end speaker setup will always win at 4 x the cost, this is assuming the walls in the room its in are drywall. Concrete or brick and id stick with good headphones.

I personally use HD580s, ive had them for almost two years now. I did have the headphone cord die on me at one point, but i think thats because i kept running over it in my chair. A new one was $16.80 plus shipping, and its removable so no big deal.



Edit: for the record, the clubs im talking about are: The Bank, Church Street Station (he owns part of that one) and.. part of another. He also runs a recording studio out of his house.

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
best speakers (s2 midilands)

i am using those and they are quite nice, much better than klipsh BS. but they are easily outclassed by zen+hd/580, prolly by a much greater margin when my fisher 400 finally gets here. this is with my current source, a heavily modified EMU 1212M rigged with blackgate caps.

once i have read that to match senn orpheus, you would have to create a perfect sounding room, which would cost <$10000 to begin with.. and then all the cost involved in getting the right synergy.. its a luxury affordable to 0.01% of population maybe. whereas, you would have hard time finding a reasonably priced speaker set matching the quality of sen650 + good amp like ppa or ppx3. this is just my opinion based on reading various web sources and trying out different headphones, i fully acknoweledge the fact people may have varying ideas.

one thing i noticed tho, some people want speakers for their loudness. for movies that could be imporatnt, but for music amount of bass != sound quality. OP, you might wanna change your title to something like <for music listening only>

 

[thomsbrain]

for 99% of us, headphones will offer a better listening experience. one reason is practically no one has a room that sounds good and doesn't have major bass nodes. the other thing is for $250-$300 you can get headphones that will rival $10,000+ speakers in clarity and imaging and you don't need a special room designed by an acoustic engineer to experience them properly.

the whole "band is in my head" thing isn't relevant if the headphones are actually good and the mix is good. after all, the rooms that records are mixed in are usually pretty dead and neutral, and if you've ever heard music played on the near-field monitors they use to mix them, you realize it sounds... just like headphones! the "soundstage" is something that should come from the recording alone, not from your room. with a good set of headphones and a properly mixed record, if you close your eyes, you feel like you could reach out and touch the "close-sounding" instruments, or run 50 feet over to a "far-sounding" instrument. a properly produced and mixed stereo recording makes "surround sound" pointless because you only need two speakers to simulate every direction a sound source can come from (after all, you only have two ears to hear them with). stuff can sound like it's behind you or in front of you, and there's no need for special processors or any of that crap.

the only catch is the tactile experience of low frequencies. and that's why, with a good room, speakers are better.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: Apex
Speaker, though to beat a good set of cans, you need some pretty impressive speakers.

Speakers can provide a while body experience, especially with a great subwoofer. You get to feel the impact in your chest of the 10-20hz range with a good sub.

yeah, you get a lot of sub-20Hz impact on CD's, with their 20-20,000 Hz frequency range.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: Apex
Speaker, though to beat a good set of cans, you need some pretty impressive speakers.

Speakers can provide a while body experience, especially with a great subwoofer. You get to feel the impact in your chest of the 10-20hz range with a good sub.

yeah, you get a lot of sub-20Hz impact on CD's, with their 20-20,000 Hz frequency range.

ummm, plenty of CDs have sub-20Hz content.

 

[Pathogen03]

I dont believe the audio-CD format allows for sub 20hz

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Pathogen03
I dont believe the audio-CD format allows for sub 20hz

hmmm, I could sworn I had CDs with test tones under 20 hz.

could be off base though.

hehe, err... off bass.

 

[sharkeeper]

I dont believe the audio-CD format allows for sub 20hz

Nonsense. It's more limited by the playback equipment.

I have recorded 3Hz sinus tone full stereo at -0.05 dB and burned a CD to test a strange extremely low frequency playback system. 3Hz at 136dB reminds me of blowing down a road at 145mph on a R1 passing telegraph poles at handshake distance!

Cheers!

 

[biostud]

Speakers, no doubt I heard the B&amp;W Nautilus 801 which cost $16.000 a pair, that was just amazing. The thing is that with good speakers you can feel the sound in your entire body, headphones will always be limited.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: Apex
Speaker, though to beat a good set of cans, you need some pretty impressive speakers.

Speakers can provide a while body experience, especially with a great subwoofer. You get to feel the impact in your chest of the 10-20hz range with a good sub.

yeah, you get a lot of sub-20Hz impact on CD's, with their 20-20,000 Hz frequency range.

As others have said, CD's have lower than 20Hz capability. And not all of us listen to CD's. Some of us still prefer LP's and Reel-to-Reel.

ZV

 

[element]

ok so headphones and a subwoofer is teh winar.....

j/k

 

[freebee]

Why is everyone comparing the 10k expensive speakers to el cheapo everyday senn hd580, 600s?

Have you all forgotten about the sennheiser orpheus? thats what we should be comparing.

 

[Apex]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: Apex
Speaker, though to beat a good set of cans, you need some pretty impressive speakers.

Speakers can provide a while body experience, especially with a great subwoofer. You get to feel the impact in your chest of the 10-20hz range with a good sub.

yeah, you get a lot of sub-20Hz impact on CD's, with their 20-20,000 Hz frequency range.

ummm, plenty of CDs have sub-20Hz content.

Not a lot, but SACD, DVD-A, DVHS, and DVD movies on the other hand have plenty of content sub 20hz.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
for 99% of us, headphones will offer a better listening experience. one reason is practically no one has a room that sounds good and doesn't have major bass nodes. the other thing is for $250-$300 you can get headphones that will rival $10,000+ speakers in clarity and imaging and you don't need a special room designed by an acoustic engineer to experience them properly.

the whole "band is in my head" thing isn't relevant if the headphones are actually good and the mix is good. after all, the rooms that records are mixed in are usually pretty dead and neutral, and if you've ever heard music played on the near-field monitors they use to mix them, you realize it sounds... just like headphones! the "soundstage" is something that should come from the recording alone, not from your room. with a good set of headphones and a properly mixed record, if you close your eyes, you feel like you could reach out and touch the "close-sounding" instruments, or run 50 feet over to a "far-sounding" instrument. a properly produced and mixed stereo recording makes "surround sound" pointless because you only need two speakers to simulate every direction a sound source can come from (after all, you only have two ears to hear them with). stuff can sound like it's behind you or in front of you, and there's no need for special processors or any of that crap.

the only catch is the tactile experience of low frequencies. and that's why, with a good room, speakers are better.

Dipole subwoofers attenuate the peaks and nulls, but they too have drawbacks.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Apex

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: thomsbrain

Originally posted by: Apex
Speaker, though to beat a good set of cans, you need some pretty impressive speakers.

Speakers can provide a while body experience, especially with a great subwoofer. You get to feel the impact in your chest of the 10-20hz range with a good sub.

yeah, you get a lot of sub-20Hz impact on CD's, with their 20-20,000 Hz frequency range.

ummm, plenty of CDs have sub-20Hz content.

Not a lot, but SACD, DVD-A, DVHS, and DVD movies on the other hand have plenty of content sub 20hz.

you ain't kidding.