Are Headphones Fit for Serious Music Listening?

I started out in headphones and then came over to 2ch, out of the usual necessity based on apartment living and lack of funds for high-end 2ch gear.

Really convinced myself it was just as good for years, and had lots of the most exotic headphones - some of which really are quite special. I still have some peripheral interest in that side of the hobby. My favorite is a Stax 009 driven by a DIY T2 amp (the "DIY" here belies its compexity and quality, and merely indicates an improved version of the original Stax SRM-T2), still today. Haven’t heard the Sennheiser HE1, but heard its predecessor Orpheus many times, and it’s not for me. Owned the Sony MDR-R10, also not for me because the bass sucks (Audio Technica L3000 "Leatherhead" was more of my thing) - though it has the best midrange and headstage of any headphone ever.

But, inveitably, my 2ch system (which sucked at first) eventually matched and then eclipsed the best headphone gear. And then EASILY eclipsed it. You’re right, there is a tactile quantity to speaker playback which bumps the immersion factor next level. And soundstage - even the best headphones can manage no more than a nice "headstage", maybe extending a bit outside (binaural recordings don’t count because these recordings are few and far between).

We’re told taking out room acoustics is a huge leg up for headphones - giving it an inherent advantage in accuracy and detail. But hear a good speaker setup - and it’s simply not true. The "room" for headphones is a small little pocket of air around your ear, and it’s NOT a great sounding "room". It also creates very significant resonances / aberrations that are bad for your hearing in the long run IMO. There have been attempts to change this equation (Sony MDR-R10 and AKG K1000, now RAAL) - but only with limited success IMO.

The real advantage to headphones is you can easily try dozens and find your "kind of sound" among them. Speakers are a HUGE pain to ship, swap out, and re-optimize for a room. Until you find "your sound" in speakers, it can be a bad time. I’m grateful I’m just set with Tannoys for life now lol. That’s all I want.

A good bang for buck with headphones is the classic Sennheiser HD580 / 600 / 650 driven by a very lush-sounding OTL tube amp that is generating LOTS of low-order harmonic distortion (OTL means NO output transformers - you are driving the headphones off the tube plates with just a coupling cap to protect from huge DC voltages). The high output impedance of OTL tubes will also boost bass on most moving-coil headphones, like those Senns. This can sort of "fill in" for the lack of tactile feedback, to a degree. Those old Sennheiser drivers are cheap crap plastic, but it’s surprising how good they can sound. I guess the "magic" is that they are very very light, especially with aluminum voice coils, so they have surprisingly good detail and articulation. And the soft dome avoids any nasty abrasive stuff in treble.

OTL tube amps were all the rage in 2000s era head-fi but I guess they fell out of fashion because:

1. Problems of finding a quality coupling cap with high enough capactity & voltage for this application. Black Gates used to sound good in this role despite being electrolytics - those caps are long gone
2. If the cap fails catastrophically it can explode your headphone coils and possibly damage your hearing
3. Limited output power in most designs
4. The high output impedance can limit its ability to drive lower impedance headphones

After I listen to headphone, my ears need a week to recover so I can listen to my system. I gave up using headphones long time ago.

I totally get where you're coming from. There’s something about the physical sensation of sound waves moving through the air and into your body that headphones just can’t replicate. That said, I think headphones can still be a serious listening tool—they offer an intimacy and level of detail that even great speakers sometimes miss, especially with open-back designs that create a more natural soundstage.

For me, it depends on the music and the setting. If I want to feel the music, nothing beats a well-placed speaker setup with tight, controlled bass. But if I’m focusing on intricate details-like the breath of a saxophonist or the subtle decay of a reverb tail-good headphones bring me closer to the music in a different way.

Thank you all for the great feedback. Love to hear from folks who have gone the journey and speak from a wealth of experience.

I watched the RAAL SR-1A video review @yyzsantabarbara linked. I liked the reviewer: he seemed passionate, unpretentious, and a far cry from those YouTube reviewers who seem to piggyback ADHD prescriptions from half a dozen doctors.

The reviewer talked about pairing the open-baffle, "earfield monitors" RAAL with a sub, and I was intrigued by that idea. Assuming the latency issue between ultrafast ribbons 1 inch from the ear and comparatively slow cone woofers six or eight feet away is addressed, that could bring together the best of both worlds, so to speak.

Has anyone tried supplementing headphones with a sub or subs?

Reading any headphones reviews at any price make me realize how lucky i am with My AKG K340 (100 bucks but modified)...

The soundfield is not in my head but i felt like in front of good speakers and the big organ bass note are deep and clear so much i can be moved physically (bone resonance)...