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Headphones vs loudspeakers

Could you tell why headphones sound better than loudspeakers in general? When listening to music through headphones you hear more details, more ambiance and at the same time the sound is more pure than through loudspeakers. It's also as if you can listen to inferior CD-player without sacrificing much of the sound quality. Even with an excellent audio system the sound has less immediacy and is not so detailed as with headphones. What is the problem with audio systems? Are we dealing with psychoacoustics or...?

Chris
dazzdax

Showing 2 responses by dazzdax

dazzdax OP
599 posts
 
I agree with you head phones don't have realistic (visceral) bass and the soundstage is very artificial, but they give tons of details and they have better tonal balance than most audio set ups with speakers. The strange thing is: even with mid-fi gear the high resolution still remains and the sound doesn't lose it's smoothness.

Chris
dazzdax OP
599 posts
 
Stringreen: even with mid-fi non dedicated head phone amp the sound through head phones is better (with better tonality and fine dynamic shadings) than many high-end set ups. That is the dilemma. One more thing: though head phones many mediocre recordings become listenable --> I simply hear much more details through the phones. Of course the sound gets better with better head phone amps.

Chris
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