Headphones vs speakers….


So I’ve been patiently waiting to buy the final pieces for a Benchmark HAB2 and DAC3  system. I have the Totem 1 speakers and decided to hook them up to an old Naim Nait 5i (probably not the best pairing) and Cambridge Azur 840C CD player. Over the last few months I’ve been on a quest for great sound through headphones  and a headphone amp while I’m waiting and after maybe five sets of headphones I’ve found what I was looking for and I’m very happy.

After hooking up the Totems and Nait today I’m very disappointed. However, my room is far from treated yet - I have installed a large carpet, furnishings and will be hanging thick floor to ceiling curtains on the three walls - one behind the speakers and two side walls. However, wether I’ve been spoiled by the incredible sound of my headphone setup or I’ve been expecting too much from a full system  I can’t imagine after room treatment and dialing things in that I’ll be anywhere close to being as impressed as I am with my headphones…..do any of you guys feel this way or am I being too pessimistic?

 

thomastrouble

Showing 2 responses by patrickdowns

I used to listen to headphones about 40% of the time, daily in the evening when my wife is at home. We were both working days. I have a pretty good headphone stage in my DAC preamp (Audio Alchemy), and several pair of ("budget reference") Sennheiser phones, the 600 and 650. Whenever I shopped for possible new preamps or integrated amps, they had to have a decent headphone stage as I didn’t want to run a separate headphone amp (not a big deal though, really)..

Now, since retiring and being at home in the day when my wife is still working, I do most of my serious and loud listening when she isn’t home. I rarely use my headphones! I do have an Audioquest Dragonfly DAC (highly recommended) for listening to Tidal via my phone when out and about or traveling.

I do still enjoy listening to headphones (and room issues disappear), and will often A/B songs back and forth, phones vs speakers. I just prefer the speaker experience more, if the room and setup are dialed in. One true thing about phones is for $2000-3000 you can get some that are comparable to >$20,000 speakers, so they are an audio bargain in that sense. I am happy with my Sennheisers for now, and will hold off upgrading them and put the money elsewhere in my system. FWIW.

@simonmoon

Exactly! re "the musicians are in front of me, and their individual positions within the acoustic space they are inhabiting, is defined in front of me. Not coming from within my head."

The recreation of the soundstage, like a holographic image of the band or musicians arrayed in front of you (not between your ears), with soundstage depth and width—that is something headphones won’t do same as speakers. It makes a huge difference to me too.