Music that MUST be experienced with cans?

I understand you and i know why you are right...

But there is sometimes exception...

I identify 4 components to the soundfield:

---Imaging clear differentiation of the sound sources,

---Variable Soundstage dimensions varying with the recordings,

---the Holographic volume of EACH sound source,

---Immersivenes acoustically defined as the balanced ratio between the sound sources holographic volume and the listener envelopment, or the way a listener is included in the "extent" soundfield which is represented by this abbreviatons ratio in acoustic ASW/LV ..

This is not well known facts, because most reviewers did not even adress the last important two factors...

I disliked all headphones i listened to because of their "in the head" soundstage nevermind his dimension...Then even if i could perceive more details than from my good but limited speakers i go for dedicated acoustic room /speakers,,,

Here the 4 factors of the soundfield , i learened how to create and control them in some way with my 100 distributed Helmholtz resonators among other acoustic materials and devices...

No headphone can compete...Save the K340 optimized with 6 modifications...

I lost my room..

The AKG K340 optimized dont have an only "in the head" soundstage...His variable soundstage is recording dependant with classical recordings it may fill the room not my head...

His imaging is outstanding...

The holographic volume of each sound source exist as in my room as a volume not as a point or as a mere surface ...

The Immersiveness is almost on par... Almost because no headphone is like a room exactly and could not ...but i felt being there with the musicians because they are not enclosed in my head as with any headphones i ever listened to...

Not only that, but going under 28 hertz clear and deep , which speakers do that ? Very, very, costlier one... Not my Mission Cyrus 781 speakers, and with the K340 i felt the bass with MY BODY and FEET as if i had subs by bone resonance conduction ... It is easy to check with a big organ recorded in a church with Marie Claire Alain,... The organ fill my room completely with an  out of my head impression in a better soundfield than any headphone i ever listened too...no comparison...

Electrostatic highs and deep bass because the K340 is a hybrid...

Then you are right, but there may be exception...

No headphone nowadays is designed as the K340 was designed then there is no comparison at all with anything... No modern headphone included 5 passively tuned resonators with a dynamic cells and an electrostatic one cross over wisely at 4000 hertz in a dual chamber inside the shell because the two cells are separated the electrostatic nearer the ears and the dynamic cells behind in the back chamber ... These give to the bass his tactile presence no other headphone can do...With which headphone of yours can you feell deep bass by the tip of your feet ? With which one the organ is not inside the head but out of the head completely filling the room with yourself feeling as in a church acoustic  ?

None of my other headphone did that at  all... 😊

The soundfield of the K340 without being identical to speakers/room , is speaker like not headphone like... This is why they stayed the flagship of AKG... But they were too difficult to drive well and easily, too costly to made, to difficilt to assemble and make big profit easily... They abandoned it not because of his quality sound , which could even have been improved but because of cost to do it... And the era of portable heaphone was coming with dedicated headphone amplification... They replace it with the AKG K701 which i own and dont like because there is not even any comparison at all... The K1000 design so innovative it was lack bass... Then the K340 is their best model ever... The small very well appreciated k240 i own did not even compare one second....

 

Just to be clear, I have a $5k HeadFi rig including a tube amp so it’s not exactly a slouch, but with well-recorded material I’d never choose listening to headphones over my home system. But that’s me.

 

 

Just to be clear, I have a $5k HeadFi rig including a tube amp so it’s not exactly a slouch, but with well-recorded material I’d never choose listening to headphones over my home system.  But that’s me. 

You'd likely get more responses from people who actually enjoy headphones over on the Head-Fi forums than on this place. 

Thanks for the precision... i understand better your question...

my above answer then is the same...

I dislike headphone listenings with any headphone i tried compared to room/speakers to begin with... the only exception is the K340...

I own only one recorded album on thousands that give me a soundfield encompassing me and all the room which is not so well holographic with my headphone... Kurt Weil 4 penny opera with Lotte Lenya... A top recording.among all top recordings and the best interpretation of this work.. It was one of my test album for the tuning of my room... 😊

A top speakers in a dedicated room will beat the K340... On soundfield holography ..... But the cost will be very, very high...But my K349 will beat almost antything which is not in a dedicated room... Save very costly top speakers...I dont know which because i never had one...

 

For my thousand others albums my headphone more than compete and because as i said pair of speakers going under 28 hertz clear and extended and going in the high frequencies as Stax goes cost a fortune, my actual headphone beat my speakers, annihilated them , even if my dedicated room was able to beat my headphone with way more expansive speakers...Even My Tannoy dual concentric gold will not beat my headphone in the high frequencies for example...

Happily after losing my room i was so depressed i quit audiogon... I worked 6 months modifying and improving the K340 my only last possibilities... Now i am more than happy again...

Then i cannot answer you about a track better on headphone , my headphone is a bit less holographic than my acoustic room for sure, but the details and with classical music especially the "out of the head" effect are so powerful that i forgot my speakers which was the best speakers Mission ever designed say to me the Mission seller in Montreal but they were not enough with their measured specs to beat my K340...

As i said i spoke to Kennerton company in Russia and they said they quit making an hybrid because it is too difficult, too complex to figure out right, too costly in research and to assemble parts to make a profit as with other classic headphone...Then i learned why the only successful hybrid was the AKG K340 their flagship and the best ever..

Here is your answer, with the K340 everything sound better than with most average speakers, especially better if the speakers are in a living room acoustically unadressed , as most put them , and not in a dedicated room..

i learned a lot doing acoustic non stop each day for a year ( i am retired) but i will never tried to tune another room again... It is more than fun the first time because you learn each day... A second time with almost the same listening experiments time it will be a pain in the ass..😊

i will stay with my headphone till i die... Anyway i can buy Choueri BACCH system one day...The only possible upgrade for my 700 bucks system...

now i am so happy that each time i listen music i cannot stop ... i ended my optimizing process few months ago just before going back here...

i discovered two things :

the cost of good sound could be low, but average speakers lack in bass too much and in the higher frequencies... Then even in a dedicated room with holographic soundfield as i create one , you cannot cure these lacks in frequencies response... Then a real high end speakers/room not only cost a huge tuning amount of time but a very high cost in money for the speakers... i did not know this before my headphone work...I was not conscious of the bass limititations and high limitation of my good but average Speakers...

The bad news is apart for my K340 , i dislike ALL headphones i ever bought ( 9) and there is no comparison at all between a hybrid well done by Dr Gorike a physicist in acoustic , the only one real hybrid in history and most others headphones of any type... But you must correct a deep in equalization a bit over 1000 hertz to go nearer the Harman curve , you must open them and cut the secure big plastic grid which is there for protection not for the sound quality, , you must pick the right pads with the right volume to not affect the frequencies response badly I tried 5 types with different thickness volume, you must put inside anti vibratory materials ( sorbothane duro 70 patches and FoQ tape ) on top of that you must pick a powerful amplifier with much reserve and LOW noise floor...my excellent first Sansui AU 7700 who drove my speakers tube- like and easily was not able to do a clean job with the K340... i used a Sansui of the more refined Alpha series ...i drove them from the headphone out of very good quality...

The electrical noise floor of the house you will need to lower it too, This headphone pick it ...i know because i disconnected my paramax purifier ( too noisy now ) and connect directly the amp in the wall electrical plug of my last house secondary wall panel at the second floor and it was too noisy also ..In my new house the Amp is more directly connect from the main panel and it is day and night ..... i used a battery dac protected against EMI and RFI then the dac is not connected to the house grid. and low noise floor ..

With all that the headphone system gave me the best soundfield i ever listened too including anything i ever listened to... Even Stax..

I digressed and i apologize but at least you know why i cannot answer your question otherwise...

 

Is there any music which makes you say "This is why I have to have headphones!" ?

No. Just…no. There’s virtually nothing I’d rather listen to on my headphone system over my home system except maybe subpar recordings.  Period, full stop.

@mahgister 

Of course, we all know the magic of headphone listening, the privacy, the lack of room interference, the clarity... but my question was more about whether there were any tracks listeners felt would be especially important for cans?

Is there any music which makes you say "This is why I have to have headphones!" ?

Some music soundfield in my acoustic room were so stunning it is incredible...

i cannot have that in my headphone...

But the good news is save for some exceptionaql recording, most very good recording sound better in my headphone...

The reason is simple...

How will cost a speakers able to give clear 28 hertz deep bass warm lava with electrostactic high frequencies as cold honey ?

My headphone beat my speakers not my room on almost all count , the mids are natural and realistic and the high are ice and the bass is lava flow they meet and the mids are completely natural...

I dont miss my speakers/room because my acoustic was tremendous but my Mission Cyrus were, so good they were,  unable  to compete with the bass and highs i experienced with the K340... A pair of speakers able to beat my K340 without subwoofer, will cost many, many thousands dollars perhaps few ten thousands dollars, ... Even my Tannoy dual gold will not beat them for the higher frequencies.. The best headphone ever made... For the price... And perhaps at any price...but i modify it... dont try it without the necessary modification...😊

All music i listened to on my speakers sound even better on the headphone ...save some exceptional recording who fill my room in a way almost no other recording can and in a way no headphone can ... But it is because of my dedicated acoustic not so much because of the speakers specs  alone...

Then i had no idea about music for headphone only... i dont even understand the question... 😊

 

That's a good question; I'm often listening in 'shuffle' mode and something comes on that sounds just so awesome on cans, I email another HP fan friend of mine to tell him about it. Of course, none of them are coming to mind right now... 

I like all my music with my stereo system, unless some piece is specifically made for cans. Checkout the attached YouTube link for a can experience

Virtual Haircut