Speakers vs. headphones

I love my Bose Quiet Comfort for airplanes and noisy environments. Definitely not accurate or in any way audiophile, but sound great… as in punchy and enjoyable in noisy environments. Using “audiophile headphones in noisy environments does not work, all the subtitles are lost to the noise floor and you are left with unbalanced sound. While the Bose are a bit cartoonish, they sound great and  balanced in noisy environments.

‘’I spent years on planes trying to recreate the audiophile experience, and quit when I heard Bose an realized for this environment they got it right. Any other environment not so much.

Yes a great headphone system is very enjoyable. Overall you can achieve a similar level of detail and overall sound quality for 1/10th the cost (see my two systems, click on my ID). However, ultimately a room system can do stuff that headphones cannot. I had brought my headphone system home from the office and started upgrading it until it reached a really amazing level of performance. Then I went back to my main system and just had to ask, “why does’ t my main system sound that good (tonally and musically?” Then additional upgrades to my main system.

Ok, so $100K later I have two amazing systems. I am luckily can play either without disturbing anyone. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. But watch out, if you are an audiophile… well a headphone system can be truly astonishing… think upgrading all components… and I’d you beat your main system the disease could spread there.

I’m retired, both systems bring real joy to me. But watch out… it may cost you. A great headphone system is really amazing!