Will decent speakers always out do headphones?

@telemarer - Headphones are the answer to your question. It's a compromise you have decided to make for your family and that's a fine thing. It just won't be the same as listening to a high end speaker system. They can be very good and enjoyable. They are just different.

A phono pre-amp with cross-feed can help with the hard left/right panning by bleeding a bit of the other channel into each ear, kinda like speakers in your room. But, you'll never feel the music in your gut. Or, if you do, you have it turned up WAY too loud...... :~)

There is a whole world of headphone users at head-fi.org. I'm guessing it is a much larger community than AudiogoN, but I haven't spent any time there in years. Check it our for WAY more information than you can likely digest regarding headphone listening.

Have fun and enjoy the new experience.

I was just thinking about the subject yesterday. I have good headphones and have had some pretty serious headphone amps, DACs, etc. However the experience is just different. Yes, with headphones you may hear some detail that was less noticeable through the speakers. However, it's just different. I also agree with Erik that you also hear with your body. When you don't feel the music though your body, the experience is not the same.

A headphone amp with cross feed may improve your headphone experience if you have a preference for the sound of your speakers. However, you'll never get the same "feeling" from headphone.

Plenty of people have a preference for the headphone sound. I'm not one of them.....