Headphones vs speakers….

OP,

You can see my systems under my ID. I have been I proving my main system since the 1970’s I got serious about my headphone system around 2007. I improved my headphone system to the point that when I listened to my main system, I was completely disappointed. My main system was highly detailed with great slam…. But completely without warmth and musicality. I had based my headphone system on a really good Woo 300B headphone amplifier.

This was the trigger for me to fix my main system. My main system is now all Audio Research Reference components… it is simply magical… natural and musical… just like my headphone system. Sure there are soundstage differences between my headphone system and main. But they both have the same musical attraction… I can’t pull myself away… they are both so musical… I just want to keep listening.

So, my point? It is about your equipment… and for your main, venue. You can achieve the same basic sound quality and enjoyment level… but it takes work. There is nothing “innate” that makes one different from the other… it is your equipment choices. 

@thomastrouble I would agree with you but only with 1 brand of headphones. I have the Benchmark stack like you, in-fact I had an HPA4 preamp but sold it when I heard another brand and I realized that I was no longer interested in regular headphones. I sold the HPA4 and bought the LA4 later, after a merry-go-round of preamps.

If you want to have headphones that sound like your 2-channel gear. Most likely way better than most 2-channel gear, do a demo of the following:

• RAAL SR1b earphones (these are unlike headphones)
• RAAL VM-1a genius level tube headphone amp, ONLY suitable for 2 RAAL headphones, SR1b + CA-1a
• RAAL Star8 Silver cable (or RAAL SR728 cable)
• Benchmark DAC3

The above is my very best "2-channel" system. I am getting a KEF Blades 2 Meta with a CODA #16 amp. I do not think it will beat the above gear in most sonic attributes. The floor stander will definitively have more drive and power that you will feel in your bones, but the RAAL will have a more intimate sound, like you are there with the performers. Just incredible what the RAAL guys have accomplished.

I said I would never go back to regular headphone but I wanted to hear what RAAL could do next. If you want a regular headphone system that is not like 2-channel but a real amazing rock and roll headphone. Demo the following:

• RAAL CA-1a headphones
• RAAL VM-1a
• RAAL Star8 Silver cable (or RAAL SR728 cable)
• Benchmark DAC3

Some cheaper amp alternate to hear these 2 phones are the following:

- Schitt Jotunhiem R (for RAAL Only, $299 clearance sale)

- RAAL HSA-1a solid state headphone amp

- Benchmark AHB2 with a warm DAC and Benchmark speaker cable*

- Peachtree GAN1 ($1400)*

* requires a RAAL amp adapter box ($700)

The Peachtree 2-channel was the second best amp I have heard with the RAAL’s, after the VM-1a. I used to say that the Peachtree was a 8.5/10 vs the VM-1a, a 10/10. However, I may have to push the GAN1 down a bit more after hearing the Star8 cable with the VM-1a. I have not heard the Star8 cable with the GAN1.

"Sex with a condom"? Laughable. 

Each way to listen to music offers pros and cons but the biggest con I read about here is the close-mindedness of some people. Headphones offer a way to listen to lots of different presentations without breaking the bank or needing a barn to have the room for all the speakers you'd need to recreate the various sound profiles. 

In 1969 my brother and I would go to a small jazz club/bar in a small upstairs place in a town in northern England, ever since then that is the sound I have sought. I have that now. I could never achieve that with headphones.

Obviously headphones have their place (not with me though) but I will never get the  soundstage I want with headphones.

I'm surprised no-one's highlighted the biggest difference between in-room listening and headphones.

With headphones there's no leakage between channels.  Your left ear hears the left channel, the whole left channel and nothing but the left channel.

This gives a very holographic experience wholly different from listening to speakers in a space, even an anechoic space.  I lived in an apartment for 20 years and listened mainly on headphones - Stax electrostatics.  The sound was cleaner and more etched than from any speaker which certainly had an attraction.  I liked it but those Staxs and their amp have remained in their boxes ever since.