Headphones vs speakers….

Best headphone amp bang for buck is the Audio-GD HE-9 LE. If ordered from Audio-GD will cost about $1900 plus right now 5% off. Very clean and very loud if you wish. Plays balanced or straight pin, balanced is best with their products. My get one for around $1000 used.

Call me skeptical mrskeptic. It's hard to buy your open mindedness when you don't have a system posted. I like my house of stereo open floor system over any headphones and you probably can tell why. Yours?

It’s clear that headphone & speaker listens are two different things. Listening on good headphones (Sennheiser 600) w/ a good headphone amp ( Naim) back in about 2002 showed me just how much I was missing through my speakers in detail & nuance & led me on path of substantial, incremental improvements.

I’ve always thought the big Martin Logan’s (CLS?) , the big Sound Labs & the Apogees sounded like giant headphones in a good way. Spooky revealing if not necessarily “live sound”. 

The analogy I will pick out of the wild blue is cooking over an outdoor wood fire vs. cooking in an indoor kitchen. Two different environments, two different overriding methodologies and two differing results. I use this analogy because smoking Q on an outdoor stick burner smoker is a hobby of mine. 

There is something about headphone amp design that sucks me in. Even more than with speaker amps, the design and implementation of an exotic or bespoke headphone amp is something I find fascinating. I own five, a Little Dot (tube), a Luxman P-750u (fully balanced SS), a Violectric HPA 200 (SS), a Quicksilver (tube, of course), and a monster of an amp, an Ampsandsand Nautilus. Over the years I have owned many brands and designs of headphones and have settled mostly upon ZMF's. I have tried many brands of headphone cables including some exotic custom made cabling at uber-prices. 

I mostly listen through my loudspeakers but just as sometimes I feel like getting out my Japanese hand crafted knives, All-Clad cookware, fresh vegetables, etc. to cook, say, veal sweetbreads over polenta and other times I feel like smoking a full packer brisket, it is a matter of "moods and foods". Perhaps another analogy would the best American zinfandels vs. the best Burgundies but I better stop.....

All one needs to do is spend some time at the Head-Fi site or another, forum.headphnes.com to get sucked into the downright zealotry displayed by headphone enthusiasts. Likewise, go to a CanJam or similar event and it is hard not to get hooked. By and large the headphone community tend to be younger and Asian/European. The reasons are simple; headphones don't require a room and the cost of entry into the hobby is much less. 

Another gateway drug into headphone addiction is travel or commuting to work. I own a pair of custom IEM's made from foam molds of my ears. With a Ray Samuels portable headphone amp (now we get back into audio jewelry) and a good portable source (I have a Basso player) the sound is often immersive and transportive (sorry for the fancy words). And...since I often travel with my Macbook Pro, streaming Qobuz with an Audioquest Dragon Cobalt puts a big smile on my face too. The point being if you want to take your music with you, nothing beats headphones. 

@fsonicsmith1 

Real well thought out post. Newbies can be a welcome breath of fresh air on here. No doubt that headphones have their place in the audio world. Even If I don't listen to them at home anymore, they always travel with me. Got back from vacation in Gd Cayman and had a pair hooked up to my android phone via a simple in cable dac, listening to Qobuz every evening while going to sleep. Life is good.