Headphones vs speakers….

Listened all night after getting B&W i5 in ear wireless headphones with an Android phone. Being freed from the wire immerses you in a sea of fabulous sound. Sennheiser TW3 if you want more bass at the expense of some transparency compared to the B&W. At these prices embrace the healing power of and.

* quantum leap over AirBuds.

@thomastrouble , it’s taken me half a lifetime to get to a point where my full system approaches the specific things I like best about what even a $500 pair of headphones can do. Yes they are two different experiences. But there are some areas where headphones have advantages, and some areas where headphones simply can’t replicate the experience of a full system.

But headphones have this blazingly fast quickness and ease of detail delivery, with drive and energy and great dynamics, that even now my full system can’t quite match - but it’s finally getting awful close. It’s this one quality that I’ve felt was very important for full enjoyment of music as it sounds more alive. Every now and then I’ll listen to a song on my system and then on my $500 pair of headphones (no fancy setup or anything, just Bluetooth to phone), and I’ll take note of the differences. Suggest others chiming in on this thread give that a try if you haven’t lately. You might be surprised!

The soundstage is badly distorted on headphones; Pure left sounds only to arrive at the left ear, and are perceived as being way to the left, with nothing on the right to create a semblance of a credible space. Likewise on the right side.

Pure left sounds on speakers also reach the right ear and they are perceived as being on the left side of a stage, far more realistic.

Sound from speakers at an identical left and right level, say, a vocalist or lead instrument, iff* you are seated exactly the same distance from both speakers, will deliver a nearly convincing center image - except that, again, there will be sound coming from the left speaker reaching the right ear and vice-versa, so that center image will be poorly focused at best, and only to a person sitting directly in the middle. Anywhere else, the center image fails. Try this: play a tune with a vocalist singing in the center - sit right in the middle. Now hold a record jacket, edge to you nose, blocking the left signal to your right ear and vice-versa. You will immediately hear the singer pop into focus, more accurately and realistically, coming from the center.

With headphones, a sound at equal levels left and right will be solidly placed in the center. Also, headphones will be immune from room resonances and reverb.

So - which is better?

For critical listening, for just one person, I would say a good pair of headphones - with one important condition: Unless the musical source is binaural - and that can sound spectacularly realistic, you need to temper that exaggerated soundstage.

It’s not too hard to do.

You need a separation or blend control to narrow that space. On some recordings, like some early stereo, where there was an exaggerated separation for effect, that will make the music far more enjoyable. But I find it essential with just about any stereo source.

It could be as simple as putting a 5 to 50 Ohm variable resistor (depending on your cans’ impedance) between the left and right wires the headphones.
I have adapted a few cables with this simple mod.

Then you can dial in exactly what you perceive as a natural sound stage, and the center will always be far better focused than any pair of speakers can ever hope to achieve.

You will be amazed how much better headphones will sound.

* iff - that’s not a typo. Look it up.

All in all I’ll be needing the system and headphones - the headphones for when I’m out and the system when I’m home. I understand these will be different experiences. Since my system isn’t properly set up yet I’m simply curious as to what to expect after being very very happy with the headphones. From dabbling with the temporary integrated I’m using now and the (probably) badly paired speakers I know a lot of my disappointment is due to the mud coming from an untreated room compared with the spectacular clarity of the headphones. These Totems are tiny but probably perfect for a small room like this but the mud I’m hearing when I swap them out (175mm cones compared to 125mm cones) really sound awful in this untreated room at present which has me wondering if I’m going to be able to use a subwoofer in that room. Anyway, I’ll find out in a couple of weeks once my Benchmark DAC3 arrives to complete my Benchmark setup.

This will be a dedicated listening room - I’m planning on hanging thick curtains on three walls (behind the speakers and both side walls) to dampen echoes - is this advisable? I’ll have the curtains cut into sections that I can open at intervals if need be to experiment.

The soundstage in the RAAL SR1a is like 2-channel not like headphones. That is the one of the beautiful aspects of the sound thorough them. Checkout this review below where the reviewer says he disliked the SR1a because people laughed at him and that they did not sound like headphones. 2-channel people should really hear these because a perfectly optimized SR1a is hard to beat with a 2-channel speaker system.

(3) What's a RIBBON headphone? RAAL Requisite CA-1A Review with Resolve! | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org