I understand you and i know why you are right...
But there is sometimes exception...
I identify 4 components to the soundfield:
---Imaging clear differentiation of the sound sources,
---Variable Soundstage dimensions varying with the recordings,
---the Holographic volume of EACH sound source,
---Immersivenes acoustically defined as the balanced ratio between the sound sources holographic volume and the listener envelopment, or the way a listener is included in the "extent" soundfield which is represented by this abbreviatons ratio in acoustic ASW/LV ..
This is not well known facts, because most reviewers did not even adress the last important two factors...
I disliked all headphones i listened to because of their "in the head" soundstage nevermind his dimension...Then even if i could perceive more details than from my good but limited speakers i go for dedicated acoustic room /speakers,,,
Here the 4 factors of the soundfield , i learened how to create and control them in some way with my 100 distributed Helmholtz resonators among other acoustic materials and devices...
No headphone can compete...Save the K340 optimized with 6 modifications...
I lost my room..
The AKG K340 optimized dont have an only "in the head" soundstage...His variable soundstage is recording dependant with classical recordings it may fill the room not my head...
His imaging is outstanding...
The holographic volume of each sound source exist as in my room as a volume not as a point or as a mere surface ...
The Immersiveness is almost on par... Almost because no headphone is like a room exactly and could not ...but i felt being there with the musicians because they are not enclosed in my head as with any headphones i ever listened to...
Not only that, but going under 28 hertz clear and deep , which speakers do that ? Very, very, costlier one... Not my Mission Cyrus 781 speakers, and with the K340 i felt the bass with MY BODY and FEET as if i had subs by bone resonance conduction ... It is easy to check with a big organ recorded in a church with Marie Claire Alain,... The organ fill my room completely with an out of my head impression in a better soundfield than any headphone i ever listened too...no comparison...
Electrostatic highs and deep bass because the K340 is a hybrid...
Then you are right, but there may be exception...
No headphone nowadays is designed as the K340 was designed then there is no comparison at all with anything... No modern headphone included 5 passively tuned resonators with a dynamic cells and an electrostatic one cross over wisely at 4000 hertz in a dual chamber inside the shell because the two cells are separated the electrostatic nearer the ears and the dynamic cells behind in the back chamber ... These give to the bass his tactile presence no other headphone can do...With which headphone of yours can you feell deep bass by the tip of your feet ? With which one the organ is not inside the head but out of the head completely filling the room with yourself feeling as in a church acoustic ?
None of my other headphone did that at all... 😊
The soundfield of the K340 without being identical to speakers/room , is speaker like not headphone like... This is why they stayed the flagship of AKG... But they were too difficult to drive well and easily, too costly to made, to difficilt to assemble and make big profit easily... They abandoned it not because of his quality sound , which could even have been improved but because of cost to do it... And the era of portable heaphone was coming with dedicated headphone amplification... They replace it with the AKG K701 which i own and dont like because there is not even any comparison at all... The K1000 design so innovative it was lack bass... Then the K340 is their best model ever... The small very well appreciated k240 i own did not even compare one second....
Just to be clear, I have a $5k HeadFi rig including a tube amp so it’s not exactly a slouch, but with well-recorded material I’d never choose listening to headphones over my home system. But that’s me.
