Headphones vs speakers….

I am now using BACCH in both my speaker and headphone rigs.  During the installation process with headphones, one of the exercises switches between headphones and speakers.  People frequently report that they sound exactly the same, and they cannot reliably report whether they are listening to headphones or speakers.  That was certainly my experience.  I am a BACCH true-believer, and understand why Dr. Edgar has won so many audiophile awards, including the most recent from The Absolute Sound.

Thanks for your post...

Dr.Choueri is an acoustic genius and a physicist, after him there is no more difference because of crosstalk between speakers and headphone...

People dont understand it or dont know about it... In a way all other dac upgrading is obsolete or without it a lost of money...

This is my opinion after reading his papers and interviews...

Despite having, and enjoying my pretty high end headphone and amp system (Grado GS3000, Astell and Kern amp, about $3500 combined), they will never, to me, sound as good as my full system.

They lack the visceral impact of my full system, which is a big part of what connects me, emotionally, to the music. In essence, the difference is loading my 1,600 cubic foot room with sound pressure, compared to the .122047 cubic inches of my ear canal.

Also, when I see live music, the musicians are in front of me, and their individual positions within the acoustic space they are inhabiting, is defined in front of me. Not coming from within my head.

The price has nothing to do with it... I dont feel the same as you with a 700 bucks system...

No headphone can beat a speakers/room at the top level...But top level system in a dedicated room are not so frequent..

But some headphone can rival this in their own way at a fraction of the price in my case..

Headphone and speakers will become the same on the same level only with a BACCH set of filters...

In the meantime i am completely satisfied with an headphone system that rival and beat all of what i listened to  in any living room.. 😊

I spoke about good average system, Quad, Magnepan and Tannoy etc ... I never listened to very high end costly system in a dedicated acoustic room ...I tuned my own dedicated room and my headphone rival it because my speakers were good but average...

The acoustic revolution actually dated back many years ago already is by Dr. Choueri and BACCH filters... No more difference between speakers and headphone... Any other upgrade than this could be useless if not absolutely necessary... It is my opinion only for sure...

Then after Dr. Choueri  BACCH , the difference from speakers and headphone is no more significant , save confort and group listening with speakers, not the soundfield...

Anyway my K340 give me already  a taste of an "out of the head" soundfield...

Despite having, and enjoying my pretty high end headphone and amp system (Grado GS3000, Astell and Kern amp, about $3500 combined), they will never, to me, sound as good as my full system.

A new speaker rig in an unfamiliar room can be quite the challenge. You just have to work at it, and iterate. Get furnishings in there. Position, position, position. Experiment. Get external input. Have friends over. Explore acoustic treatments. DON’T go overboard there; it’s not necessary and nothing sucks more than trying to sell a pile of $$$$ treatments on the used market. There is no one-size-fits-all formula anyone can tell you for this. 

If you have a great headphone setup, then yeah that’s gonna feel like an "easy button" for good sound compared to the initial struggle with speakers. Sadly, you might end up with a speaker / amp pairing you don’t dig, or the "wrong" speaker for a room, etc. At some point you can’t fix that and you’ll just have to try something else.

I’ll always keep around a great headphone setup. It’s how I got my start in this hobby, it’s a great reference / tool, and it’s perfectly capable of a joyful listening experience in its own right.