Headphones vs speakers….

Have you tried listening nearfield?  That's the first thing I'd try in your situation.  I listen a lot with the speakers 2-3 feet from my head and there's a lot to be said for this.  You get much better punch from small woofers when they're close.  The volume can be lower so there's less room interaction.  

I used to listen to headphones about 40% of the time, daily in the evening when my wife is at home. We were both working days. I have a pretty good headphone stage in my DAC preamp (Audio Alchemy), and several pair of ("budget reference") Sennheiser phones, the 600 and 650. Whenever I shopped for possible new preamps or integrated amps, they had to have a decent headphone stage as I didn’t want to run a separate headphone amp (not a big deal though, really)..

Now, since retiring and being at home in the day when my wife is still working, I do most of my serious and loud listening when she isn’t home. I rarely use my headphones! I do have an Audioquest Dragonfly DAC (highly recommended) for listening to Tidal via my phone when out and about or traveling.

I do still enjoy listening to headphones (and room issues disappear), and will often A/B songs back and forth, phones vs speakers. I just prefer the speaker experience more, if the room and setup are dialed in. One true thing about phones is for $2000-3000 you can get some that are comparable to >$20,000 speakers, so they are an audio bargain in that sense. I am happy with my Sennheisers for now, and will hold off upgrading them and put the money elsewhere in my system. FWIW.

Exactly...

And it can beat on many acoustic factors even speakers systems of superior cost , especially those which are not in a dedicated acoustic room...

They dont compare , ....but with a BACCH filter system they may became IDENTICAL...

Anyway my Headphone system will cost me 1,600 dollars, 100, headphone, 200 dac, 300 amplifier, 1000 pre-amp or headphone amplifier and they will beat  many if not most very costly speakers system in a living room...

One true thing about phones is for $2000-3000 you can get some that are comparable to >$20,000 speakers, so they are an audio bargain in that sense. I am happy with my Sennheisers for now, and will hold off upgrading them and put the money elsewhere in my system. FWIW.

I have tried several times over the years to like headphones. I have some nice headphones and headphone amps. I rarely use them; much prefer listening to speakers.

With that said, I have several very nice speaker based systems, two of which use active ATCs.

@simonmoon

Exactly! re "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 recreation of the soundstage, like a holographic image of the band or musicians arrayed in front of you (not between your ears), with soundstage depth and width—that is something headphones won’t do same as speakers. It makes a huge difference to me too.