The argument for headphones instead of loudspeaker as your main sound system is one that you don’t hear too often. Which is why we think it’s important to make it here. It all boils down to one root cause, and that root cause is the room. Let’s divide the consequences of the room into two categories: cost and sound.
Cost
First, speakers are played in a room you need more power. Power means power amplifiers. You need to buy expensive amps to power your loudspeakers. Second, you need to place those loudspeakers somewhere, so you need to buy stands. Or if they are floor-standing speakers you need to buy feet. You need to connect them with cables and buy other accessories. Third, you need to acoustically treat your room, so you need to buy acoustic panels, diffusers, bass traps etc. Fourth, you need to buy presents to your spouse because you’re placing the speakers in the middle of the room.
Sound
You can buy good loudspeakers and ruin them by placing them in a bad listening environment. Optimally, you would have the loudspeakers and the listening position at least two meters away from the nearest wall. However, that is seldom even possible in the available space. You would need a large room. And with this kind of placement, a livingroom quickly becomes a listening room only. Headphones, on the other hand, have multiple benefits compared to loudspeakers:
- Single point source
- No crossovers
- No sweet spot or particular listening position
- No room effects
- Tonal balance can be fixed using only DSP
Some of the drawbacks often stated include poor sound stage or imaging. People say that it sounds like the sound is coming from inside one’s head and it doesn’t feel like you’re at a concert. It is a matter of personal preference, but we suggest looking at headphone listening as something separate and different from live events or loudspeaker listening. It is our subjective opinion that crossfeed will not correct for this phenomena and only makes the sound worse. Another common argument is that there’s no physical sensation of bass. While that is true, the pros outweigh the cons.
Recommended hardware
Which ever headphones you use, applying equalizing with the help of DSP is definitely worth considering. Check out our post on the topic:
Enthusiast level:
- Sennheiser HD800S, https://sennheiser.com/hd-800-s
- Sennheiser HDV820
- DSP at signal source
Hobby level:
- Sennheiser HD650
- DAC/amp in price range 200-300€
- DSP at signal source
Budget level:
- Koss Porta Pro
- Analog jack or DAC/amp in 100-150€ price class (get one second-hand, for example)
- DSP at signal source