On the Strengths and Weaknesses of Headphones and Speakers

[semente]

I've just bumped into this comparison between headphones and speakers at innerfidelity.com

 

On the Strengths and Weaknesses of Headphones and Speakers

 

I've said this stuff here and there, but I think it's time to make my opinions official. For a long time in the past, headphones were considered the bastard step-child of audio reproduction devices. Heck, they were considered accessories and sold along side cables and power strips in the past.

That time has come and gone (thank goodness) and today headphones are on a more even footing as the cadre of headphone enthusiasts swell the audiophile ranks and consumers rush to tune up their smartphone. But the question remains: Are headphones as good as speakers? Let's take a look.

 

Read more at https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/strengths-and-weaknesses-headphones-and-speakers

[dalethorn]

I don't agree on visceral impact.  Of course, for many audiophiles 'visceral' has to be a literal impact of air on the chest or other body areas, but for me my eardrums "just know" from the sound pressure and frequency and texture etc., and adding the air movement in a room is unneeded.

[dalethorn]

BTW, there's a terrific discussion on this topic now at Stereophile per the below link.  I'd like to add a comment here that's not (yet) in the Stereophile discussion, but will make sense in that context.  Basically, it starts with the fact that we literally see upside down, but our brains flip the picture right-side-up through a learning process of pattern matching and conversion.  I believe that experienced headphone users are doing much the same in "converting" the sonic images in recordings into what matches real world experience. Fact is, speaker users are also making some mental adjustments, although it's arguably less of an adjustment than headphone users make.

 

https://www.stereophile.com/content/are-you-experienced-0

[semente]

On 3 June 2017 at 0:45 AM, dalethorn said:

I don't agree on visceral impact.  Of course, for many audiophiles 'visceral' has to be a literal impact of air on the chest or other body areas, but for me my eardrums "just know" from the sound pressure and frequency and texture etc., and adding the air movement in a room is unneeded.

 

If you listen to live music you feel with your body.

For me it's not even open to debate...

[GregWormald]

The more we rely on our brain to do the "conversion" into "reality", we end up listening to a $5 radio and 128 bit files and experiencing live concerts.

 

I'm afraid I'm not there yet. The more like the live experience the living room reproduction is, the better I like it.

 

I suspect that some musicians can do it though. Their minds are so attuned to the sound of the real music that almost any stimulus will do. Beethoven could do it all internally when he was deaf.

 

Greg

[dalethorn]

3 hours ago, semente said:

 

If you listen to live music you feel with your body.

For me it's not even open to debate...

Some people really believe they see right-side-up, but it's a trick of the brain, and that's not open to debate.  When a person is sufficiently experienced with headphones, the brain takes care of everything except the truly bad recordings.

[davide256]

the nice thing about headphones is that they cut out the variable of room acoustics, can help you judge what  you are not hearing from your speakers or what room acoustics may be doing to harmonic balance. Visceral they are not... can't duplicate the sheer "knock you back in your seat" power of  a performance like big band jazz

[asdf1000]

I enjoy both very much. Speakers before everyone goes to sleep. And headphones when everyone's asleep.

 

[Balder]

The abstract "pleasure" of a music experience - happens in the brain!

 

How else to explain how "halfdeaf" sound engeneers, and musicians - still can make their magic?

 

In my foolish youth i went to aproximately 40 -50 Rock/Metal live concerts, i recently had a hearing test....

 

-10dB at 10kHz! So if my experience of music, and my HiFi hobby - totaly relayed on my eardrums. how can i possibly tell the difference between audio gear?

 

One theory is that the brain forms some cind of "audio memory" - while your hearing is OK, and then somehow recalls that as your hearing "goes"?

 

And, another thing: there is a disorder called "hyperakusia", where the patient are unable to "filter out" sounds that normal people do without thinking about it. Ex: patient having a conversation in a pub/cafe, and are unable to understand what the other person is saying - becouse the background noise is "overwelming", while that other person don't have any problems at al - It happens in the brains abillity to process the information from the ears... some drugs(medicins) can induce that condition temporarely, Lyrica, an antiepileptic drug can do that.

 

I have pains in my feet, diabetic polyneuropathy, and was prescribed Lyrica for the pain, after a few weeks i noticed hearing the wall mounted clock ticking so loud that it interfered with my music listening: Linkin Park - LOUD! I could feel the bass vibrating my sofa, and that b***y clock ticking anying me over that loud music....

 

On my old pre amp i have a "hi-filter" button, cuts of frequensis over 7kHz, i remember hearing the difference clearly years ago, i tested that button after the haering test, that test was BS, i thought... I could not tell the difference pressing that button on/off?!

 

So how is it possible that i can clearly hear the differnce between ex. linelevel wires, speakerwires, DAC's etc? In blindtests?

I got a new DAC, and was choosing between audioquestdiamondback and supra eff ppx for the line out to the amp, supra had way more detail, and separation, in the hights and much smoother mids...

 

How could i determine that easely, if i am half deaf? And if had to select one without listening - i would have choosen aq! Why? It has way higher reputation and costs 3 times more - hence it should be better!

 

One thing i have noticed though, is that i prefer headphones more often - it "drowns" out my tinnitus!

 

Earlier today i listened to "Deep Purple - Machine Head", DSD remaster(Japan-SHM) from 2011, via AudioGate4, Korg DAC, Adcom GFP555 pre-amp, in Shure SRH940 headphones and to my surprice i heard the "hum" from Roger Glover's bass tube amp - over the music! I have played that album so many times - never noticed that before?

 

My point is - If you have "trained" ears, HiFi hobby for 35 years, even if your ears fade "on paper", your brain remembers and have become wired to details - and i think it "compensate" for loss of nerve signals from the ears, and that's how "studio-gurus", even half-deaf, still can do genius productions.

 

I know from my experiense, that i automaticly moved more from speaker to headphones, and from analytical sound to warmer sound as my tinnitus and hearing loss progressed - one theory is that you can play louder with a warmer sound....

 

But what do i know? I trust my ears more, than what "HiFi Gurus" says is the "right" gear!

I can't help it: Buy a Power wire for a shitload of money - Geneus idea from the industry, they laugh al the way to the bank...

Say what? What!

[flak]

Our point of view on the subject of this interesting thread:

https://www.dirac.com/dirac-blog/how-to-make-headphones-stereo-compatible

 

Flavio

[dalethorn]

1 hour ago, flak said:

Our point of view on the subject of this interesting thread:

https://www.dirac.com/dirac-blog/how-to-make-headphones-stereo-compatible

 

Flavio

The best thing you can do with headphones is make sure they're tuned for a natural sound, i.e. simple equalization.  The problem with headphones is the same exact problem with speakers - the frequency responses are all over the place, even for premium headphones, and very few (if any) sound natural.

 

After more than 30 years of use and doing 170 reviews, I realize that I never needed to tune headphones for my hearing or for my "preferences" - all I needed was to make them sound the same more-or-less as live music.  If what you hear on headphones sounds about the same as what you hear without the headphones, then you have natural sound.

 

People have been led to believe that headphones require "crossfeed" or some other such channel manipulation, but even if that does help, if you don't get the frequency response balanced to a natural sound first, you'll likely end up unsatisfied.

[pkane2001]

17 minutes ago, dalethorn said:

People have been led to believe that headphones require "crossfeed" or some other such channel manipulation, but even if that does help, if you don't get the frequency response balanced to a natural sound first, you'll likely end up unsatisfied.

 

I recently added headphones to my system and can report that both, cross-feed and equalization are needed.

 

Equalization makes a greater difference for most of the recordings. But, on some material the sound is so much inside my head that I can barely listen to it without cross-feed being engaged. I implemented both using REW and HQPlayer matrix processing and have been enjoying headphones so much now that I rarely switch to speakers.

 

[dalethorn]

5 hours ago, pkane2001 said:

 

I recently added headphones to my system and can report that both, cross-feed and equalization are needed.

 

Equalization makes a greater difference for most of the recordings. But, on some material the sound is so much inside my head that I can barely listen to it without cross-feed being engaged. I implemented both using REW and HQPlayer matrix processing and have been enjoying headphones so much now that I rarely switch to speakers.

 

I've found that with most mono recordings, the sound effect is very much between my ears, but with proper(!) EQ and decent stereo recordings, that doesn't happen.  Again, EQ as I implement it is only to achieve a natural sound, not EQ "for personal taste".

[Speed Racer]

Speakers are the best for me....by a huge margin. I use headphones only if I need to be quiet.

[pkane2001]

1 hour ago, dalethorn said:

I've found that with most mono recordings, the sound effect is very much between my ears, but with proper(!) EQ and decent stereo recordings, that doesn't happen.  Again, EQ as I implement it is only to achieve a natural sound, not EQ "for personal taste".

 

Some of my stereo recording have that 'in the middle of the head' sound, too. But yes, I EQ to a nearly a flat line, with just a bit of a roll-off at higher frequencies. 

[flak]

On 9/10/2017 at 2:22 PM, dalethorn said:

The problem with headphones is the same exact problem with speakers - the frequency responses are all over the place, even for premium headphones, and very few (if any) sound natural.

 

Agreed, headphones should be EQed taking into account their frequency (as well as impulse) response inside the ear but that applies to loudspeakers also (in the listening room of course).

With reference to differences let me quote the linked document:

" The fundamental difference between loudspeaker and headphone playback is that with loudspeakers, the sound from one channel reaches both ears (as you can see in Figure 1a below). Whereas with headphones, we usually just send the left channel to the left ear and the right channel to the right ear for the simple reason that we have two audio channels and two ears"

 

Flavio

[dalethorn]

6 hours ago, flak said:

 

Agreed, headphones should be EQed taking into account their frequency (as well as impulse) response inside the ear but that applies to loudspeakers also (in the listening room of course).

With reference to differences let me quote the linked document:

" The fundamental difference between loudspeaker and headphone playback is that with loudspeakers, the sound from one channel reaches both ears (as you can see in Figure 1a below). Whereas with headphones, we usually just send the left channel to the left ear and the right channel to the right ear for the simple reason that we have two audio channels and two ears"

 

Flavio

I'd suggest that the more important difference is that with speakers, you sit in a chair and relax with your drink and/or cigar, and kick back and imagine you're there in person.  If however you cannot play at realistic sound levels with realistic clarity and immediacy, it may become very boring.  With headphones, you have a device attached to your head that puts very clear audio (assuming an audiophile/neutral response) directly into your ears, which may cause physical discomfort or claustrophobia for many people.  While people may argue about the presentation/image/soundstage, which varies a lot by the recording, you have a distinct advantage and disadvantage compared to speakers.  Disadvantage: Device attached to your head.  Advantage: You can go anywhere, around the house or outside, and the sound is the same.  Advantage #2: Realistic volume levels will never disturb the neighbors.