# Headphones vs Speakers for different genres



## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

I would like to hear others thoughts on whether you prefer speakers or headphones for different types of Classical. For this discussion lets make it three genres 1) orchestral 2) chamber 3) instrumental (Talk to me)


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## 59540 (May 16, 2021)

Orchestral: speakers, usually. Chamber and instrumental: some Sony noise-cancelling headphones. Sometimes. Sometimes it's just whatever I have at the moment. I'm not exactly a hard-core audiophile.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Generally speaking, I prefer headphones. I like the immediacy and closeness of the sound. With a good set of cans and a fine amplifier to drive them, I can listen for hours on end without fatigue.

But...there are times when speakers are best: LPs. The noise, crackle, pops and ticks are extremely annoying with phones. 

Organ music is best served with speakers, especially with a subwoofer. Blockbuster SACD recordings, too. Like Pines of Rome, The Planets, Rite of Spring - you'll ruin you ears with headphones, and a good surround sound system can be hair raising.

I also use speakers when I put background music on in the morning. That's usually chamber music or light British music.

Some other stuff though that is strictly headphone: most atonal, serial, weird stuff. No one else in the house wants to hear Wozzeck or Ligeti - so I don't torture them,


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Headphones for all three. If you've got good cans, they can portray the special aspects of each genre (massive sound for orchestra, room resonance for chamber, inner voice for instrumental).

I find that listening over speakers puts me in a different place as a listener. Headphones are more intimate and place me in the music, speakers give me more of a feeling of being in the audience somewhere near the back.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

https://www.talkclassical.com/hi-fi/

Here are more subjects like this, for your information .


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

The sole purpose of headphones is etiquette. Speakers are usually much higher quality because they cover more area and pitch sensations. You can feel the music like Beethoven did, through the bones.

Edit: but of course you'd like the speakers to be nearest you, find a suitable brand. Both headphones and speakers are great.


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## Bruckner Anton (Mar 10, 2016)

My preference in general (regardless music genres): speakers > headphones; HiFi headphones > noise cancelling headphones; over-ear > in-ear. 
The answer really depends on what you want from the equipment. For me, I want the reproduced sound to be as close to the original performed sound as possible (no matter the type of music played) and to be heard in a quite room. Speakers generally make much more realistic soundstage and bass sound than headphones (due to the mechanism and the larger transducers). Noise cacelling headphones actively produce sounds that do not exist in the original recording which is a bad thing for me. Ear buds generally have worse sonic compared with over-ear headphones, especially for large orchestral music.
The problem with good speakers is that a high-quality neutral-sound speaker requires significantly more investment than headphones and is not friendly to neighbors. So, a more economic solution might be a good hifi headphone.
The problem with hifi headphones is that they are usually not very portable and friendly for traveling and they usually do not isolate sounds (closed-back headphones generally have smaller unnatural soundstage than open-back). So, if you want music during travel, a better choice could be a noise cancelling wireless headphone/earbud.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Headphones for string quartets. Speakers for just about everything else.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

My primary headphone is the Sennheiser HD600. If a disc is too harsh or trebly I substitute with the older, "lesser" model the HD545 Reference, which tends to soften the sound a bit. Both are good phones. I run them through a Little Dot tubed preamp and then into my tubed JoLida amplifier.

One of the things I've attempted to do is to tweak my system, largely vacuum tube based, to allow the speakers (French made Triangle Antals) to sound similar to the headphones, to generally match the sound, so that if I am listening to the headphones and take them off while the speakers are also on there is little change in the overall sound. And it's a pretty good sound, no matter the music, though I suspect acoustic instruments sound more real than highly amplified ones.

90% of my listening is done via speakers, but on those occasions when I utilize the Sennheisers I'm pleased the sound doesn't surprise me too much over what I get from the speakers. Of course there are issues of sound stage presence and positioning of musicians, etc. etc., which headphones alter somewhat over the open speaker sound, but I can't say, at least in reference to my current system, that I prefer one over the other. Though it's always somewhat more comfortable to listen to music via speakers than with headphones, even comfort serving models like the Sennheisers.


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## juliante (Jun 7, 2013)

Speakers for everything - but i have to be sitting in the sweet spot, directly in the middle of the two speakers and at the right distance away.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I am _always_ doing something else while listening (even if it's just reading a book, so I don't like/can't be tethered to a source. Headphones are cool, but nor practical for me.


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Bruckner Anton said:


> My preference in general (regardless music genres): speakers > headphones; HiFi headphones > noise cancelling headphones; over-ear > in-ear.


100% spot-on in my case.

But (there's always "but" hiding in the details) it really depends on many other factors.

Speakers PROS: soundstage, more comfortably sounding at medium to high volumes.
Speaker CONS: not so good in most quiet passages unless you have a truly $$$$$$ Hi-End system with dual tube amps and some impressive high sensitivity loudspeakers. The room geometry and size severely limit the soundstage and the bass frequencies that you can experience (never rule the listening room out of equation!) Also, your better half and your neighbours tend to hate your speakers no matter what 

Headphones PROS: only you & your music; the bass extension of good headphones is probably much more satisfying than that of your speakers + your room combined.
Headphones CONS: you can easily damage your hearing if not careful, soundstage is meh, your ears are uncomfortable even if your better half is.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

The reason concert and recital halls are built the way they are is because music is meant to be heard in space, not confinement. This is also the reason 5.1, SACD, SH-M and related recordings have become popular: they better translate musical signals into space. Headphones defeat this.

Headphones are OK as a substitute when necessary but they change music by restricting its audial movement in space. Space adds dimension to music that transcends reverb.


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

larold said:


> This is also the reason 5.1, SACD, SH-M and related recordings have become popular: they better translate musical signals into space. Headphones defeat this.


they.... aren't, though. 5.1 never really caught on for mainstream use the way 2.0/2.1 did (there's a reason so many of the big name companies are concentrating on bookshelf/floorstanding setups these days, frequently powered ones), and SACD is the opposite of popular- just try to find a SACD player that isn't priced at niche audiophile values.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

Speakers, speakers, speakers, no matter what the genre is.

With very few exceptions, headphones create an image and soundstage inside my head. That is not what music sounds like in a live venue.

With my system, whether I listen to chamber, orchestral classical music (or other nonclassical genres) the musicians are all reproduced in a natural soundstage in front of me, beyond the outer edges of of my speakers, and with depth seemingly stretching back to rear of the stage. The violin, cello, bass, horn, woodwind and percussions sections are all reproduced in their correct position in space. When the orchestral percussionist strikes an instrument, it sounds as if it is coming from well beyond the wall behind the speakers.

With the majority of the recordings in my collection, I am transported to the venue where it was recorded, where I can close my eyes, and 'see' individual musicians in 3d space within a soundstage laid out in front of me.

Then there is the matter of visceral impact, and bass preproduction. With headphones, the visceral impact, for me, is almost nonexistent. Listening to music, is more than what enters ones ears, the feeling of the music interacting with ones body is also part of the emotional experience. I want to feel the bass section, or the bass drum, not just hear it in my head.

With all that being said, I do own a pair of world class Grado GD2000e headphones and a good headphone amp, which I use when I don't want to disturb others, but as good as it sounds, it is not a replacement for my speakers and the rest of my system.


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## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

Rogerx said:


> https://www.talkclassical.com/hi-fi/
> 
> Here are more subjects like this, for your information .


Thanks for the link. they are talking more about speakers vs headphones for Classical in general. My question was more headphones for orchestral, speakers for piano , headphones for chamber etc.


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## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

Interesting responses so far. Especially for those that mentioned different types like in my question  All are appreciated however.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Bruckner Anton said:


> headphones; HiFi headphones >


Can you articulate the delineation between these?


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

eljr said:


> Can you articulate the delineation between these?


I'm pretty sure the original quote went:

speakers > headphones;
HiFi headphones > noise cancelling headphones;
over-ear > in-ear.

in order of more preferable > less preferable


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

mbhaub said:


> Generally speaking, I prefer headphones. I like the immediacy and closeness of the sound. With a good set of cans and a fine amplifier to drive them, I can listen for hours on end without fatigue.
> 
> But...there are times when speakers are best: LPs. The noise, crackle, pops and ticks are extremely annoying with phones.
> 
> ...


Pines of Rome in particular demands a surround system. In the final march, when additional brass instruments are up in the balconies just behind the conductor, you want that coming out of the rear channels.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Simon Moon said:


> With very few exceptions, headphones create an image and soundstage inside my head. That is not what music sounds like in a live venue.


Yeah, isn't that funny. I can think of NO situation where live music is heard inside your head, yet we pretty readily accept headphones' imaging. The closest I can think of is mastering in a recording studio, where you sit between two monitors and study the mix with utmost attention. That's essentially headphones-outside-your-head. And it's unnatural too.


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