My preferred mode of listening to music has always been source --> amp --> speakers + subwoofer. Mostly it is satisfying as you get a good soundstange with pin-point accuracy of instruments and singers. There are two issues with this method
1. Comfort - You have to sit at the MLP. Change in the setting position and the head movement changes the image center and this somehow unnerves me. I have tried various methods, sofas, recliners, bed, etc. What I have settled is a zero gravity chair. But even then, this gets tiring after few hours. Probably it is age related, but nothing feels comfortable than lying down flat and have the abililty to shift your body as you like. But changing the body position changes the center image and hence the satisfaction of listening to some sublimely mastered music becomes less
2. Headphones - The biggest advantage of headphone is that it takes the room out of the equation. The biggest disadvantage of headphone is the soundstage. The entire soundstage comes from the vicinity of your head and that seems unnatural and it takes a big hit on listening pleasure. The second disadvantage of the headphones is the feeling that you have something alien on your head. The third big disadvantage of headphones is you don't get chest thumping bass. I haven't tried the planars, but have varouis headphones - ATH-M50x, ATH-M30x, AKG-K701, Sen HD650, HD600, HD800S. Eatich of these headphones have a different frequency response (except that HD600 and HD650 sound almost the same to me). After many years of listening I have finally settled on ATH-M30x as it is very lightweight and after some time I even forget that the headphone is on my head. ATH-M50x stands a close second. The senheisers are heavy and they make sure that you feell that you have something on your head. Additionally have tried varous headphone amps and finally settled on Toppings L30 and the excellent O2 Headphone Amp running on batteries. I also wrote about this discomfort with my headphones here.
So I have been thinking about how to marry these two for extended music listening (like 4-6 hours). It just so happened that I was listening to music through headphone and I turned on the main amp. The experience was surreal. I get the advantage of extremely wide soundstage and also depth using DSP using a Yamaha AVR as a sound processor and the advantage of lying down, changing your body position as you like. Now it is more than a month and I don't think that I'm ever going back to listening using just the speakers or just the headpones. The only setting that I have to do is setting precisely the volume on the headphone amp and avoid overpowering your years with the sound from the headphone. Try this method. Is anybody out there listening to music using both headphones and speakers simultaneously? Google search reveals that this is probably the worst thing to try because issues like phase, etc, but for me this is a wonderful discovery and a life changing incident.
EDIT: It seems that I'm not an idiot for trying this. There are many others
1, https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lis...-dramatically-improved-the-soundstage.924440/
2. https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/speakers-and-headphones-simultaneously.18654466/
3.
1. Comfort - You have to sit at the MLP. Change in the setting position and the head movement changes the image center and this somehow unnerves me. I have tried various methods, sofas, recliners, bed, etc. What I have settled is a zero gravity chair. But even then, this gets tiring after few hours. Probably it is age related, but nothing feels comfortable than lying down flat and have the abililty to shift your body as you like. But changing the body position changes the center image and hence the satisfaction of listening to some sublimely mastered music becomes less
2. Headphones - The biggest advantage of headphone is that it takes the room out of the equation. The biggest disadvantage of headphone is the soundstage. The entire soundstage comes from the vicinity of your head and that seems unnatural and it takes a big hit on listening pleasure. The second disadvantage of the headphones is the feeling that you have something alien on your head. The third big disadvantage of headphones is you don't get chest thumping bass. I haven't tried the planars, but have varouis headphones - ATH-M50x, ATH-M30x, AKG-K701, Sen HD650, HD600, HD800S. Eatich of these headphones have a different frequency response (except that HD600 and HD650 sound almost the same to me). After many years of listening I have finally settled on ATH-M30x as it is very lightweight and after some time I even forget that the headphone is on my head. ATH-M50x stands a close second. The senheisers are heavy and they make sure that you feell that you have something on your head. Additionally have tried varous headphone amps and finally settled on Toppings L30 and the excellent O2 Headphone Amp running on batteries. I also wrote about this discomfort with my headphones here.
So I have been thinking about how to marry these two for extended music listening (like 4-6 hours). It just so happened that I was listening to music through headphone and I turned on the main amp. The experience was surreal. I get the advantage of extremely wide soundstage and also depth using DSP using a Yamaha AVR as a sound processor and the advantage of lying down, changing your body position as you like. Now it is more than a month and I don't think that I'm ever going back to listening using just the speakers or just the headpones. The only setting that I have to do is setting precisely the volume on the headphone amp and avoid overpowering your years with the sound from the headphone. Try this method. Is anybody out there listening to music using both headphones and speakers simultaneously? Google search reveals that this is probably the worst thing to try because issues like phase, etc, but for me this is a wonderful discovery and a life changing incident.
EDIT: It seems that I'm not an idiot for trying this. There are many others
1, https://www.head-fi.org/threads/lis...-dramatically-improved-the-soundstage.924440/
2. https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/speakers-and-headphones-simultaneously.18654466/
3.
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