Glad I escaped the consumer pit. . .

Submitted by rtv- t3_1210ex3 in headphones

I am staying with a music loving friend and we have spent an evening listening to music on his Bose speaker set up. Soundtouch 300 with sub and 2 tweeters. Cost him close to £1000 apparently. 🤷‍♂️

While it fills the room very well and has a big sound, plenty of rumble, it left me missing the details in so many songs. It was just too bloated and muddy for my taste. He loves it and I have no issues with that. Sound is always subjective and if you like a sound, it's a good sound. Firm believer in that so I intend no hate here. To be clear, he bought it for his TV first but has also set it up for music too.

I've just gone to bed and I'm listening to a set of KZ ZS10 pro through my Fiio KA1 with Wavelet EQ and it blows his set up out of the water for me. At literally less than 10% of the cost all in. There's clarity, crispness, tight responsive bass, engaging sound, the whole package for me and it's just my travel set up. I'm missing my Grado's and AKG's at home!

Long story short, I'm so glad I spent some time to explore different tech, advice, sound profiles etc. It's made me fall in love with music all over again and listening to other set ups makes me realize how far I've come!

If you're still reading, check out Chromology by Thank You Scientist one you're favourite set up. Well worth a listen.

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Comments

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juejueliu t1_jdjt156 wrote

I am not an expert but I always found that it cost much more money to get speakers to sound as good especially in clarity as comparatively cheaper ear or head phones.

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ultra_prescriptivist t1_jdk4cqd wrote

You have to mess around with room treatment and stuff as well.

Besides being cheaper, headphones are a lot less hassle when it comes to achieving optimal sound.

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fuzeebear t1_jdk8cg4 wrote

In my home office my Koss KSC75 sound almost identical to my Pioneer SP-FS52 speakers. I have corner bass traps to the ceiling in front, bass traps on the back wall, and broadband panels on the sides

Take from this what you will LOL

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VisceralVoyage420 t1_jdlhvk6 wrote

That's crazy, my KSC75x sounds like something that came with a tape player in the 80's. They can't hold a candle to my Elac Debut Reference speakers and I have terrible acoustics and zero room treatment. Very rarely even bother listening to the speakers because they sound bad.

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Tiedyeinstein t1_jdkdudo wrote

The problem is you don't get any cross feed with headphones, that's why music mixed on headphones can often end up very muddy on a system. The most reliable and translatable sound will come from near-field or mid-field monitors set up properly in a good room.

It's not even monitors that are that much more expensive than good cans, it literally the cost of setting up a proper space to optimize them.

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VisceralVoyage420 t1_jdlhyo1 wrote

Then just.. add crossfeed? I use the meier crossfeed on Foobar2000.

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Tiedyeinstein t1_jdnbz2m wrote

That essentially just distorts the signal out of each driver to achieve artificial cross feed.

good in, good out. I've honestly never heard of anyone putting fx on their master signal until joining this group. if the track is mixed and mastered properly and your gear works as it should, it shouldn't need bandaged.

This is also why all of the best music is at least mastered on monitors. Headphones are great, but you will always get better sound from monitors.

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wankthisway t1_jdkalt3 wrote

You also have to have a home that's suitable for speakers too. It's a whole nother level of luxury IMO

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ugury3806 t1_jdkowae wrote

Good speakers are really expensive. But at the same time there are bad speakers too at the same price and even higher.

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QueasyFailure t1_jdkrdul wrote

Not only that but how would he feel if he went to his buddies house and they had a great set of headphones but no other audio reproduction? They just going to sit there with headphones ignoring each other? Don't get me wrong, Bose systems are fatiguing as hell. But I'd rather share that with a friend than critically listen to music on a wonderful headset.

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Avatar-san t1_jdkzqq4 wrote

It's all preference really, a speaker with a sub that is half way decent beats any headphone for me as feeling the bass with your whole body and having an actual soundstage are things I can't get with IEM and headphones.

If I didn't care about soundstage or bass and just tonality, IEM are endgame even at lower prices.

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VisceralVoyage420 t1_jdli1x6 wrote

Used SubPac S2 beats any subwoofer setup IMO. The amount of wattage you'd need for a comparable body sensation would leave you deaf. I can have that at 3AM without anyone noticing.

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Avatar-san t1_jdlrqyk wrote

Doesn't address the lack of soundstage, also speakers just sound more natural as they don't need any compensation curve to sound correct. I tried EQing by ear, but no headphone sounds quite as neutral as a speaker can, atleast to me.

The bass produced by subwoofers also sounds better than headphone bass(has better separation from the rest of the music).

This is all just my opinion as with anything relating to preference. More power to you if you enjoy your setup.

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VisceralVoyage420 t1_jdls9wj wrote

I'd love to have a decent sounding speaker setup, but the room geometry and acoustics are terrible, I don't want my living room to look like a recording studio. Plus I doubt my SO would like constant music at body shaking volume. I spend hours every day just melting into my chair.

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Avatar-san t1_jdlsl2a wrote

Understandable, that's why I love headphones. The usability and audio quality are a nice in-between speakers and IEMs.

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ACM3333 t1_jdlsc5k wrote

For some reason most average ppl think Bose is the absolute best audio equipment on the market.

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No_Analysis6187 t1_jdkg0ff wrote

So are cheap headphones or IEMs comparable to entry level speakers, or is it the other way around? I feel like I have found my endgame in portable audio and thinking of getting sonus Faber or Wharfedale.

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[deleted] t1_jdllqp0 wrote

Yeah I totally get it, it's definitely a different experience at home with my nice cans. Although I will say that the stock stereo on my 2008 Honda sounds quite good, imo. So driving to and from work isn't always bad lol.

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