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Headphones vs. Speakers pros and cons

  • 14 replies
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Topic Headphones vs. Speakers pros and cons
Browsing around i read a couple of starter threads talking about buying speakers.

While I surely think that speakers are important, for a start it is a difficult thing. Just blowing 1000 bucks on a couple of Tannoys or anything like that doesn't just cut it.

With monitoring, it requires good space to mix. With good acoustics. And for some DIY producers/musicians, that might be a difficult thing.

I pretty much do all recording and producing in my only room, which serves as a bedroom and also as "living room".

For starters I would advice headphones over speakers. At least that's not dependent on spacing, location... and not to forget the nightly hours we might spend on producing while we cannot enjoy or hobby to the fullest volume.

And besides, you'd need a couple of speakers just to compare. So headphone and perhaps use computer speakers, ipod earbuds and perhaps even an old boombox, would suffice for any DIY I think.

Thoughts?
2
I think you should do most of you mixing with good monitors, but also use headphones from time to time to compare. Plus, you'll often hear things with headphones that you might not have noticed with monitors.
3
Headphones may present a few issues. One is you will never get a correct feel for how much bass you have.

Changing the cup pressure on your ears may alter the bass response. So every time you pick up the headphones and slap them on you may mix differently.

You also may have problems getting the right bass since your body cannot feel it, so you may tend to add too much bass trying to get it to the point where you can feel it.

And I am no expert but having more speakers (Woofer, Mid, Tweeter) will create a cleaner frequency image since each speaker is only working in its frequency range.

Where a single headphone transducer is trying to do it all. So it may be at its fullest extension while trying to reproduce a bass drum hit, which will totally clamp or distort the higher frequency information. This compression may cause you to EQ in more highs.

So you may end up with a boomy and brittle sounding mix.
4
Headphones are great for playing around with or if you live with your parents or have a baby sleeping or something.

The final mix however should never be done on either headphones or those small pc speakers.

For best results test in 3 places...

#1 Headphones/PC Speakers
#2 Car
#3 Club or Studio Setup
My Sites: http://free-loops.com http://soundbible.com http://pdsounds.org
5
With headphone you can have your own world.. but it may not really good on ears.. speaker.. it makes your surrounding jam, cool, and relaxing.. but it may disturb people does not type the music you love to hear..

:) :lol: :lol: :lol:
6
You need to use monitors so that you can mix the stereo field properly
7
Headphones are tiring and indeed have no bass to rely on. I've spent many hours for nothing because the bass was terrible at the source.
However full range drivers with no crossover are the best, but they are usually expensive. Fostex make them, and Dowther (or the like). Sometimes you can find good ones on ebay. And the box-design through google.
PC speakers are usually worthless, but it is wise o check the mix in your driving car, that's hopefully where others will listen to your stuff.
Without monitors it's really hard. I know because i'm still saving for monitors... I just use a pair of KEFS for now.
8
I think, you must have good speakers & good headphones. just to know how the music sounds, here and there...
9
You must have good headphones so that you can listen to the sounds. However speakers are also useful so that you can get a feel and hear on how your mix sounds. Each has its own pros and cons but both are useful that it why it is important to invest on good ones.

World Peace.

10
Agreed. Monitors and headphones are two categories you don't want to scrimp on. Also, although it's hard to judge bass on headphones, they're great for checking subtle details in your mix that you might not notice on speakers, as well as for checking stereo placement of mix elements. Generally speaking, it's helpful to listen to your mix on as many systems as you can, including headphones, and to A/B it with well-mixed songs on your studio monitors. By comparing your music to a professionally mixed song in the same style and with similar instrumentation, and trying to match your mix to it, you help negate any acoustical issues in your studio that might be causing you to, say, mix with too much bass.
11
I personaly use headphones to play games and speakers to listen music

Fruity Loops samples

12
I use both and phonitor ( spl ) to simulate the speaker angles and crosstalk.

That way you hear the smallest of details and hear what you whould hear while listening to speakers.

- Angelie

It's not about what you got to use ....    but how you use what you got...

[ Post last edited on 05/03/2015 at 11:45:06 ]

13
Definitely reference on headphones as well as monitors. People often talk about this subject as if it's an either/or situation, but it's really a matter of not just wanting but needing both. There's also a third element that often goes unmentioned which is acoustic treatment. No matter how awesome your monitors are, they will be affected by the acoustics of your room. Not all of us can afford tons of acoustic treatment panels, so we still need killer headphones.
14
The information you shared here is very helpful. Thanks for sharing it here.
I have some confusions about the power they consumes? How i can measure the power given to them?
Also how i can select the jack size of the headphones?
Can i adjust their volume and other feature with some modifications into them from their original condition?

https://www.7pcb.com

[ Post last edited on 08/12/2021 at 15:04:48 ]

15
Quote from StefaGleykin:
The information you shared here is very helpful. Thanks for sharing it here.
I have some confusions about the power they consumes? How i can measure the power given to them?
Also how i can select the jack size of the headphones?
Can i adjust their volume and other feature with some modifications into them from their original condition?


I'm no expert, but I believe you can use a household digital voltmeter, a low output impedance signal generator, and a resistor.

Here's a video on measuring output impedance:



But I don't understand, are you trying to build your own headphones? Because I find it much easier to simply read the specs of commercial studio headphones than to measure it myself :-D

Then, just use an adapter to provide flexibility between using a 1/4" or 1/8" jack.

Do you have headphones for which you can't find the specifications? Or are you building DIY headphones?