Advantages of headphones over audio:
1: headphones are near-field listening.
Sound waves need air as a medium to propagate. Air has a certain damping coefficient and energy consumption coefficient for sound waves, and the higher the frequency of sound waves, the greater the loss. Therefore, in nature, sound waves with the same energy will always travel a little farther at low frequencies, and will soon decay at high frequencies. Compared with the daily listening distance (usually the speaker is within 5 meters of the ear), this effect is not obvious, but it can still be measured and it is easy to hear the difference. In the process of air propagation, the distance between the earphone diaphragm and the eardrum is very close, so the high-frequency details are not easy to be lost and attenuated, while the high-frequency details of the speaker are easy to be attenuated, lost or even distorted during the propagation. Only in terms of fidelity, headphones are easier to play back high-frequency and transient details, while speakers are more difficult and costly to do so.
2: Headphones are direct sound.
Most of the music and songs you listen to are carefully recorded and post-produced by record companies. In the recording studio and tuning room, most professionals use professional monitor headphones, monitor speakers and professional listening room. Compared with ordinary users, they are generally not extreme enthusiasts or top equipment users, and ordinary users rarely have special listening rooms. After all, the cost of building a room dedicated to listening to music is generally much more expensive than the equipment. Therefore, the listening environment, reverberation coefficient and reverberation frequency band of most users are very unbalanced. The gap is very large, which also causes the subjective hearing sense of the same speaker to be very different in different environments. Earphones are worn directly on your head. Basically, except for personal physical differences. Other environmental impacts are much smaller than listening to speakers. Therefore, headphones listen to direct sound. Everyone can get almost the same sense of hearing with the same type of headphones, which is more convenient for communication and evaluation, and it is not easy to have big errors. At the same time, because there is no environmental interference, the sound purity of headphones is much better than that of speakers, and the sound quality of headphones can be better at the same cost.
3. Headphones are mostly full-frequency diaphragms.
This may be a controversial point of view, but it does not prevent fans from understanding it. As we all know, since the invention of the speaker, it has experienced many times when the box has become the mainstream. So far, the universal crossover speakers and a few full-range speakers have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of sound quality and hearing (this will be discussed later). However, it is not easy to realize the perfect concept of full frequency on speakers, and it is easier to realize it on headphones. Full-range loudspeaker has good sound continuity, less phase distortion and strong sense of music. However, frequency response and dynamics are easily limited by the same diaphragm, so some hard indicators are compromised. Compared with high-power speakers, the diaphragm of headphones can be made very thin because of its low-power near-field listening, so as to get rid of special restrictions as much as possible, restore wider frequency response, and maintain better transient, dynamic and distortion (compared with full-range speakers). This is another advantage of headphones over speakers. It is easier to hear more transparent, complete and overtone-rich sounds on headphones. Thereby bringing higher music enjoyment to users.
4: Earphones are compact and easy to carry around.
Needless to say, you can run around with bulky speakers and headphones, and you have seen friends running around with speakers, but your physical strength is NN times that of headphones = =! Similarly, for starting to change hands, email audition. The advantages of small size and heavy weight of headphones are very prominent.
Disadvantages of headphones relative to audio:
1: sound field
Yes, the sound field, because of its own stereo, the sound field setting of music is almost based on speakers. Not many record companies will produce much "earphone-specific music" for headphones (of course, there are also a few music and some test audio). Compared with the recordings suitable for most speakers, these recordings are easy to play back on headphones, which means that music is singing in the middle of the head, without the sense of space and existence of the speaker system. Faced with this situation, it is one thing to expect record companies to compromise on headphones, and it is also their unremitting efforts for headphone manufacturers to try to put some headphones close to speakers on sound stage.
But from the essence of hi-fi concept, headphones should be more loyal to the original sound and signal, so the head-in effect is difficult to remove. Incorrect sound field is also a natural defect of earphone system, which is difficult to improve and remove.
2. Hearing impairment
Most headphones are closed and worn on the ear to try. Of course, this is to reduce the impact of environmental noise on hearing, and it is also open. This kind of closed listening is easy to cause instantaneous high pressure when the volume is too high, thus damaging the eardrum and auditory nerve. Irreversible hearing loss (loud speakers will have the same consequences, but the predictability and intensity are much better than headphones). Therefore, when using headphones, try not to use too much volume, but listen at a small or medium volume, so that we can enjoy music and try not to damage our hearing. However, although it can be reasonably prevented, it should be marked as a disadvantage as one of the hidden injuries that are prone to occur.
3. Higher requirements for front-end equipment.
Because the resolution, frequency response and transient characteristics of headphones are higher than those of speakers with the same cost. Therefore, it is often necessary to match more accurate and better sound decoding and power amplification systems. The cost of headphones is less than that of speakers, but the cost of decoding and power amplification has gone up again. This shortcoming, not a shortcoming, is also marked as a shortcoming:)
4. Exclusive system, unable to enjoy music.
Listening to headphones is a person's business, and there is no way to enjoy a headset with friends and family. Different from listening to speakers at the same time, headphones are difficult to discuss and share with them in real time in terms of sound quality communication. It belongs to a "selfish" playback system.