not really. headphones range a lot within the frequencies you DO hear.
also, the weight vs outside sound isolation ratio varies with price.
those are all observable and measurable things.
speakers, they also vary on those audible frequencies, but after you are past $150 per speaker you are only dealing with quality after very loud volumes.
over $3000 for a home system? just be honest with yourself and confess you are buying the prettiest furniture that match your decor.
The louder you play, the less you can tell the difference. Bass is probably what you're refering to.
Last time I looked for speakers in the 400$ (each) range , I could still say that some combo was more clear in the mid range or the highs. It's all about what music you use to test it, some recording (great voices mostly) have very very clear mids which you can tell the difference between a set, the best really open up. Others have detail in the highs that are a lot harder to hear on speakers that are weak there. I don't know past what point you cannot tell the difference, but I do know it's not 150$.
True. What often seperates a good speaker from a mediocre one is how it behaves at high volumes. Most speakers made for home use regardless of the price lose composure when cranked high. The main culprit is usually the dome tweeters (a type of hi-frequency driver) that start to compress at high volumes. The solution is to use a compression driver (CD) with a waveguide but mostly for aesthetic reasons, there are virtually no commercial speakers on the market that use CDs.
The alternative is to use public announcement (PA) speakers. Virtually all of them are equipped with CDs, but they are relatively large, and unless you have a dedicated listening/home theater room, they won't really fit a home's decor well.
It's actually very easy to hear different speakers have different quality in prices much higher than $150, even at moderate sound levels. Just go to a store and try it out (especially compare a $150 speaker with a speaker for $1500).
> speakers, they also vary on those audible frequencies, but after you are past $150 per speaker you are only dealing with quality after very loud volumes.
This is simply not true, and you could determine that for yourself easily if you wanted to. There are many, many factors that affect how a loudspeaker sounds besides how loudly it's playing. $150 speakers are much better today than they were say 30 or 40 years ago, but they're still full of design compromises.
I'd say it's actually the other way around : a /very/ good speaker will generally sound good with lots of punch even a very low volume. A low end one will need to be at 50% capacity or something to start to give its best. Obviously the amp & preamp also play a big part here.
Yeah, if you are going to spend money, spend it on the reproduction side. A nice set of speakers will make you feel like you've never heard a song before.
also, the weight vs outside sound isolation ratio varies with price.
those are all observable and measurable things.
speakers, they also vary on those audible frequencies, but after you are past $150 per speaker you are only dealing with quality after very loud volumes.
over $3000 for a home system? just be honest with yourself and confess you are buying the prettiest furniture that match your decor.