Speakers or Headphones?

There are essentially three ways to listen to music. You can listen to it live, with speakers, or with headphones. Of course live is the best choice, although a lot of music is produced with a computer and/or a synthesizer, and so there really is no live option. But which is better, speakers or headphones? Many people prefer one over the other, for various reasons. Both speakers and headphones have advantages and disadvantages. These aspects change if one is for example playing a game, as direction and distance is easier to gauge through headphones than through speakers. Therefore, only advantages and disadvantages when concerning music are considered here.

Headphone advantages:

• Keep the sound to yourself
• Block out some of the outside sound
• Much higher quality for the same price ($20 headphones sound much better than $20 speakers)

Speaker advantages:

• Share the sound with others
• You don't need to wear something on your head
• With a subwoofer, you feel the music as well as hear it

It is the second and third points of headphones that really cause me to choose speakers over headphones. Unless you are in a situation where headphones are the only reasonable option, such as on an airplane or when your passive-aggressive roommate is whining like a six-year-old, I can't think of a reason that anyone would want to have to wear something over their ears when there is an alternative solution. I really love listening to music with the subwoofer turned all the way up, as you can truly feel the music and it seems as though you have become one with its sound. It is true that if you have those weakling earbuds, such as the ones that come with iPods, you can give one to one other person and therefore share the music, but this is neither practical nor ideal. You each only get one channel, either left or right, and it is not very comfortable. Overall, I would choose speakers every time.