Let's first get one thing clear: Headphones offer the absolute best quality sound you can have with commercial equipment. Nothing rivals headphones when comparing speakers and headphones of equal price, even with the most expensive equipment available.
They offer the most precise, fast and homogeneous sound.
Headphones have three limitations though.
1: Most recordings are made with speakers in mind, so the imaging is going to sound somewhat off with headphones.
2: They cannot reproduce very low bass nodes that are felt by the body and the inner ear.
3: You have to wear them and, unless you decide to go wireless have to have cable connecting you with the source.
This can be addressed though:
1. Can be addressed by either making recordings that are made with artificial ears (two mics put inside a foam head with average ears). Or (and this is the best way) you can send the sound through electronic filters that are custom tailored to your own ears.
We only have two ears. All we need to have full 3d sound is two transducers, and if you want to do immersion head tracking to adjust the sound to where your head is in the sound-field.
2. This is not a serious limitation as such sounds are relatively uncommon. But if desired you could add a deep end sub woofer (20Hz and down) or a "rumble chair".
3. Small wireless headphones are not yet of very good quality, but that is going to change in a few years. Until then for "sitting down" applications good supraural (around the ear) headphones with a long cable is very comfortable.
They offer the most precise, fast and homogeneous sound.
Headphones have three limitations though.
1: Most recordings are made with speakers in mind, so the imaging is going to sound somewhat off with headphones.
2: They cannot reproduce very low bass nodes that are felt by the body and the inner ear.
3: You have to wear them and, unless you decide to go wireless have to have cable connecting you with the source.
This can be addressed though:
1. Can be addressed by either making recordings that are made with artificial ears (two mics put inside a foam head with average ears). Or (and this is the best way) you can send the sound through electronic filters that are custom tailored to your own ears.
We only have two ears. All we need to have full 3d sound is two transducers, and if you want to do immersion head tracking to adjust the sound to where your head is in the sound-field.
2. This is not a serious limitation as such sounds are relatively uncommon. But if desired you could add a deep end sub woofer (20Hz and down) or a "rumble chair".
3. Small wireless headphones are not yet of very good quality, but that is going to change in a few years. Until then for "sitting down" applications good supraural (around the ear) headphones with a long cable is very comfortable.