Fahnsen:
jaxwired:headphones always sound a little unreal to me. Don't get me wrong, the sound is incredible, but the sound stage and depth aren't right with headphones. There's something more earthy and physical about music from a full hifi that headphones don't provide IMO.
Unlike any speakers this side of a years' salary, a pair of good headphones offers the full range of audible frequencies, at hardly no distortion. (As most people seems to like distortion, some prefer to add it with a valve amp though.)
What speakers don't offer is a true stereo perspective (unless you listen to an artificial head recording that is).
As for the physical punch of a live concert, no speakers I've ever heard really offer this -- though some goes a long way in simulating.
So true, it's another good reason for taking up playing rather than just listening to music. Most people are stunned by how loud a moderately played drum kit sounds like in the flesh. nothing like any hi fi system I have heard for sure, but then modern recording techniques are probably responsible for a lot of that. I use a virtual studio / mixing desk on my PC and it is easier to create articial stereo and depth than capture the real thing.