I love planar magnetic headphones. Not as a replacement for loudspeakers—far from it—but as tools. They’ve become essential to my work in the studio, especially when I need to zoom in and hear exactly what’s happening in a mix.
The Audeze I use are about as close to surgical instruments as headphones get. They’re not there to impress me with bass slam or exaggerated sparkle. They’re there to tell the truth. When I’m editing a master, making decisions about mic placement or EQ, or catching tiny problems that might slip past in a normal room, these headphones are what I reach for.
Why planar? Same reason I gravitate toward planar speakers in my listening room: low mass, high speed, and clarity. There’s an immediacy to the way these diaphragms move that’s just not possible with traditional dynamic drivers. You hear transients right away—no blurring, no lag, no softening of the edges. Piano attacks, vocal phrasing, room decay… it’s all there. And when you’re working with great musicians, those little details matter. They’re the soul of the performance.
Headphones—even the best planar ones—aren’t a substitute for a real two-channel system. They don’t move air the way speakers do. They don’t give you that same visceral connection, the pressure of a kick drum in your chest or the size of a hall opening up in front of you. You don’t feel music through your body with headphones. You hear it in your head.
And that’s the dividing line for me.
Speakers—especially full-range ones in a properly set up room—give you the illusion of being in the space with the musicians. When they disappear, and the soundstage blossoms between and behind them, that’s the magic we’re chasing. That sense of being transported. You don’t get that with headphones. There’s no soundstage in front of you. Everything’s inside your skull. You might get some sense of depth and imaging, but it’s not the same.
Still, when it comes to nearfield accuracy, planar headphones have earned their place. In fact, I think of them as my nearfields. They let me bypass the room, bypass the monitors, and go straight to the heart of the sound. When I need to know exactly what’s happening in the mix, they don’t lie.
But when it’s time to feel the music—not just analyze it—I always go back to the big rig. Because as good as these headphones are, they don’t replace the experience of sitting between a great pair of loudspeakers, closing your eyes, and hearing the air around the musicians.
Headphones give you precision. Speakers give you life. And over the long term, I need both.
