Twenty-dollar in-ear headphones can outperform costly loudspeakers in fidelity

Evidence

Headphones can offer excellent fidelity and performance for much less cost compared to loudspeakers. For as little as $20 a pair of (well chosen) wired in-ear (IE) headphones can produce a smooth, flat, accurate frequency response across the audio bandwidth up to 110 dB with lower distortion than many loudspeakers costing thousands of dollars. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1686

Categorization

• SHARE: For an audiophile friend who denigrates cheap headphones — this reverses the cost-value slope of the loudspeaker market.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1686