Intro 

Hi guys this is Raghav here from headphone Zone. If you're someone who's juststarting off in your hobby of audiophilia and you're looking at buying your veryfirst headphones to seriously and I mean seriously start listening to music,you'll find that you're first presented with a very obvious choice of whethergoing for a full-sized headphone or an in-ear monitor and there's really no rightanswer for this. Both of them have their own pros and cons and you'll find thatit's one of the things that everyone's got to be asking themselves as they'restarting the hobby. I thought I'd share with you my thoughts on how do youmake your pick and the pros and cons of both, so hopefully depending on whatyou're looking for and what's important to you you'll be able to make thatdecision. 

Headphones vs IEMs

 Now the first thing you should know is that in ear monitors for the price pointthat they're available today at just offer you incredible value for money and thesound quality that you're able to get on an in-ear monitor especially for abudget of 10,000 rupees and below is simply unparalleled. I don't think any fullsized headphone can match the sound quality of an in-ear monitor for less than10,000 rupees. So if you're on a budget I will almost always insist that you gowith in ear monitor. Simply put, because the value for money you're going toget as you're starting off in the hobby is just incredible. At higher price pointsmaybe 15,000 rupees, 20,000 rupees and above, you'll find that full-sizedheadphones starts sounding really really really good and at that segment you'llfind that there are a lot of full-size headphones that sound absolutely amazingbut that's another subject and we'll talk about those in a different video. Fullsized headphones can give you a much wider, immersive sounding experiencethat's definitely an advantage over an in-ear monitor. You'll find that it has an airy and a certain width and allows you to visualise music with a lot moreSoundstage than in ear monitor can but the problem is that a lot of us tend touse closed back full-sized headphones and close back headphones can soundvery narrow, very boxy and just take away that airiness and immersiveness thatwe want on a full-size headphone. So I almost always recommend that you tryand go for an open back headphone. The problems of the open backheadphones are very very simple while it does give you that soundstage, thatsense of lifelike airiness, you have to listen to these in a quiet environment athome where you're not disturbing anyone and the reason is very simple andopen back headphone leaks sound and at the same time doesn't block yourears out so you can hear the noise that's around you. The advantages of courseoutweigh the disadvantages when it comes to sound quality. So if you'resomeone who likes to listen to music at home a full-size open back headphoneis the way to go. If you're someone who's listening to music on the move, in thetrain while traveling, in the plane, in the back seat of a car on the bus, at work,then you must always go with a close back headphone or even better and in earmonitor. I tend to find that in ear monitor sounds perfect for when you're on themove, it's compact enough, portable enough that you can put into your pocketand it sounds great wherever you listen to them. It doesn't need you to be in aquiet room specifically, the privacy, the isolation that you get on an IEM is justfabulous. Now some of you may also wonder do you need an expensive DACand Amp to go along with a headphone or an IEM? Now this is of course a muchlonger subject but what I will tell you is that most in-ear monitors are relativelyeasy to drive so even a portable pocket size dongle DAC is more than sufficientto drive the best of in-ear monitors which are out there in the market but withmost full-sized open back headphones you want to get yourself a powerful DACand Amp which can be bulky and can sometimes even be expensive. Sokeeping all those considerations in mind, I think you'll have a very clearunderstanding of whether an IEM is better suited for you or a full sizedheadphone. I love them both. When I'm here in our experience studio and I'msitting quietly by myself I will always pick up a full-size headphone but when I'mon the move traveling or just going for my morning walk I will always go with anin-ear monitor and this sounds fantastic.