Studio monitors Vs Audiophile speakers

The biggest difference is that audiophiles will buy anything with sufficient promotion. Music producers and engineers are way more discriminating, even cynical, in their buying choices. We have the opportunity to put to test a lot of choices without buying and make our decisions based on cold, calculating metrics. I don’t know anyone who chooses a $10k pair of monitors due to its appearance or advertising.

As a recording engineer the answer is simple: they are designed for different purposes. Studio monitors have much more “resolution” and separation in how they present both dynamics and frequencies to pin point problem areas in a mix / master, whereas hi-fi speakers “sweeten” the sound by actually only having resolving power in specific frequency areas and not the whole range. The “problem” with studio monitors for audiophiles is that they will tell you if a mix your listening to sounds bad, but hi-fi speakers mask the trouble spots in an attempt to make everything sound good.

I've always been a music enthusiast, but had always used monitors (because I was told it was the best sound possible). I became an audiophile the day I listened to a set of Martin Logans...thats when I heard the soul of the music for the first time and my journey began. Man I live for those "firsts".

As a musician I typically get premaster mixes as uncompressed files. The guys in the band will play them through anything they have from home systems to car radios to stage monitors to headphones, we send our feedback and suggestions to the engineer to mix accordingly. In the end it is always a compromise and we are all listening for something different (biased by our instruments and expectations). That is, we take into account the systems most people will listen to as most music isn’t focused on one application and all recorded music was created for convenience versus a virtual experience. An aside: the studio is like an extra member of the band and can color the whole sound and influence the band just as much as any other member or manager or producer can. With that, the bottom line on monitors or amps or eq’s is, if you like the sound you get then that’s the one for you … the same goes for instruments

For me it sounds like people in studios want to hear reality and audiophiles want to hear something different - even when they claim they want it as accurate as possible. P.S. I like good reproduced music but I wouldn't call myself an audiophile.

Thanks for this interesting topic. But sadly, we didn't learned much appart they are different. Of course they are... hence the different naming 🤪 We couldn't have guessed this one on our own 😋 Would have liked to hear about: Monitor → Neutral 🆚 Speaker → Sound Signature Acoustically treated studio 🆚 Not acoustically treated listening room (which speakers have to accommodate/deal with)

I love studio monitors for hi-fi listening, although it's not for everyone but I really like the anylitical sound. Adam Audio A8H and my own DIY bookshelf speakers are all I'll ever need.

Great video sir. There is much truth in what you stated. I have been a studio musician and performer for many years and have been in many different studio environments. I prefer studio monitors for music production, mixing, mastering and just listening for the love of music. It really comes down to getting use to what you have in your environment and how your speakers translate the songs you really know and love. I recently purchased a pair of Focal Alpha 80s for near and mid field monitoring. For me they work for all my needs. They are studio monitors that are very musical, but also revealing. Like any speaker, they must be set up in your room properly to get the best sound. 👌

I have experienced, that some audiophiles are choosing speakers which they experience gives the maximum musical joy even it's not natural for their money, where others choose the same goal, but that imply the most natural and un-coloured sound. I believe a competent sound engineer are aiming for the latter as well. So, if you have most joy of istening to music at your home that has the most natural sound, to hear as many details as possible, then you will probably end up with a studio monitor speaker.

If me as a producer made a track with a drum set that does not sound like it had “life” and your system made it sound like it did, then your system is simulating something that was not supposed to be there in the first place. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Budget powered studio monitors are amazing if money is tight. The detail is incredible even on some sub $100/pair sets.

Thank you so much. You answered the question that was always on my mind.

Maybe a good analogy would be controls on modern TVs: contrast / color / vibrancy / motion smoothing, etc. You can watch a movie that's been recorded to look a certain way, and apply tweaks to make its color saturated, contrast boosted, super smooth motion. It looks nice, if that's what you like. For me I prefer to watch the truest representation of what the producer created - hopefully it was their artistic choice to make it look that way. Similarly I like to listen to music like I watch movies, on an accurate monitor setup without boosting frequencies / added compression, so I hear exactly what the producer created. Not to say someone else's preference is invalid!

Maybe a personal thing. I really like the driest, least coloured sound I can get. That said, in a live music environment, certain colourations sound good. I like a speaker that slightly emphasises the 12-16kHz range. Also, given the distance the sound has to travel, I favour horn loaded designs.

Studio monitors are designed so the mixing and mastering engineers can hear how to properly balance a recording so it sounds great on ALL systems.

For me, Studio monitors+studio sub any day for listening to any material. The fidelity they provide is unparalleled. Maybe it's my critical brain at work.

In the past many hi-fi speakers were studio monitors in furniture cabinets, particularly from Altec and JBL, EV too.

I have listened to many hi-end speakers/systems in my 60+ years and I now prefer my Adam A7X monitors over most of them. Listening nearfield I feel I can hear individual instruments and placement more accurately and most importantly I think that nearfield listening takes the "room" acoustics out of the equation somewhat...so if you can't dedicate a room to full treatments, design, etc. a nearfield monitor listening experience is midway between headphones and "normal" speaker listening, but better than even great speakers in a poor acoustic environment.

Great explanation! Thank you for this

The actual real difference between "Hi Fi" (or audiophile if you want to peddle in buzzwords) speakers and Monitors are difference is about the near-field. Monitors are specifically designed to be listened to about 4 feet away and Hi Fi are about the longer field, Ie sitting in a loungeroom listening to records. This is important, because different frequencies travel at different speeds and this affects phase. So a monitor is designed to focus those frequencies so they are precisely in phase between 3-8 feet (depending on the monitors there are monitors with a mid-field and even far-field but these are super expensive and designed to mount on walls in large control rooms, the big studios often have multiple monitor systems the engineer can switch between on preference) which is the distance a recording engineer is sitting at from the monitors. But outside of that range the sound goes out of phase and starts sounding muddy and 'messy'. Hi-Fi/Audiophile speakers are designed to fill a room with sound with an EQ curve intended to take what the mastering engineer has put together and render it as pleasantly as possible. Essentially;- Dont buy monitor speakers for your loungeroom, and don't buy Hi-Fi speakers for your studio. They are intended for different things.