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Cannot find perfect sound

I've been listening to supposedly some of the finest speakers that currently exist. These include b&w 800 Series, revel high end, vivid audio, Psi audio and kef blades.

None except the kef blades satisfied my high level standards.

When I play my reference tracks on cheap earbuds I hear timing accuracy that is missing on all the above speakers. Only the kef blades came closest to what I hear from cheap earbuds. 

Explanations please?

I really suspect that none of these high end speakers are accurately reproducing the sound on my CDs despite all the marketing claims about accuracy and high quality sound.

What could there possibly be that my cheap earbuds can do that eludes these super high end speakers?  

I'm not so eager anymore to spend any money until I have a good explanation.

kenjit
kenjit OP
101 posts
 
The room acoustics of these hifi stores is horrific. It makes no sense to have a demo room with 500k of equipment and such bad acoustics. The staff don't seem to hear the difference. 

But that doesn't explain what I'm hearing. The room mainly affects the bass. 
What I'm talking about is the midrange.

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Audio stores don’t make any money on tweaks. Besides customers complain they want to hear the “pure sound” of the amp or speakers or whatever. 😛
soix
2,133 posts
 
I think imperfect rooms and/or setup may be undermining what you're hearing, and maybe the Blade's opposing, side-firing woofers may have been helping them couple better to the room.

I have two potential suggestions.  One is to go to a dealer that employs some kind of room/speaker correction technology (i.e. Lyngdorf, etc.) to see if that does it for you.  Lots of folks here are praising what the Lyngdorf integrateds are doing in their systems.  The other thought is -- if you haven't already -- to go listen to some time- and phase-coherent speakers (i.e. Vandersteen) to see if that clicks for you.  Past that, Brit speakers like ATC, Linn, etc. tend to be PRaT focused so they might have something to offer too.  That's all I got.  Best of luck. 
folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,149 posts
 
 The room mainly affects the bass. What I'm talking about is the midrange.


Wrong, wrong, wrong -- actually bass modes in a room are easy to listen through, mid and HF hash is the killer
kenjit OP
101 posts
 
@folkfreak 

Not in my experience. It's the complete opposite. 

Bass is the hardest to fix. Mids are easy to absorb.
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