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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
 
I have the PMC TB2. Different model to your floorstanders.

But based on my experience with these I'm not inclined to try any other models. I think they all suffer the same issues. 

Thats partly what hifi is about. Different people like different coloration hence there are hundreds of options out there.

I can't live with any kind of coloration. Thats the problem. 
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
691 posts
 
I’d recommend a hearing test before any more time spent on this topic. 
glupson
1,794 posts
 
Room surely has a lot to do with your problem.

Otherwise, earbuds are getting better very fast. If for no other reason, then because of market forces. People proudly listen to their 20-year-old speakers and they may sound as good as any today. How many people listen to their 20-year-old earbuds and can say the same? Even Apple earphones have improved a lot over the last ten years. That does not give any technical explanation, except that earbud manufacturers caught up.

Also, don't forget that taste changes. The sound you may think you want may not be the sound you really like. It happened to me.
tatyana69
113 posts
 
Earbuds vary a bit. You can get the ones for babies which are excluding vat so are cheaper. They have I believe the same cotton bud on them as the others, so are suitable for cleaning ears gently. Once I did lose the cotton bit in my ear and had to get a doctor to extract. My hearing, until extraction, was I suppose of less quality than usual. Maybe lost a bit of midrange. There is possibly a tip there - if your system has too much midrange, just lose a cotton earbud down your ears. Cost would only be a few pence, if that. Also, if room correction is an issue, just try one earbud at a time.
phd
1,008 posts
 
How would you wake up one morning and find out that the person you relied upon to evalulate speakers/components for several years turned out to have a severe hearing loss all along. It happens, but in spite of that she agreed with me on each evaluation which in turn made the final decision to buy my own!

I think it's important to try before you buy especially with very expensive speakers. When you buy expensive speakers, using the finest components you are agreeing with the designer that his idea of what sounds good is yours as well. Doesn't it kill you inside when you go to another audiophiles house for a listen and his system costs half as much but sounds every bit as good as yours. Lesson learned!
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