The Gearhead: Small Speakers That Make You Feel Small - Harbeth P3ESR

There is a closeness and personal involvement with music that headphone audiophiles know very well. It’s what drives them to fine-tune their setups and it’s why, if you ask one, he or she would probably scoff at the idea that headphones are somehow inferior to speakers in the overall audiophile experience.

The perspective is just different. Many times it’s like the difference between looking down at something small and looking up at something large. There’s not just a change of visuals at work. It’s also the change of intention and motivation, and the sense of personal being is altered.

A really remarkable set of headphones can make the listener feel small in a way that few speakers can. When dynamics are captivating, the frequencies are all there and the depth and movement of the instruments in the music are hypnotizing, there’s more of a solemnity or quietness in the mind of the listener outside of what’s happening with the music.

This is not to say that a listening setup with speakers can’t do the “headphones thing.” Many high end designs are more than capable of 3D realism, some with fancy computer-derived shapes like the KEF Blades, which are known for their spooky imaging. The actual culprit behind why that meditative, immersive experience lives mostly in the realm of headphones is the listening distance.

Further away from the speakers, it is possible to experience an impressively wide soundstage, but most of the time it’s not quite the same level of immersion. Every inch of distance your ears get away from the speakers gives more ground to the room, and less to the speakers. Think of a tug-of-war rope, with Team Room on one side and Team Speakers on the other. The closer the middle marker gets to Team Room, the more important the room’s acoustic properties and the bigger need for treatment.

There exists, in my experience, one clear middle step between these two worlds. It involves a closer listening distance than some speakers, but it’s no pair of headphones. I’m talking about Harbeth’s P3ESR XD little wonders, which, in the right situation, can do more of the “headphones thing” than some of the best headphones.

I’ve done serious listening on the Harbeth P3ESRs in both near field and stand-mounted setups, and the 3D hologram type of sound they make has to be experienced to be believed. There’s even a bit extra of that magic at hand within six feet of these speakers that — Covid be damned — make a listener want to close that social distance.

The Harbeth P3ESR XD are simply enthralling when placed upon a desk, isolated and decoupled atop an IsoAcoustics desk stand. Put a smaller REL subwoofer at the feet, give the P3s an amplifier with enough well-crafted watts, and you have quite possibly the finest high end desktop audio setup on the market. Actually listening to the setup tells you where the magic is coming from — in this system the P3ESRs are doing all the work. I’ve heard Magicos connected to Soulution amps, carrying the flag for this type of experience in floor standers, still struggle to achieve what P3s close up can do, and that’s just me being honest. It's that special of an experience.

I have an idea why I’d rather build that setup than reach for the finest headphones. A lot of top-of-the-line headphone designs today are based upon brand new technology. You know this by the marketing - innovations are the pride and joy of nearly every brand. In contrast, the Harbeth P3ESR XD is the ultimate evolution of decades of improvement. The cone and crossover technology in the diminutive mini monitors have stood the test of time. Every single point in their design represents a positive improvement somewhere down the line.

I just think that’s got a lot to do with why the P3 speakers have been able, in my experience, to out-headphone the best headphones I’ve ever heard. Really — the best one’s I’ve listened to are immersive, have incredible extension and detail and come across so high tech and cool. But do they make me stop and gawk? Maybe drool a little? The P3s do that.

If a headphone company can make a pair sound like Harbeth’s P3ESR XD pint-sized wonders, then I could be convinced to tug the rope back to Team Speakers and get on board.

But the P3ESR have been winning the battle against headphones for years and years, and I don’t expect that to change any time soon. Once you hear it, you know what I mean.