I listen to headphones a lot, and proper near field imaging is very different. Most of the time I have the speakers set up on a desk top, similar to the way near field monitors would be set up at a recording desk, but I've tried them out in a room on stands as well. As long as there is sufficient room behind the listening position and to the sides of the speakers, and as long as measures are taken to avoid reflections off of the desktop, the differences between the two set ups are not significant, because the direct sound of the speakers completely overwhelms first reflections. I've even tried damping points of reflection on side walls and the back wall. It makes little difference. Near field, with enough room behind the listener, may be the most effective room treatment of all. But I am listening to the recording, and the speakers, not the room. I like it, but adding the room into the mix has its virtues, especially with dipole and bipole speakers.
Tim
. I agree that low level distortion is the enemy. Most of it, I believe, in otherwise high quality systems, is in poor driver control and passive crossovers (which is sort of redundant). It's also in excessive complexity. Stacks of boxes with redundant resistors, capacitors, power supplies and wires, linked together by more wires, should be considered at odds with audiophile goals...yet it is the standard! Drives me to distraction.
