How do you listen to your music at home?

nesf

Do you use a HiFi or a computer? What kind/brand of speakers do you use? If you use headphones what kind do you use?

I'm curious to see what kind of audio set up people have. It strikes me as very odd that I meet occasionally people who have spent a lot of money on music but who listen to it using standard PC speakers or "gaming" headphones. Or the people who have excellent setups to listen to mp3s recorded at less than 160kbs.


I use a PC with an Audigy 2 ZS, Creative Inspire T2900 (Sub, 2 monitors, amplifier), and Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones. CDs are imported and stored as 320Kb/s mp3s.

I use the headphones a lot, mainly because the walls in this flat are too thin to use the speakers late at night. I have closed headphones to minimise the noise. When I can't sleep they come in very useful, I can listen to music at a good volume and not wake my gf who's sleeping in the bed beside the PC. So spending money on a good pair made sense.

I would like better speakers but atm it's low on my list of priorities. I'd prefer to upgrade straight to a very good set rather than doing it in stages up. The present set up is good enough to satisfy me.

Any recommendations on kit though would be greatly appreciated

mp3guy

PC with some nice altec lansing speakers
and 120w subwoofer.

Music stored at 192kbps mp3, VIA 8237 onboard sound.

Makaveli

PC with Soundblaster Live! card because stupid non-standard Dell pc wont take my Audigy card. Harmon Kardon speakers, 2.1 setup.
MP3s ripped at 192kbps, sometimes plug in my headphones Sennheiser PX100s.

cormie

I have a pair of Shure E4 earphones worth $300 and a set of speakers in my room worth €30!! It doesn't make sense. I listen to music so much. The reason I only have speakers worth €30 is because I've been meaning to save up for a kick ass set but have had to spend money on less important things. I plan on spending big bucks on a nice set of speakers some day. I'm going to buy a detached house simply for the reason of having no nagging neighbours. Yep... If only I had money :rolleyes:

I encode my CD's at Lame VBR MP3 and listen through an iRiver H140. I listen with my speakers 99.99999% of the time over headphones.

rainbow kirby

Usually listen through iPod Mini with Sony Bass Boost headphones when I'm on the go... and through my iBook or Xbox at home.

TerrorFirmer

I listen to maybe ten minutes a day but...I always use my pc, 5.1 speakers, great sound off them

monkeyfudge

I keep all my music on my Powerbook and use a set of Harmon Kardon Soundsticks with it.

Makaveli

MobileInfantry wrote:

I always use my pc, 5.1 speakers, great sound off them

This is something I've never really gotten. Music is stereo, it comes from 2 channels what is the point in playing it in 5.1? Surely it would lead to distract more than to enhance?

Civilian_Target

Computer setup's a Videologic Sonicfury with Videologic ZXR-500 speaker system (5.1) - its getting a bit weary now, I can hear the beginnings of distortion, but its served me well since 2001.
Most of the listening I do nowadays is though my Rio Karma, either connected with red&white to the hifi or to me ears with some nice Sennheiser earphones.

And when I rip CDs, I rip them to Ogg Vorbis, because it's just better

Civilian_Target

Oh, and I just thought I'd mention - more important than the quality of the codec (a lot of the time, anyway) is the quality of the ripper, and you can't beat Exact Audio Copy ( http://www.exactaudiocopy.de ) with a big stick!

John

I don't use a PC, sound is **** through laptop speakers. If I'm downstairs in the house I use the DVD player and if I'm in the mood for a proper listening session (which is frequently) I head up to my room and turn on my nice big stereo (Sony DHC-MDX10) which I bought using the money I earned from my first proper summer job last century. It's very loud and crystal clear sound. I've a Sony turntable but I can't remember the model number.

Sarky

Generally on my PC, 5.1 speakers, through an Audigy 2, played by Winamp. A lot of my music was transferred from an old PC because the original discs are either lost or too scratched to record again, so about half of it is recorded at 96Kb (or is it 92? Can't remember...), but the more recent tracks are at double that . I must admit, I can't see much difference anyway. Sounds great that way, and volume can go way higher than I'll ever need.

If it's late or I otherwise cant play it that way, I'll stick a cd in my discman and pop in my earphones, or plug in some small speakers and play it low. Nice way to fall asleep, actually...

Doctor J

I think this might be more relevant to a different forum... hard to say which one, but I'd guess Music/Radio, so yoink!!!

Anyway, I run my cd's with no EQ tampering into a pair of Alesis M1 MkII monitors, crystal clear and not too coloured reproduction. I use these to mix from Pro Tools too so I've got decent reference for that.

radiospan

Ripped MP3s using --alt-preset standard with Exact Audio Copy.
Use foobar2000 to play them, and Sennheiser HD457 to listen (through my crap Realtek AC97 onboard audio)

Civilian_Target

plazzTT wrote:

Ripped MP3s using --alt-preset standard with Exact Audio Copy.

That gives you 192k VBR, right?

Personally - I've got oggenc, point EAC at oggenc and tell it to use this command line:

%l-q 3 %l%h-q 5 %h -G "%m" -N "%n" -d "%y" -a "%a" -l "%g" -t "%t" -c "RIPPER=Exact Audio Copy (Secure Mode)" %s %d

Low quality then gives 128k VBR (about the same sound quality as 192k VBR MP3s) and high quality gives you 192k VBR oggs. Personally, I can't tell the difference so I use Q3 and save on space - since my DAP does oggs, I might as well make full use of that 20GB

TerrorFirmer

Makaveli wrote:

This is something I've never really gotten. Music is stereo, it comes from 2 channels what is the point in playing it in 5.1? Surely it would lead to distract more than to enhance?

Well, I meant the sound quality in general....it sounds alot better, coming from more speakers, and the sub-woofer obviously as you would expect really adds to it as well.

So much so that listening to a normal basic stereo with low output annoys me now (I listen to alot of metal)

impr0v

When working on the comp with a Tutle Beach Santa Cruz card and fairly ok Harman Kardon speakers with a sub-woofer. I mostly listen to mp3 steamed off my machine on to one of these downstairs: http://en.streamium.com/products/mc-i250/, though my version is the older one without the wifi link, so i have it connected to a netgear bridge.

Sparky

im mad in to my music, so i have to use a good but decent prices hifi setup.
i use bose 301's for my hifi


but my hifi consists of all sony
120w Amplifier TAFE-570
Cd player CDP-XE270
Minidisc Player MDS-JE480

at the moment im using my home cinema Amp a pioneer VSX-D514

and i got some kenwood floorstanders aswell for it


but as for music on my laptop i have most in WMA 192kbps but a few are in mp3, but cant remember the bitrate.
i use Technics RP-F350's for listening to the music on the laptop.


on the move i use a creative jukebox zen touch, but only because about 2000 songs are in WMA.

blueeyes

I listen to my music on our Technics cd changer sl-eh760 with floor standers and suround sound and sub woofer......ahh great sound with missy elliot

cormie

Sparky_S wrote:

im mad in to my music.

What music and how much of it?

tman

Soundblaster Audigy going into either my Sony stereo (rxd10av) or my Sennheiser HD447s.
I'll be replacing the HD447s with a set of HD25s when i get the cash together... they're supposed to be for dj use but i'll prolly use them for the pc as well

mp3s are ripped at 192kbps on the highest quality setting in cdex (i can't be arsed figuring out EAC or pissing about with vbr)

on the move i use my iPod with a sett of in ear sennys
i'm starting to use it less and less at the moment. they're crap at carrying bass

Sparky

cormie wrote:

What music and how much of it?

mainly some dance, especially classic dance, and rock, but i have cds and downloads of all kinds of music, most of which i ripped onto my pc, over the course of a year, so its about 13,000 songs maybe a bit less, and theres about 7,000 transfered to my zen.
Tbh id have to thank my cousin for giving me most of the tracks since he does the pub djing, about 35gb's of music he gave me for free

works out at about 455 hrs of music that i got off him

Wez

I've got a cheapo set of speakers (woofer and two midi's) made by Labtec. Got them in Argos, and I'm pretty happy. Fair bit of bass etc from them too. Nearly everything I listen to is 128kbs and I don't have any problems! I've listening to music 24/7 and they do me grand. When I'm on the move I've got my 60 gig Zen jukebox, with some cheapo Sony earphones. I've got the basics for a good sound setup, but I've gotta get a job and put the final, quality touches on it..

I listen to a lot of Bowie, Dylan and Floyd and don't have a problem with sound quality, although I don't like any of the re-mastered Dylan etc, gotta have the original rustic sound to be authentic.

billy the squid

I have the computer hooked up to the AUX input of the Hi-Fi. a panasonic midi system. pretty bog standard hi fi really. also radio headset for lat at night whcih i find handier than a long 2 metre long headphone cable.

I also use the CD player on the hi fi if i dont want to go to the hastle of using the computer on a certain day.

If i wish to convert vinyl to mp3 i just use a jack - jack cable from the headphone socket of an old radiogram I have and connect it to the line-in on the computer.

plonk

I bought these speakers in currys for my living room
wicked
i also have altec lansing 4.1 speakers for my pc
a philips 2gig mp3 player with a portable speaker and kenwood headphones
and a sony explod system for my car

mickymg2003

I used to just use my stereo but now i have an old pa system dats lik 1000watt so i plug the stereo or mini disc player into it and it produces pretty gud sound.

Wertz

PC has an Audigy Z2 that's never so much as made a peep.
All my audio goes out through USB to the external soundcard/mixing console and then get's pumped into the pre amp and then onto the power amp in my Technics EH600 and out through the speakers. The hifi gets sued a lot for just listening to CDs; I've never really gotten round to ripping my collection 'cept for some specific things I wanted for carrying around...
Portable is a Vaio pocket with a pair of shure e3s. Using my old Sony streetstyle for mixing as I managed to break my other sony monitors.



There's pics of my set up if anyone's arsed...