We got our first house last November after apartment living for years. This feeling is very fresh in my mind.I have to say: the fact I always listen to music on speakers is due somewhat to circumstances that allow that. It just occurred to me how lucky I am to live in a full, detached house. I remember when my wife and I moved in to this house (our first - we skipped the starter-home thing) from an old apartment, the first thing I did was set up my system, crank the volume, and step outside to listen. Pure silence. Nothing that could ever bother neighbors. Coming from an apartment where we always had to be mindful of music volume and neighbors above and below us, this was
F-R-E-E-D-O-M at last!
I can certainly see how high quality headphones can be a nice option for those in situations where playing as loudly on speakers will bother other people.
We are fortunate to have both an apartment and a fully detached house and, although I am aware of and respect my neighbors at both locations, I do not realize any constraints on how loud I play my music at both locations. There have been no complaints from neighbors so far. It is certainly possible that my system could play loud enough in the apartment but that would be louder than I would enjoy. The only limitation is that I do not play the system loud in the middle of the night and the reason is that I, too, am asleep then. So, no need for headphones.I have to say: the fact I always listen to music on speakers is due somewhat to circumstances that allow that. It just occurred to me how lucky I am to live in a full, detached house. I remember when my wife and I moved in to this house (our first - we skipped the starter-home thing) from an old apartment, the first thing I did was set up my system, crank the volume, and step outside to listen. Pure silence. Nothing that could ever bother neighbors. Coming from an apartment where we always had to be mindful of music volume and neighbors above and below us, this was
F-R-E-E-D-O-M at last!
I am a a speaker guy forced by circumstances to listen mostly to headphones ( I have several, but the mainstays are HifiMan HE560 and HE6) . I have never been annoyed by the "music in the head" presentation but long very much for a return to full range, high accuracy speaker system in my life.
When you're used to listening to headphones you may not notice that at all - I don't have the slightest problem with that, but, of course, we're all different... A crossfeed-filter may also be very useful, at least for me it is!In-head-localisation with headphones is indeed an issue for the most of us.
As someone who is young, poor, and living in a small apartment, I listen almost exclusively with headphones.
I look forward to turning up the volume on a high quality speaker system in my own house 20 years from now.