Are you a headphone or speaker user?

[pwjazz]

I use speakers when sharing music with my family, headphones when listening to stuff they don't want to hear or don't want to hear as loud as I do. Also headphones at work.

 

[Liberal Democracy]

At home I only use speakers but working out I use earbuds ( Bose ) and traveling Bose headphones and I seem to do a fair bit of both these days.

 

[VintageFlanker]

I'd say both... But I don't know any headphones able to shake my stomach with physical bass.

More seriously: speakers 80% of the time and headphones are only here to don't disturb family and neighbours... Or for critical listening, being not room dependent.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Speakers. Only use phones when I have to.

 

[soundwave76]

Speakers mostly at home, headphones only at the office. I thus voted both equally. I think I prefer speakers...

 

[Xulonn]

At home I only use speakers but working out I use earbuds ( Bose ) and traveling Bose headphones and I seem to do a fair bit of both these days.

Thomas, you aways seemed to me to be somewhat of a Bose-O...

(Does that bad pun mean anything to non-Americans?)

 

[tesseractASR]

I use a variety of ear gear away from home. I am a soundstage and imaging nut, so speakers at home.

 

[MattHooper]

Speakers, definitely!

I do remember enjoying music via headphones in the days of the Sony Walkman, and also some times at home. (I remember endlessly listening to Rush Hemispheres on headphones late at night so as not to disturb the family). But for whatever reason headphones have zero appeal to me these days. I vastly prefer the more tactile nature of speakers, and what feels to me overall a more natural, comfortable way to listen to music.

Also, I have tinnitus and I'm wary of headphones as I find it tough to gage how loud I'm actually listening (and for similar reasons I NEVER listen to music on ear buds from my phone outside of the house, where it must be cranked to overcome often loud ambient noises).

It seems that headphones have gained a lot of traction recently in the audiophile (and elsewhere) world, but the whole subject just leaves me cold.

 

[tential]

I'm a speaker guy, but due to necessity, I'm using headphones. Once I have space where I can make noise I will use speakers unless I have to use headphones.

 

[Soniclife]

Speakers in the lounge, in my home office, in the car, and sometimes in the bath. Headphones, well IEMs whilst commuting, or at work. I'm considering proper headphones for home use sometimes, but so far I don't see my use case.
I find my IEMs good for my tinnitus, in contrast to everyone else it seems, but I don't find threads urge to crank them up like I have with speakers, they don't do visceral.

 

[thomasjast]

Headphones lately. Speakers require a much larger chain of devices that all cause quite a bit of difference, as well as the limitless expense of speakers in general.

 

[Tarzan]

Headphones now. Easier and more affordable to experiment different equipment and good resale valve.

 

[Ratatoskr]

Headphones only due to space limitations at my flat. When I am back in a house with a proper sized living room I'll transistion back to speakers. Right now I would be using nearfield monitors and I would prefer to spend the money for a good speaker amp and use it with RAAL SR1a's until I have the room for Magnepans.

 

[garbulky]

I am a a speaker guy forced by circumstances to listen mostly to headphones.

Same but I'm enjoying the experience

 

[amirm]

It is great to see so many of you vote and express your preference. For those who have not voted, please do.

 

[Dogen]

My first serious listening through headphones was about a year ago. Until then, it was speakers all the way. I’ve enjoyed exploring headphones, but if I can listen through speakers I prefer that. I’m not tied to a transducer, the sound doesn’t move with my head, and there’s a physicality and overall impact from speakers I don’t get with phones.

So it’s about 50/50 now, but if I didn’t have to consider others, it would be overwhelmingly through speakers.

 

[nemesisrobot]

Mostly headphones since I live in an apartment and want to be nice to my neighbors . When I get a house/proper mancave I'll probably be more of a speaker guy.

 

[watchnerd]

I *wanted* to vote "I Mostly Use Speakers".

But, except on Fridays, I'm not allowed to use speakers past 10:30 pm. And most of my listening starts at 9:30 or 10:00 pm.

So if I want to listen to a whole album, and I start at 10:00 pm, I'm forced to use headphones.

So I had to pick "Equally" -- but not because I wanted to!

 

[DonH56]

Speakers. I find headphones more fatiguing and lacking in bass impact and sound stage. However, when I want to really focus on fine details, e.g. when auditioning components, I'll often use them as they tend to make me focus more on details in what I am hearing vs. just enjoying the tunes. When I used to do recording and mixing/mastering to tape/CD I used headphones most of the time, usually going to speakers only now and then until the end when I checked to make sure it would sound OK on a few different speakers. That said, I used monitors near the end of that time (last CD I did was maybe ten years ago), as they used DSP modeling to emulate a number of different "classic" monitors so it was easy to compare the end result.

 

[Midwest Blade]

While having both speakers and headphones when I sit down to listen it's speakers all the way. Condo living has brought the need for a set of headphones which I use primarily to surf for new music via Tidal on the iPad but seldom do I actually do any real listening with the cans.