Poll: How do you primarily listen to audio at home?

[Sal1950]

I love music and enjoy it everywhere.

Damn Some awesome systems you have there !!!!
We'd love to see a few pictures in the Members area when time allows.

The kit we bought, our current setups

New arrival - Sony TA-E1000ESD digital preamp (1989 vintage) Check out the green LED built into the volume control - this is why Sony ES is better.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[jhenderson0107]

We'd love to see a few pictures in the Members area when time allows.

Done

 

[Propheticus]

Good ole Quad arrangement has always been just great for music, etc.
Center channels can sometimes be an advantage to lock dialog to screen with movies, specially when the
L & R speaker position is very wide or there are multiple listening positions like in larger home theaters.
Enjoy!

It has indeed become a quadraphonic setup this way. I let the Auro-2D (music) or Dolby Surround (series/movies) upmixer in my Denon AVR solve the mapping of #input channels to #of speakers.

L&R are not super wide, just left and right from the TV dressoir with a 50cm (2feet) gap. My regular seat on the sofa is the sweet-spot, the missus ... doesn't really care and thinks it sounds "fine".
I've been playing with the idea to get a second subwoofer for a stereo setup (or at least filling in of each-others nulls in the room). Then again, I don't really miss sub-bass now and don't want to terrorise my neighbours. Typical western-Europe terraced houses considerations. At least it's modern and well insulated, both heat and sound-wise.

 

[Rick Sykora]

So, the poll is now closed and thanks again for the great participation!

At a high level, pretty clear that stereo listening is still the overwhelmingly preferred listening setup for most members. I suspect source material has a lot to do with that result but would need more info to verify. Also as I have mentioned before, living space can play a major role as well. If so, one obvious question is whether you would invest more for a more immersive listening experience or not? Some of the answer likely lies with the 14% that own multiple systems. No need to respond just yet as I think this just starts to form the basis for the next poll...

While we have some good data about what sort of systems members use, suggest the next poll/polls delve more into why. As you might surmise, this could get a bit more personal and so will be huddling with Amir and staff to ensure it is handled properly. 

Stay tuned for more!

Rick

 

[Sal1950]

It has indeed become a quadraphonic setup this way.

Speaking of Quad, it has indeed been a banner year.
Rhino under the Quadio label has gone back to the original 1970s quad master tapes
and remixed the following to BluRay discs in lossless High Resolution TrueHD multichannel mixes.
I have all the 2023 discs and they sound fabulous.
Many are already sold out.

Quadio Rhino - Official Store

Quadio - Browse the vast selection of products available at Rhino - Official Store.

store.rhino.com

Quadio releases in 2023 include,

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
America - Holiday
Charles Mingues - Mingues Moves
J. Geils Band - Nightmares
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Jefferson Starship - Red Octopus
Spinners - Spinners
Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown

Releases for 2024 (so far),
Randy Newman - Good Old Boys (Jan 19th)
War - The World Is A Ghetto (Jan 19th)
Average White Band - AWB (Jan 19th)
Gil Evans - Svengali (Jan 19th)

 

[macauley86]

Option 6: Apple EarPods connected to a Mac or iPhone.

 

[BJL]

Speaking of Quad, it has indeed been a banner year.
Rhino under the Quadio label has gone back to the original 1970s quad master tapes
and remixed the following to BluRay discs in lossless High Resolution TrueHD multichannel mixes.
I have all the 2023 discs and they sound fabulous.
Many are already sold out.

Quadio Rhino - Official Store

Quadio - Browse the vast selection of products available at Rhino - Official Store.

store.rhino.com

Quadio releases in 2023 include,

Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
America - Holiday
Charles Mingues - Mingues Moves
J. Geils Band - Nightmares
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Jefferson Starship - Red Octopus
Spinners - Spinners
Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown

Releases for 2024 (so far),
Randy Newman - Good Old Boys (Jan 19th)
War - The World Is A Ghetto (Jan 19th)
Average White Band - AWB (Jan 19th)
Gil Evans - Svengali (Jan 19th)

Other great quad reissues available from Dutton Vocalion in the UK, carefully mastered from the original quad masters, all are SACD. The packaging is basic (jewel case with mediocre reproductions of original liner notes, easily read with a microscope), but wonderful audio quality:

https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/products.php?cat=2

The Dutton catalog is eclectic ranging from classical, middle of the road, some rock, jazz and soul music.

CBS/Sony (Japan) also SACD, generally available from Amazon Japan, and in the U.S. occasionally, and sometimes with free shipping from Japan, I have their reissues of Miles Davis Bitches Brew and Live Evil, both superb, and early Santana (the first four albums plus Lotus). The Sony titles are particularly nice because they are packaged in 7" sleeves with exquisite reproductions of all artwork and inserts. The Sony reissues are drawn from the CBS (US and perhaps UK) catalog from late '60s - early '70s.

Denon (Japan) reissued a few of Isao Tomita's albums in special editions supervised, remastered, remixed and with some updates by Tomita, also SACD. If in the U.S. these are usually available with free shipping from Japan (at least in recent months). Denon may have other quad reissues, but I have not looked.

 

[aagstn]

I have a 5.1 setup in the living room I put together with Infinity speakers and an Onkyo receiver about 15 years ago, but honestly rarely watch anything in there anymore. Most of my listening is in my home office while working all day and that is a 2.1 setup with Klipsch speakers, a Polk Sub and a old Yamaha receiver I like because it allowed some room correction and the ability to set the crossover for the speakers and sub. I also have a Modi+ and Heretic amp I use with Sennheiser 6XX headphones, but that is about 10% of my music listening. I prefer speakers and sub for music.

 

[Sal1950]

The packaging is basic (jewel case with mediocre reproductions of original liner notes, easily read with a microscope),

That's never been an issue for me. I rip all audio and scan any/all artwork to my harddrive.
I can read any of the scans very easily then either on my large PC monitor or the even larger theater screen.

 

[BJL]

That's never been an issue for me. I rip all audio and scan any/all artwork to my harddrive.
I can read any of the scans very easily then either on my large PC monitor or the even larger theater screen.

I don't know how to rip SACD's, but certainly scanning the liner notes to read on screen is an excellent approach; I've been too lazy for that, but perhaps instead of complaining . . .

This reminds me that the quad albums released by Jethro Tull (and one unreleased quad version) have been reissued by Warner Bros. (or whatever it is called now) in flat transfers (along with endless supplemental material) as part of the Tull "anniversary" series, with great liner notes in a book bound in the case, that are mostly legible.

 

[Sal1950]

This reminds me that the quad albums released by Jethro Tull (and one unreleased quad version) have been reissued by Warner Bros.

The best are the ones that have been done in 5.1 and Atmos by Steven Wilson, he's covered a large part of the Tull catalog over the last decade.

STEVEN WILSON REMIXES | tjtg

www.jethrotullgroup.com

 

[Sal1950]

I don't know how to rip SACD's, but certainly scanning the liner notes to read on screen is an excellent approach; I've been too lazy for that, but perhaps instead of complaining . . .

If your interested, about the most complete coverage on the ways and gear used starts here.
Quite easy actually using a used $40 SACD player.

Rip SACD with a Blu-ray player

Welcome to the HiFi Haven Rip SACD with a Blu-ray player thread! This thread does not intend to rehash or further detail the well established PlayStation 3 SACD ripping method, nor the more recent Blu-ray player method, that in each case typically involves use of a command line interface (CLI)...

hifihaven.org

 

[Punchrulle]

most of the time with my ears....

And the other times?

 

[Mikig]

I use a very classic 2-channel system. I tried many configurations, and I discovered along the way that the best sound performance is obtained with a very simple system. The fewer cables, fewer filters and fewer power supplies come into play the better the sound. For some time now, I have been using passive preamp, power amplifier, DAC and speakers. Many tests were done to best position the speakers in my room. I also use a dedicated power supply that only serves the system.

 

[pseudoid]

...I have been using passive preamp, power amplifier, DAC and speakers...

Welcome to ASR, @Mikig,
Passive PowerAmp? Passive DAC?

 

[Mikig]

HI Pseudoid!
thanks for the welcome. No, obviously only passive preamplifier, or rather, as it is called in a more technical way passive attenuator.)
I'm sorry, but English is not my native language!

 

[Rick Sykora]

Perhaps a bit overdue but was interested in how the regional poll results might impact how we interpret this poll.

So here is a summary of the poll results:

We achieved a total of 1,520 votes.

• 33.5% 2-Channel setup and 25.1% 2.x-Channel setups

Combined almost 60% (58.6) of members are primarily stereo listeners. Considering 15.7% use Headphones, IEM’s or equivalent. That would put the stereo listener number close to 75%. That leaves...

• 14.2% Use Multiple systems (Music, Home Theater, etc.)
• 9.6% Use Multichannel setups (from 3.x and up)
• 1.9% Use Smart Speakers (Alexa, Sonus, Soundbars and other)

Arguably, most multisystem listeners are likely to have one stereo setup and we know some percentage of the rest are likely listening to stereo sources. So, this pushes the stereo listening to around 90% (possibly more). Considering most of the music sources are primarily stereo, am not surprised.

Circling back to subwoofer use. Combining the stereo and multichannel numbers would say that a bit more than half of them have a subwoofer. This might be an interesting follow-up poll. If you are not using subwoofer(s), why not?

With 14%, the multisystem group stands out enough to drill down on it and detail further. Special thanks for Amir and Adam sponsoring and instigating this activity!

Other thoughts or suggestions that you may have pondered about the membership? The regional location poll indicates that European members constitute the major of members while the site traffic is predominantly from North America. Without some poll of non-members, not sure we can really know specifically why, but seemingly means there is a potential for some additional membership growth.

Again, many thanks to those who participated. Expect to give members a break from more polls for a while, but as ASR continues to grow steadily, is useful to see if the results change. Am very much into speakers, but both my wife and father recently purchased IEMs and know all my kids own them. Seems a good move on Amir's part to measure those devices.

Happy Listening!

Rick

 

[Ze Frog]

2.X or stereo is definitely the way.
I did dabble with home theatre a few years ago now, and to be honest the quality just wasn't there. I can imagine if you throw money at it that changes, but in a standard sized U.K living room, especially new builds I couldn't imagine even attempting a full Dolby Atmos system.

 

[mhardy6647]

2.X or stereo is definitely the way.
I did dabble with home theatre a few years ago now, and to be honest the quality just wasn't there. I can imagine if you throw money at it that changes, but in a standard sized U.K living room, especially new builds I couldn't imagine even attempting a full Dolby Atmos system.

I have to suspect that the US vs. ROW (Rest Of the World) divide is large on this front! These hypermultichannel audio/video systems including truly immense video displays ("TVs"?) must be nonstarters in much of the world for volumetric as much as (or more than) economic reasons.
Does anyone need an 85 inch TV?

I can't help but think of the giant-izing of A/V systems as akin to the death rattle of personal ICE motor vehicles which have been growing steadily ever larger, heaver, faster, fancier, more isolating, and more expensive (at least in the US).

Heck, the EVs (at least in the US) seem to be following a similar arc.

(all 9000 lb/4080 kg)
I have to think these Brobdingnagian trends in (ostentatious) personal luxury will all die off with the boomers.

 

[mhardy6647]

OK...
Having gotten that out of my system

We achieved a total of 1,520 votes.

• 33.5% 2-Channel setup and 25.1% 2.x-Channel setups

Combined almost 60% (58.6) of members are primarily stereo listeners. Considering 15.7% Use Headphones, IEM’s or equivalent. That would put the stereo listener number close to 75%. That leaves...

• 14.2% Use Multiple systems (Music, Home Theater, etc.)
• 9.6% Use Multichannel setups (from 3.x and up)
• 1.9% Use Smart Speakers (Alexa, Sonus, Soundbars and other)

Hope it's OK if I screen-dump some ad hoc reactions to this summary!

• I remain surprised and impressed (for lack of a better word) at the preponderance of "good old stereo" for a tech-heavy population such as ASR's.
• I wonder how the distribution would change if some assessment could be made by age range. E.g., are there more, or less, multichannel listeners aged, say, 45 to 65 than aged 25 - 44?
• The high proportion of headphone/desktop audio users represented by the respondents might skew the 2-channel numbers here (?). Multichannel might be impractical and even ill-advised in a -- ahem -- workstation setting.
• I wonder how the distribution of "formats" so to speak would map onto a larger proportion of "normal" audio/video consumers, who might do more phone/earbud listening but also more "home theater" multichannel A/V?