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

[Nitreb]

Other: Stereo speakers mainly, and also headphones/IEM

 

[Duke]

Don't have much to add... my 2.x is a 2.4.

 

[DrCWO]

Don't have much to add... my 2.x is a 2.4.

Great citations below your post

 

[JSmith]

I have multiple systems, primarily stereo now (in use), plus some headphone usage on occasion.

Good to see no one has answered soundbar... yet.


JSmith

 

[antcollinet]

Multiple.

Actually mainly one 7.1 system. But music is listened to in 2.1.

I also have a small desktop 2.0 system I use when "working" on a computer in the spare room upstairs. But then it is just background.

 

[Vive la dissonance!]

Stereo tower speakers and a pair of subwoofers*.

*I need, yes need, to hear clearly and with miminized distortion things like contrabassoon, church organ pedals, double basses and such.

 

[jcarys]

I listen on a 7.1.4 Atmos system for home theater, surround music, and stereo music. When I'm at the computer, I listen to stereo computer speakers or headphones. When I'm at the gym or outside, it's a DAP and headphones. Various systems based on the content and location.

 

[Robbo99999]

Thanks for asking, but intended audio to be more than just music.

I have added info to the initial thread post to hopefully clarify.

Sounds like 10 might fit. When this is done we will probably create a new poll to unravel the multiple categories choice.

Yeah, I changed my vote from headphones to "multiple systems", it would be unrepresentative if I just chose 2.x just because I use it so much for TV & Movies, so even though the sound quality is important for that my vote can't ignore the fact I listen to most of my music on headphones, and because I can't choose two options (ideally I'd tick headphones & 2.x) then instead I've changed it to "Option 10 Multiple Systems". Yes, would be interesting to have a poll where we can be a bit more fine-grained with the answers.

 

[Ra1zel]

Beside my 2x2 active system with horns and two woofers in my living room I have small speakers in my study so I also can listen there to calibrated sound during work. But this is near field and different. I love the undistorted sound of the horns going up to live volume with ease.
In my study I also run some elder Sennheiser HD580 Precision headphones that did not sound bad at all as they run equalized and were driven by a RME ADI-2 Pro.
But believe me: Fun I only have in my living room with the horn speakers.

I think I saw your system already on reddit once... with a nice looking volume control.

It's all DIY if I remember well?

 

[DrCWO]

It's all DIY if I remember well?

Horns and rooExtend yes but rooExtend is also a commercial product in between. Also my RME ADI-2/4 and my NCX500 and my woofers are ‚normal‘ products.
But I like to improve things or make them by my own. The horns use full range speakers an I developed very special FIR XOs I installed as convolution filters in Roon, They guarantee linear phase. So woofers and horns are in perfect sync like getting one big full range speaker. With all this distortions are so low even at high volume that it is a pleasure to listen

 

[ryanosaur]

Lol, do you have another option?

Beethoven style with your head pressed against the Loudspeaker?

 

[iamsms]

I selected Headphones/IEM - as those are my choices when it comes to listening music. But when it comes to listening to audio - I think I use my phone speaker most - for youtube videos, sports talk shows, podcasts, documentaries etc.

 

[Rick Sykora]

Beethoven style with your head pressed against the Loudspeaker?

Will save for the bone conduction listener poll.

 

[Robin L]

Beethoven style with your head pressed against the Loudspeaker?

With maximum SPLs so as to disturb anyone within a one block radius.

 

[RDoc]

We use a 5.1 system but just with multi speaker stereo with a little extra delay on the surrounds, no effects. We like the wide stage presence. We tried a few of the DSP sound options on the Denon 3700 we use as a preamp but were pretty disappointed.
Someday I'm going to try one of the Atmos music options, but there's not a lot of material available that I'm interested in (mainly classical and jazz).

 

[sealman]

I listen to music in stereo with my 7.2 HT.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Music on stereo system
Gaming/home theater on a separate 5.0.4 channel system (didn't add subs, I'm fine with the built in active 8" woofers on those speakers)

 

[fatoldgit]

Voted "other".. reason as below.

All source material is 2 channel ripped CD quality files.

Use a DEQX HDP-4 to feed two monoblocks and an integrated, so four speakers in total.

Side speakers are wired out of phase to the fronts (this ensures, after experimentation, that the sound stays located in front of me) and I do apply the same 10 point PEQ to all four speakers with the addition of a rolloff of the bass starting at 100HZ for the sides (again after experimentation).

The DEQX acts as the master volume control and the integrated's volume allows me to control the stereo width to the point where the soundscape is wall to wall and the speakers truely disappear.

I value stereo width as the most important system attribute in regards to providing, at least to me, the most realistic "live" experience (noting I spent decades listening to small combo live Blues and Jazz bands in "hole in the wall" clubs so that is my live reference... very close to the band but with a wide soundscape...which strangely is how many of my albums are recorded)

I listen along the long wall of my 8m x 5m room and the front speakers have a toe in of 45 deg!!!! where their centers cross in front of my head while the rears point directly at my ears in a plane 1m in front of them. The rears are about 6.5m apart and the fronts about 5m apart.

All speakers are Gallo Ref 3.5's and room is well treated.

Basically I have a giant headphone setup but without that "inside your head" experience.

Despite what you may imagine, there is no flutter echo or image "super sizing"

So why all this.. cause 95% of my music collection are stereo Jazz and Blues records from the late 50's to late 60's when pan potting in mixing desks didnt exist so we have three strong sound stage domains... hard left, center and hard right.

Thus in a traditional setup, images would cluster around speakers which wasnt life like to me. This could be overcome with a wide front speaker seperation but that was detremential to the center image

Experimentation with the setup above provided the best of both worlds: realistically sized instruements left and right with no clustering and a strong center image. And as each albums balance is different from the previous, a quick tweak of the integrateds volume allows me to control where the left and right instruements are located.

I can move my head and look directly at a side speaker and the balance doesnt change. HOWEVER... it has taken a long time to dial in the speaker positions, relative to each other and my listening position. Plus workout the best type/location of my self built room treatments which by vitrue of having four full range (30hz to 35khz) speakers is extensive.

The Gallo Ref 3.5's do have a major role in all of this: They are boxless, have only one crossover point, have an MTM array and the tweeter has a 300 degree "sweet spot". Should they die one day I would imagine some omni's would also work well.

This layout might not work for many but I have sat with this for 15 years and tweaked and tweaked to reach the potential I could hear in the early days.

Peter

 

[Fafnar]

90% of the time on a 2.0 (just today upgraded to 2.1) system.

Otherwise, got a mix of things depending on room. But multiple doesn't describe the majority of my listening, so I went with the 2.X option.

 

[rynberg]

I chose 2.1 for this poll, even though I spend a very significant amount of time listening in 5.1 for TV/movie content.

I'm surprised so many people do not use a subwoofer...one (or more) is required to meet my definition of high fidelity.