OT: How do you listen to music?

[kpl1228]

Do you put vinyl on a turntable? Satellite radio on your car? Listen to whatever's streaming on your phone? Fire up the McIntosh and light a cigar with a hundred dollar bill?

Just wondering how fellow musos do it.

[BenWaB3]

At home - mostly streaming lately. In the car - A DAP set to shuffle, connected to the aux in on the stereo.

[mauriziodececco]

Either commuting, on earplugs or Bose headphones with my phone, or at home usually cooking, using KEF LSX.

Or when studying music in my super-small home studio/office  (4m2), using Mac on Genelec monitors.

 

Source is usually Apple Music.

 

Maurizio

[Docbop]

Most the time at home CD's or streaming from my computer with studio monitors.  If serious listening I've started using AirPods they really help hear more details.  Sometime use my headphones, but mainly use those for late night practicing.   Casual listening in my living room AirPods again because no good speakers in my living room.   Then in car streaming and car came with a really nice Bose speaker system that is very adjustable so cruising around listening is nice.   My days of fancy stereo setups are over.   I thought I'd never do streaming (still refuse to use Spotify), but cost of CD's is so high and many times I just interesting in one song to work on, so for working on a tune or listening to a lot of different artists do a tune I've started streaming.  

[Shamanzarek]

Right now I'm listening to Pandora a lot. It plays mostly music I want to hear in many different genres. I listen to Sirius in the car but even with all the different channels there are a lot things I like that rarely, if ever, get played. I still have a turntable and CD player which don't get used much anymore. 

[kpl1228]

OP here.

I usually listen to Tidal streaming (I ponied up for the high quality version). Very very happy with it, though I run it through my phone via Bluetooth and I really need a quality streaming device. Stereo is older but very good (NAD, KEF) but again, good streaming gadget would make it way better.

I was the guy with CDs in a binder for years, because I hated MP3's. But now the streaming via FLAC is so good, I haven't listened to physical music product in a long time.

[Stokely]

Can't remember the last time I actually did (I listen to audiobooks when I listen to anything) but it's SD card in my car (which isn't new enough to have carplay or any other type of streaming).  For mix referencing I bought some high quality wav files...other than that, say at the gym if I wanted music, I'd probably just pull up the album on youtube.

[Dave Bryce]

I have a killer 7.1 sound system in my house, in a room that was purpose-built to listen to audio and watch movies and concerts.  I listen to vinyl and CDs, including lots of 5.1 and Blu-Ray mixes.  Sitting here right now listening to the Bright Side mixes of Gabriel’s new i/o record, having already heard the surround mixes.

 

In my car and walking my dogs, I shuffle my iPhone library.

 

I don’t listen to streaming services, pretty much ever.  I kinda don’t dig the way those folks make their living.

 

dB

[JohnH]

Rip to WAV and onto either an ipod classic or the ipod touch I have. Then listen in room on small computer speakers. Before this it was all in the car, now that is mostly podcasts in car. On long trips I've been breaking it up half pod cast half music in car. And if I find I am not paying attention, then I switch to music in car. The listening at home started in the pandemic. Before that it was just about all car and the gym too. Although these are cheap PC speakers with an SW, they actually sound really good. May be time  to upgrade at some point. 

[Michael Wright]

I have my turntable wired to play through the stereo speakers and/or studio monitors.  I listen to my digital library through the studio speakers.  Never listen to music in the car.   And also don't like streaming services.  

[timwat]

I used to do the audiophile thing. Vinyl or CD on pretty expensive two-channel system. 6-foot tall panel speakers, tube phono preamp, etc. Sold almost all of it in the divorce 17 years ago.

 

I don't do the dedicated listening room thing anymore, life has changed.

 

Now, it's a mixture of studio monitor, headphones, and IEMs. While I kept my nice turntable rig, it's not even setup these days. Everything is ripped into Apple Music (aka iTunes) and playback is driven by convenience and portability.

 

Having dipped my toe for a season of life, I get the "sit in the listening chair and smoke a cigar while listening to Rachmaninoff" thing. 

 

But I'm just not that guy anymore, and not sure I was ever really that guy.

[Lindaru]

I do not drive myself, so at the mercy of whoever is driving as to what we listen to, but mostly car radio.

No working turntable so that is out.  Boombox needs replacing.  So a cabinet full of vinyl and a box full of cassette tapes just sitting there.

C.D.'s . . . lots of those, but not bothered to get up and put them in my player on the entertainment center or my P.C.  I use the entertainment center for watching Dish Network.  Use the entertainment center or P.C. for watching movies.

If it is a song I do not have (have already ripped singles off of my C.D. collection for my P.C.), and I really want it, I buy it from Amazon.  I also have a pretty extensive play list on free Spotify or go to You Tube for a one off listen.  Both I listen to on my Dell Inspiron through Bose Wave speakers that I upgraded to after hubby passed in 2021.

I had an old Walkman after he passed that my grand-son who has taken a liking to old tech now has.

I do have my Skullcandy head-phones when I have my sister-in-law sleeping over that I listen to everything on through my P.C. so as not to disturb her.

😁
 

[jazzpiano88]

Analog or digital from the Marantz SACD/BlueRay/CD player into NAD C375DAC.  Speakers are the Klipsch Cornwall III's

I've got the Phono pre for the NAD but haven't pulled the trigger on a turntable yet.

 

Jonesing to try out a McIntosh tube system.

 

[Tusker]

Hifi speakers aren't used anymore.  It's AirPods or the car stereo now.  Apple Music is the source.

[Dave Keys]

If I listen to anything, it's speech based radio. I teach Piano from 7.45am each weekday, until evening. Then I'm usually writing Music, or gigging. My ears need a rest from music 🙂

[JoJoB3]

Very carefully, as if life depended on it.

[Docbop]

Since people mention streams sadly including me and pricing of physical media has skyrocketed making buying CD's to transcribe one song is too $$$    I use Apple Music and refuse to use Spotify below is a video example why I don't use Spotify.

 

 

[RABid]

I have 1000+ CD's, never touch them anymore. Gave most of my albums in my great niece and great nephew. Now I am mostly Apple music. In the car I also keep a few USB drives of my ripped CD's. I start in the morning, listening to a custom play list, an old favorite album, or a new artist while in the shower. This morning it was I Robot. Never listen to radio in the car. Always iPhone or USB stick. I bought a pack of 8GB USB sticks of different colors. Have electronic, latin, oldies, etc... Occasionally find an artist I really like, buy a few CD's and rip them but that happens less and less. Sometimes at night I listen to some music or watch concert footage on YouTube. Doing so this week made me notice the huge difference in sound quality between Apple's Air Pod Pro 2 and Air Pod Max. The Max has the best bluetooth sound I have found, but still does not match my wired Sennheiser HD600's.

 

Edit - You know, I don't even know the frequencies of the local radio stations.

[jazzpiano88]

It used to be that CDs and LPs would go out of print.   I have a lot of CDs in my collection that you can't purchase anymore because of this.

Some artists are unaware that their out of print works are just sitting there.

 

I still purchase CDs for classic works that I want in my collection.  I'm of a mixed emotion on a digital only collection.  

Dad's hard drive is much more likely to disappear into the ether than his boxes of LPs.

 

[Ed A.]

At home, Apple Music streaming and my ripped library through a Zoom AMS-44 audio interface connected to Kali LP-6 v2 powered monitors or MDR-7506 headphones. Occasionally, I'll use a stereo pair of HomePod minis. 

In my car, wireless Apple Car Play.  I haven't played a CD or listened to the radio in years, and I had enough of vinyl and tape back in the seventies when I was an "audiophile". Still have CDs on spindles just so I can say my ripped music is legal.

[Artomas]

Headphones (DT990, SRH440, M-100) plugged into phone, computer or Livetrak mixer/recorder, playing mp3 or wav files I ripped from CD... or else I stream from YouTube. Sometimes I'll plug my phone and my Yamaha CK88 into separate Livetrak channels, so I can play the keyboard along with YouTube music, and still record both tracks separately. Then I import the wavs from the recorded YouTube track into Audacity audio editor on my computer, and trim it (dead space, or split a show into separate tracks), bring the level up, and even add fx if I'm feeling cheeky. Then I'll export the tracks as mp3s and wavs, and send the mp3 copies to my phone, so I can listen later without streaming.

 

I also have hundreds of CDs and at least half a dozen working CD players (including car, boombox, walkmen, USB DVD burner, home stereo system, home DVD player, old Bose wave radio, Marantz practice assistant with timestretch to slow the CD music playback down digitally...) and both active and passive JBL monitors... and yet I mostly listen to my ripped, or streaming, versions of them, thru headphones. 

[MathOfInsects]

Rarely.

 

In the car, I only listen to music if the kids are with me, and that's always whatever my daughter programs. If I'm alone I'm listening to comedy or some kind of news/speaking. At the gym I cover up their old-bro classic rock with podcasts into Airpods.

 

At home, my listening is almost entirely songs I have to learn for a gig, or track onto, or am tracking myself, or are part of a youtube rabbit hole on a player whose work I want to know/see more of. Other than that, maybe it's a song someone sent me to listen to because it's funky or cool or great, or a friend/colleague's new album or song, or album or song I played on that was released, or (very, very, very occasionally) something I remembered loving in the past that I want to check back in with out of curiosity and listen with today's ears. But I spend very little time listening to music recreationally. I can't put it on in the background; if I'm listening to something, it's all I'm doing.

The home stuff is through studio monitors. If you hand me a CD I have to go out to the car to listen to it. As of whatever my next car is I'm sure I won't have any way at all to listen to CDs.

 

 

 

[mpn_user7629]

All music and sound is listened to at my desktop computer.

It's simply played through a cheap radio hooked to it.

 

 

[ksoper]

With my mind and my soul. 

[scoopicman]

I still buy CDs, as well as MP3s.  I use Windows Media Player to rip CDs to my library.  I use my phone and Player Pro app.  Great for walking the dogs, working out, etc.  I have a vintage sound system in my workout room:

 

[Lou_NC]

No streaming for me, I absolutely despise bleeding cash on a monthly basis to listen to music that I already paid for once! 🙂

 

All my music now is in MP3's.  I went through a phase years ago where I digitized my own LP albums and ripped all my CD's.  On the rare occasion I want a new song (usually in reality a "vintage" rock/pop tune) I check to see if it's already on YouTube and if it is I use an MP3 downloader and then drop the MP3 file in my music folder.  

 

I listen in my car using MP3's on a USB stick, or by running the audio jack of my "vintage" iPod into the AUX input of my car radio.  Occasionally I'll listen to FM on my car radio, until the back-to-back commercials drive me to switch to my MP3's yet again!

 

At home I'll hook up the iPod to an input channel in my stereo rack mixer, and listen to tunes through my keyboard monitor setup while I fantasize that I'm Danny Federici playing along with Bruce. 🙂

[RABid]

You know, I almost never use my big surround system for music anymore. 

[Dave Bryce]

2 hours ago, RABid said:

You know, I almost never use my big surround system for music anymore. 

I, on the other hand, use mine constantly…and not just for my surround CDs.  ☺️
 

My Yamaha “receiver” has this way cool mode called 7 Channel Stereo that is absolutely wonderful sounding. It is not one of those faux surround modes - I‘m not a fan of those.  However, for the life of me, I can’t quite hear what it’s doing…but I know I really like it on vinyl and stereo CDs. Even better, pretty much no matter where you sit in the room it sounds good.  

 

i’ve had a few friends try to figure out how it works as well - we’re all stumped.  Nothing online explaining it either.

 

i’ve seen what looks like a similar setting called All Channel Stereo on other brands.  I wonder if it sounds the same.

 

Every one of my friends who hears it is just as knocked out by it as I am.  I actually only turn it off if I’m listening to dedicated surround material.

 

dB

[jazzpiano88]

42 minutes ago, Dave Bryce said:

i’ve had a few friends try to figure out how it works as well - we’re all stumped.  Nothing online explaining it either.

 
I wonder if you could derive it with a set of test signals.   Input some sinusoids and measure the magnitude and phase at each output.   Then again there might not be an intuitive explanation of the result.  

[Dave Bryce]

1 hour ago, jazzpiano88 said:

 
I wonder if you could derive it with a set of test signals.   Input some sinusoids and measure the magnitude and phase at each output.   Then again there might not be an intuitive explanation of the result.  

 Exactly.

 

Even listening to Yesterday is confusing.  Acoustic guitar hard right, strings hard left, vocals center.  Should be easy to discern…and yet… 🤔

 

dB