How do you listen to music ?

[blue]

Back in the 60s listening to music was a social activity . We would listen to records together on stereo hi fi and radio together.

Nobody does that anymore.

Today, I listen to music alone from my iPod while running 4 miles on the elliptical at the gym.

Blue

Edited March 6, 2016 by blue

[Graulges]

Cato, doesn't the Fire have Bluetooth? You could improve the sound a bit with some Bluetooth speakers. Quote didn't work problem between keyboard and chair I think :-D


I mostly listen to mine on studio monitors connected to the PC. I have a good separates system but its in the same room as the TV and other family members want to watch tv/dvds.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Graulges

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1457228411' post='2996598']
I bought a jukebox, so a I listen to my CD's on that.
[/quote]
No, a real one would play 7" singles
[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1457229826' post='2996605']


A real one ?

I knew someone who had one in his music room. The first thing you saw when you went into his flat was pinball machine in the entrance hall, it looked very cool.
[/quote]

[Cato]

[quote name='Graulges' timestamp='1457248840' post='2996630']
Cato, doesn't the Fire have Bluetooth? You could improve the sound a bit with some Bluetooth speakers. Quote didn't work problem between keyboard and chair I think :-D

[/quote]

Having read this thread I'm going to take another look at bluetooth speakers. The ones I've heard previously have been pretty cheap & nasty, but having just had a quick browse it seems there are some pretty interesting options from reputable manufacturers out there.

[JapanAxe]

When I buy a CD I try to give it a couple of good listens on my hi-fi separates system which includes floor-standing speakers - wahey! After that I rip it to iTunes at 256kbps and it goes on my iPod for in-car listening on my hour-long commute to work. Music makes the journey bearable.

[Guest bassman7755]

I have a hifi separates system connected to my main computer which is "always on" so gets used for everything I use the computer for: music, games, recording etc.

[Japhet]

The newest technical innovation to capture my imagination was the CD ( ), so that's where I've stayed. Really can't be arsed with MP3, phones, earbuds and have no idea what soundcloud is, and don't care. I listen to CDs in the car and trough a Bose Wave at home in our kitchen. We have an old Technics Hi Fi with Celestion Ditton speakers which was mothballed when we re -decorated and it sounds 100x better than the surround sound on our TV/DVD system. I also connect the laptop to a Blackstar Fly 3 (mini guitar amp) to listen to Youtube on stuff I need to learn.

[RockfordStone]

i listen to cd's on my hi fi system and in my car. i also listen to vinyl through my hifi. i use my ipod when i am away from my physical media but i refuse to listen to mp3's through my phone

[xgsjx]

I do a lot of walking, so earbuds are possibly my most used listening method.
In the house I tend to either use headphones or the computer's 2.1 speaker system (which is decent). If I'm in the bedroom, the phone or iPad gets plugged into a docking station (which is actually not all that good).
I also like to listen to music in the car & Bluetooth the phone to it.
Final option is listening through the iPad speakers when I'm on the shunky.

I'm really wanting a proper hifi again though. Mainly amp (w/Bluetooth), speakers & turntable (so I can dig my vinyl out again).
To me, vinyl is the best way to listen to music, as you have to actually go & put it on & turn it over 1/2 way through.

[NancyJohnson]

Listening just needs to be by convenience really. I have hundreds of CDs that rarely get used now.

In the car it's Spotify bluetooth'd into the sound system. We have an iPod in a little dock in the kitchen, a Denon Piccolo network player in the extension (Spotify and NAS delivery) and a Chromecast Audio using the Zone 2 facility on an Onkyo surround amp in the lounge (Spotify and NAS again). Home PC is via cans or studio monitors. In the office/work I listen to Spotify on earbuds off my phone.

Despite the variety, it all works well and ultimately it's just about music delivery. It all sounds fine.

All this nonsense about 'I hate MP3', is just poop. I've got a mate who runs an extremely high end hi-fi business and regales me about audiophiles who can't tell their arse from their elbows. People throwing thousands at systems and listening to NAS based MP3s ripped at 128kbps.

Edited March 6, 2016 by NancyJohnson

[vbance]

[url="https://flic.kr/p/vfEf9c"][/url]
i listen using an iPod with some quality headphones or buds most of the time but when the family are out i fire up the hifi and listen to cd's or stream to it. music is my drug, well one of them anyway.

Edited March 6, 2016 by vbance

[CletePurcel]

I have several different listening modes depending on the situation.

In order from best to worst:

The best is properly produced vinyl through a hifi separates system.
Then some CD through same system. CDs are very hit and miss depending on final mixing and mastering.
Then mp3s/flac via my PC and studio monitors.
Then mp3s/flac via an ipod/phone/tablet into a docking station/headphones

I also have a subscription to google play music, so I can listen to practically anything via my phone or tablet into my hifi, docking station, pc or tablet.

I think hifi separates probably cannot be beaten, but it is probably good that we have so much choice in how we listen.

[lowland]

I play bass in a covers band for (lots of) fun, but I'm a mastering engineer by trade. I don't listen to that much non-work music, most of what I do hear is in the car (Skoda Octavia) which more by luck than judgement on my part has one of the better in-car systems I've heard. I listen to the radio (mostly Radio 4 plus Radio 2, Radio 3 and Classic FM) and play CDs there, and am currently enjoying a changer full of old Genesis - the Chris Blair remasters of a few years ago are exemplary - and Steve Hackett's Genesis Revisited 2 double disc. I almost never play mastering work in progress in the car, although for the first time the current motor allows me to occasionally check CD text there.

If I really want to listen to something in detail I'll fire up the mastering rig - it's been a great way to learn tunes for the band, and if we transpose anything I'll run a repitched version in iZotope RX with little sonic penalty and distribute to the other guys, one of whom is also an ME.

Congrats to Cameronj279 on his Acoustic Energy floorstanders! - when I used to do eng/mix/prod I had access to AE1s in several studios over a period of about 15 years, and did good work on them.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Lots of comments to read = another good thread;)

Changing times, circumstances&getting old means I listen to stuff mainly when commuting.
I have a seperate system in my flat, but it is literally seperate. Not used since I got a Bluetooth sound bar in the living room for my telly.

I do have another system , which comprises ceiling speakers( bedroom& tiny hallway)/ CD player./ amp. I recently started using it again while in the bath, but now I've seen this thread will use a lot more. Interesting thing about this system, is that CDs not remastered sound good.

I sometimes listen to stuff through my studio monitors in my spare room also.
Must change my iTunes playlist ....

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

[quote name='vbance' timestamp='1457261438' post='2996736']
[url="https://flic.kr/p/vfEf9c"][/url]
i listen using an iPod with some quality headphones or buds most of the time but when the family are out i fire up the hifi and listen to cd's or stream to it. music is my drug, well one of them anyway.
[/quote]
Love that

[Roger2611]

I have a very decent HIFI (Exposure Amps / PMC speakers) but them for ease of use I have an old Dell computer running Windows XP with everything played through the media player, I know MP3 files are a compromise but I am happy with the sound quality / convenience trade off I have

[4stringslow]

MP3s don't have to be much of a compromise. Ok, 128kbps is pushing things but I rarely notice any artefacts at 320kbps. Anyway, with hard drive prices so cheap these days, why compress at all. I've been ripping my new CDs to wav files these days, no compression at all and same quality as the CD itself.

[CletePurcel]

As I understand it the problem is that the CDs and mp3s are often mastered to be for a particular market (like ipods and earphones) so the sound is often compressed and often sounds pretty bad compared with the original. The loudness wars.So it sometimes doesn't matter if you convert your CD to an mp3 or a full information FLAC file because it will still sound compressed and compromised compared with the original.

If I compare, say, a CD of Joni Mitchell to the same music I have on vinyl it is like night and day even played through the same system.She even commented on it herself that she was appalled at what the industry was doing to her music.

A lot of this is also subjective and some people can't tell the difference in any case or don't care which is fine.

[ambient]

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1457250020' post='2996634']
No, a real one would play 7" singles
[/quote]

Or CDs, that's what I meant, it's what my friend had. Though it looked like an old fashioned real thing .

[lowland]

Not all remasters are bad, see my earlier comment re. Chris Blair/Genesis, but there's no lack of those which have been re-released on a small budget for purely commercial reasons and the care hasn't ben taken. When I remastered albums by the 80s post-punk band The Chameleons a couple of years back, we went to considerable lengths to get the best transfer from the original 1/4" tapes; I also listened to all the previous releases, both CD and vinyl, to help guide the best approach. The band were delighted with the final result, the best seal of approval.

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1457277316' post='2996945']
Or CDs, that's what I meant, it's what my friend had. Though it looked like an old fashioned real thing .
[/quote]

Although said very much in jest, there is something about the way old 45's were mastered and pressed that suited the jukebox. I still don't really like listening to old Atlantic and Stax music on CD as I feel they were created to sound at their best on a far less perfect piece of equipment.

Oh, and my first job out of school was in jukebox record distribution, including bashing out the larger holes in the records - thousands of the things, all done manually!

[DaytonaRik]

My listening is almost exclusively done whilst on my daily rail commute so it's either iTunes or Spotify for me - it's more of a way to kill time enjoyably for 120 mins each day rather than to indulge in some sonic out of body experience!

Edited March 6, 2016 by DaytonaRik

[timmo]

It used to be a real jukebox, but it got converted from vinyl to CD. I tried loading the file, but it was too big, so I stuck it on Youtube. It resides in my shed at the top of my garden. It is only a 20 seconds
https://youtu.be/nFheE7zqH7A

Edited March 6, 2016 by timmo

[ahpook]

I listen using whatever method is most convenient at the time.

[AustinArto]

I mostly listen to music on my phone at work with a good pair of headphones, or in the car where I've got USB sticks with all my albums on. At work I've got a standing desk so I can get up and do dad dancing while I hack code. It also means our QA guy, who is an intolerable prick, is dissuaded from talking to me. Bonus.