How do you listen to music

[UKSkydiver]

Never been an audiophile, but we have a lot of music on pretty much all the time.

In the old house I had a 'load' of Slim Devices / Logitech Squeezeboxes synced.

I carried this across to the new house, but it ran a server / client software on an old Dell desktop and it became pretty unreliable with loss of sync and hangs.

Fast forward a couple of years and I got a Google Home Mini and started to get a few IoT devices. Nothing fancy.

I then found out I could cast to Chromecast devices. So I hooked up some cheap Chromecast Audios to the main hifi speakers and a couple of the old Squeezebox Booms I had already invested in.

Add in a free Spotify account and cue voice activated, synced music around the house.

The music we listen to is either podcasts or random within a couple of genres, so just ask the nice Google lady for a playlist and we don't need a premuim account.

 

[chthon]

Personally, I started a couple of years ago to digitize my music collection. LP's with a turntable with A/D converter and Audacious to Flac. Then I ripped my CD collection to Flac. I also discovered that good music could be found on Youtube.

I listened with headphones on the job. Not too loud, more as nice noise against noisy people in the office (on the phone, laughing, people with annoying voices in long desk meetings). But I wanted to listen to my music collection in different settings: from my computer, from my phone, in the car. So I wrote some software to transcode all music files in different files to different formats, so that I could use MP3 on portable players and in the car, or to OGG on my computer devices or my phone, or....

With Covid, I made sure I could listen either on the stereo in my home office or via headphone (depends upon my mood). We also took a Spotify Premium account so that my daughter and me could listen to any music we liked (my wife only had a short time an account, she rather listens to the radio).

And I have in the car a memory stick with my favorite music, but I can also connect my Phone with BT to my car and listen to Spotify.

 

[StJayJay]

I’ve still got my hifi I bought at uni 22 years ago from Richer Sounds. It’s all packaged away though due to space and 20 small fingers attached to 2 mischievous brains. I’ve got tons of CDs but not bought any new for years now, it’s all iTunes or Spotify. Tend to stream to a bose speaker or airplay from phone to the Sky Q box, sacrificed quality for convenience.

 

[Crappyfish]

Vinyl for me. Project turntable and a 80s pioneer amp.

 

[Spit]

Love my quad 303/33 but the naim mu so is just mind blowing.

 

[Hoppyland]

All of my vinyls and CDs (there's a lot! Classical, rock, jazz, blues, folk, you name it) are now ripped to FLAC, so I play them through my desktop PC (lounge) or laptop (elsewhere). I've got 3 amp/speaker setups, in my lounge, kitchen and outside workshop. I also stream a lot of stuff, either from BBC Sounds, or Idagio for a wider range of classical. I've tried Spotify (free) to listen to more jazz, but wasn't impressed with the sound quality.

 

[RichardM]

Vinyl for me. Project turntable and a 80s pioneer amp.

I use a very old Project turntable and have a Project phono to USB thing that I use to digitize the vinyl

 

[London]

I've tried Spotify (free) to listen to more jazz, but wasn't impressed with the sound quality.

The free version of spotify is 160 Kbps at best the premium is 320 Kbps.

 

[trummy]

Y tube streamed to laptop and headphones. Still got my Musical Fidelity separates and Misson Cyrus speakers, but I used to go to a lot of live gigs and have got used to the visual aspect.

 

[Skippi]

Qnap for network storage, streaming from the Qnap & Internet Radio Stations to a number of Squeezebox devices & Raspberry PI / HifiBerry Amps in most rooms throughout the house / cabin.

 

[Graz]

As my family now largely monopolise the music choice in the house the bulk of my listening is either on phone + Spotify + these whilst out for a run:

Or when they're out and I'm working in the "home office" AKA our bedroom I have an Onkyo mini system up there with a Chromecast audio listening to either Spotify or something from my own collection off our home server (FLAC rips of my CD collection). Except the hard drive with all the music on has just thrown a wobbly, I do have another copy of it all somewhere.....

Would ultimately like a decent separates system and some sort of listening room but currently in a semi-detached house so not sure the neighbours would appreciate that at the moment.

 

[UKSkydiver]

I've tried Spotify (free) to listen to more jazz, but wasn't impressed with the sound quality.

The free version of spotify is 160 Kbps at best the premium is 320 Kbps.

I am clearly an audio-heathen as it all sounds ok to me

 

[MartinF]

Synology NAS, for the most part streaming to old but quality Squeezebox Duets. Can also stream to any capable device (eg phone, ipad etc) over my network or over the internet.

Ditto. Just upgraded from my old, slow starter Synology DS213j to a new DS220+. It seems to run about 15-20 times faster than the old one.

I still have an ancient analogue amp (A&R Cambridge) but I found a device called a Pure Jongo a couple of years back, which will connect either via WiFi or Bluetooth to a music player (like DS Audio) and has an analogue audio output to my amp. One day I might go digital, but I have no great urge to do so, now that most of my music is digitised onto my NAS.

Likewise, I can also stream from my NAS wherever I am in the world, though my ISPs broadband connection sometimes does its best to prevent it.

 

[Hoppyland]

I am clearly an audio-heathen as it all sounds ok to me

Not at all - I think it likely depends on what kit you play it through. I've got reasonable HiFi gear. Not silly-expensive, though: in my lounge I've got a £400 amp hooked up to some large floorstanding speakers that were highly rated in the 1980s. The difference in sound quality between, say mp3 and flac is absolutely obvious (even to my wife, who is 70 and unfortunately is starting to experience significant hearing loss). Listening to music, especially classical, is one of my main interests these days, so the sound quality is really important to me.

 

[Hoppyland]

The free version of spotify is 160 Kbps at best the premium is 320 Kbps.

Yes, I know that's the issue. My problem, though, is that I'm already paying a top-price Idagio subscription for lossless streaming of classical music, and I can't really justify another outgoing. Especially since I'd mainly want it for modern jazz - which my wife isn't too keen on! I've just bought a Brewster Beacon 40 to make my brewdays easier, and I don't want to push things too far!!

 

[devexwarrior]

I mainly listen with my ears.

I tried listening with my knees but it wasn't the same, especially as my knees ain't what they used to be. They used to be my elbows!

 

[Sym]

Amazon music through alexa, the TV, or the amp for the family stuff. Sound cloud through the amp for my stuff.

 

[DavidHatton]

For streaming we use Spotify through the Sonos play 5, my Vinyl set up pending....

 

[Alastair70]

Mostly, streaming from iPhone 11 through Sennheiser True Momentum 2 earbuds.
When I get time to spoil myself, vinyl on a Rega RP1 through a Chinese valve amp bought off eBay for a couple of hundred quid and mid-range Mission speakers. The sound is amazing for the price point. My 2 sons have been converted to vinyl and have been buying each other LPs for birthdays and Christmas for the last couple of years.

 

[Subtle Duck]

This is my usual. Custom built vintage style horn set up. Not something that will rattle to your bones, but sounds pretty good.