A) listen only to headphones
B) listen to speakers with little headphones
C) listen mostly to headphones with little time with speakers
D) 50/50 speakers/headphones
I was 95% into 2 channel setups and slowly switched over to about 50/50. I like how they are very different and I get much different itches scratched with each. I love how headphones take room acoustics totally out of the situation but also no headphone has fulfilled my soundstage, imaging and live portrayal obsession. Such a different feeling when you hear voices in your brain versus hearing an imaged five foot head screaming at you in your living room
Good question, for me its about 40/60 (headphones/speakers) these days since my GF moved in and her friends are always over so we usually have the speakers going most of the time but I do like to chill with headphones and when gaming late at night.
I’m also about 50/50. About 2hrs on the 2.0 setup when I get home to chill and relax and then about 2hrs on the headphones to close my night before going to sleep.
My favorite lately is listening to my headphone setup in bed but tend to stay up too late and even though I use closed back, the music tends to leak out and bother my fiancé thus me having to stop. Im still trying to find a pair that doesn’t bleed loudly
I guess we can add in to the equation the amount of home theater 2.1 to 7.1 channels also. I use a pair of zu audio dirty weekends for our home theater and don’t need a sub. do all you have home theater setups too?
2.0 - Two systems. Each system has a preamp, two DACs, two headphone amps (one tubed and one solid state), a Bryston streamer / player, and a Sonore streamer.
Just sold off my HT gear. Still have the 2-channel Monitor Audio Gold Reference speaker sets.
I have two BDP-2s and a BDP-1. Use the BDP-2 with MPD and the BDP-1 with Roon. Both BDP-2 have the IAD board factory installed. Does your BDP-2 have the upgrade? I bought both of mine used, and made it a point to purchase factory installed (not the upgraded) ones. Considered upgrading to BDP-3 ($1500 each) but from what I read it’s not a big sound quality upgrade.
It’s my experience that home theater, esp surround sound, is a whole different ball of wax from 2 channel music setups.
I like my 7.1 home theater setup because all the speakers are bipolar, the sound is nebulous in directionality giving a more engulfing feel without losing the surround effect, and will shake your teeth lose when explosions in movies erupt. Exactly the opposite of what I want when listening to music.
I’m more involved in this time in my life, enjoying my 2 chl system about 70% of the time and headphones about 30%. Of course some days depending on how I feel about music, placing my headphones on to separate myself from my surroundings they get utilized throughout the day. All depends on my mood.
As I live in an apartment with a family, I really don’t have room for a listening space for speakers. I have a speaker system set up in each room but they are set up to fill the room rather than aim at a certain spot.
So, my speaker listening is for BGM purposes (or bass rehearsal) whereas my dedicated listening is done on headphones.
To be honest, the majority of my listening is done while I work in the office (mostly on headphones also), so home listening is really only at weekends.
Probably 50% headphones, 10% IEMs, 10% computer monitor, and 30% TV soundbar and subwoofer. Soundbars are a lot better than the old days, and often indistinguishable from a 2.1 setup for casual TV or video.
I’ve got three 2 channel systems and am in the process of building up a fourth.
Didn’t have any home theater equipment until last fall when I bought a 2000 era SONY HTR. It’s out in the garage to serve as the core for a system to be built up out there after I finish the fourth 2 channel.
@ProfFalkin I totally agree with the different sound that most want in a HT setup vs a 2 channel setup. Explosion rumbles are awesome and a must. One day I’ll get a good subwoofer too
@rrwwss52 I don’t have the upgrade. I wonder how much it improves with it. The non upgrade version sounds amazing!
My research says the IAD upgrade is worthwhile and is a big performance jump. Anything made in late 2015 (and later) has it factory installed. Without the upgrade, the BDP-2 uses the same JULI card as the BDP-1, but has much better memory efficiency. Via USB, performance should be close. The AES/EBU and BNC would be a step behind. It’s about $500 to have it upgraded by Bryston. The performance upgrade between the BDP-2 and BDP-3 is far narrower. Chris Rice, Bryston’s BDP guru says he can’t tell a sound quality difference b/t a BDP-2 and a BDP-3. Some features were added to the BDP-3; most of which are only marginally important to me.
I’d like to add car audio to the mix, even if not as utilized as much as the others.
I miss my years ago car sound system: Pioneer head unit & 12-disc CD changer --> Phoenix Gold amplifier --> Boston Acoustics 6.5 in front coaxials | 5x7 in rear coaxials | JL Audio 12 in subs. Red light, windows down, turn it up. Listening in the car was preferred over listening at home on my Aiwa stack system at the time.
