I will play along, give me a scenario to select only one option.
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The rest of your life. You get one option.
The exercise is to make a value decision. For me, it would be some IEM and a great source for it. And I realize, in a year I might choose differently given the same choice.
I am ok with this being a point in time exercise.
That is too vague, rest of your life in what context?
Do I live alone, in a house, a shed, or homeless?
On a deserted island, overpopulated city like in Blade Runner?
Am I traveling?
What can I afford?
What is my source, digital, vinyl, streaming?
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Your current life. No other changes. Just only have one system.
Right now…….my headphone set up. I will sacrifice my movie/tv enjoyment by listening to the crappy speakers built into the tv.
Edit; now with that data point, what does that mean within the context of what you initially proposed?
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If I had to pick either headphones or 2 chl audio, its easy 2 chl audio. Why, My whole family can enjoy it. As one of the oldest on this site, we entertain or we did before covid, but anyway. hard to entertain and enjoy music with a headphone and I’m not about to string a bunch of headphones on a device to let 2, 4, 6, 8 or 20 people listen to music. So my choice is my 2 Chl system or even my HT system which are separate in different areas of the home. If I had to give up both, sure, as I can listen to my wife play her baby grand while I join her on guitar. To me its more about enjoyment than total isolation by myself.
But since this is all hypothetical anyway, I enjoy my audio gear, all of my audio gear as I enjoy my other hobbies.
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Just curious about people’s desires.
But what’s more important is why? You were willing to give up movies/tv. Is it just that music is more important to you?
None of it’s important. These are all luxury goods. People are going to assign value based on their wants, desires, use cases, financials, etc… which is going to differ from person to person.
We don’t have to give up one thing to get another. None of these things are mutually exclusive.
I think this entire conversation is completely lacking in common sense, no offense intended. Should a person in an 2nd floor 800 square foot apartment get a massive 2.1 speaker system and crank the volume 24/7? No. Would they probably prioritize headphone/IEMs? Yeah.
I don’t see what there is to discuss about that. Why are we pretending the obvious is not obvious?
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I read this and have now pretty much abandoned my post for this thread.
But just to rescue my post a bit: screw speakers, IEM agnostic, yay headphones.
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I agree, totally situational. Get the best you can for the situation, space, significant other that you have.
Like I said earlier in the thread, if you can have all of them situation permitting why limit yourself to one…
Meanwhile my little lady and I are listening and watching music videos via Tidal on a 5.1 Surround sound system, another time it will be strictly listening via a 2.1 channel system spinning vinyl, maybe even dancing or when she sleeps I will be listening via a headphone rig.
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To get to know each other and see other view points than your own.
It seems like most people’s view points here are that they want and own both headphones and speaker setups.
It seems you are challenging that notion a bit? If you want to know our view points, the view point is we all like everything.
edit: except @ProfFalkin doesnt like everything. he hates beyers and hifiman.
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Here here!
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That’s not true!
Oh wait, yes it is.
Carry on. Nothing to see here.
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Not at all. I spent decades assuming headphones couldn’t compete with home theater systems. I was wrong. What else did I miss?
Hearing how others value the different aspects of audio helps me expand my own experience.
I also don’t get this challenging thing. Gonna quote myself from the first post:
I don’t understand how that is being interpreted as anything other than a request for people to share their stories and what they value.
If you want context from me, I am considering going all in on IEMs, or returning to a theater build. Or possibly neither and putting money into a hot tub. Don’t know yet. But hearing how others have balanced and valued different systems is useful to me.
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So I’ve reconsidered the scenario, going with a Taylor acoustic guitar. Specifically this one:
Will give me years of pleasure for little investment, does not require a source, electricity, and during the end of days I could use it to defend myself, or end up using the wood to make a fire for warmth. Also cook up the last rat in the world. Imagine Book of Eli type of world.
That’s my choice and I’m sticking to it
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You got it. Steel strings for using as a garrote, or cutting through meat.
Stock, can be a good club, and the main body, well that’s the fire wood. If I really wanted to do some damage then a Les Paul would be a great tool.
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Never underestimate the bard.
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I understand your thought process from perhaps a philosophical circumstance, but we all here have a little bit of everything for different reasons. I own speakers setups, various IEMs and various headphones. I don’t necessarily limit myself to only one thing nor do I have to.
If you have a large amount of disposable income you are willing to spend (you said so in your earlier comments), why not use it for a little bit of everything and find out which path takes you the audio nirvana?
You can start with IEMs and that’s a nice choice for portability and flexibility – plus its cheapest probably.
If room acoustics is an issue and you still want speakers, maybe try near-field speakers and a small distance (like a desk setup). There’s a great line of really nice gear from companies like Genelec that do near-field stuff with great quality and little compromise if you narrow your listening distance.
I personally will take speakers any day if I have the house to myself. If I don’t I will take headphones in my office or on the couch. If I am at work, I’ll grab my IEMs usually, but I do leave a closed-back headphone at work. Different use cases for different needs and desires.
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