What do you listen to most.........

Headphones or speakers

Just got myself a pair of cans, and have been trying them out.

For those that have both, what is the ratio of 'Phones vs speakers, do you find yourselfs listening more to your headphones for the sake of domestic harmony, or do you prefer the presentation of one over the other, and which do you prefer fo late night, main rig down low or headphones with plenty welly?

AK

 

When I had phones the ratio was about 99.99% speakers. Then I got an amp without a headphone socket, and sold the cans.

 

Do you live on yer own Issac?

 

when i used to work in an office it was probably 80/20 with headphones. now i'm at home it's speakers 100%. i now use my headphones on my pc for when my kid's playing games on it and i want to watch tv.
cheers


julian

 

I do now.

 

Cans mainly, as I do a fair bit of listening at work, when travelling to work or somewhere else, in the gym or late at night at home, where I don't want to distrub anyone.

 

50/50 between speakers and cans for me.

Used to generally prefer speakers, as they nearly always sounded better. Now I like both about equally, at least with my present headfi setup. Most headphones fail to hit the spot with me, these ones although not the last word in neutrality do the music playing thing very well indeed.

 

I only use headphones when on the move or past 11pm (if my housemate's not rocking out still!), but those new Beyers (cheers Paul!) are excellent, so it's good fun cranking up the Rega Ear with some nice vinyl or even CD, and immersing in it...

The only problem with my new Beyers over the Sennheiser 580s is that they ruthlessly reveal flaws in production on psy-trance - such as clicks in samples - so stuff like Cosmosis' last, which sounds ace on speakers, still sounds ace, but it's very easy to hear how the track's been put together.

Which is good, 'cos I'm going to start writing some tunes soon - time for a PC upgrade first mind you!

 

Beyers - what Beyers would they be?

I currently have some Beyer DT 250's (I think - from memory) - and they're fantastic ... but more suited to the studio rather than normal casual listening.

I did try out several Sennheiser (sp?) cans, but most I auditioned tended to suffer from hugely over-inflated bass.

I'm looking for something in the sub £100 range - which sound transparent, are comfortable, and closed back (to stop sound leaking out!) ... if anyone can recommend something please do!

Getting back on topic - most of my listening is nowadays done in work, so probably cans:speaker ratio is 90:10.


Steve

 

Glad you like em Dom, as for them revealing bad recordings, well they do that (what headphone doesnt?) but I find they dont punish bad recordings too heavily - one of the few things I like about them; another thing is how I dont feel compromised as much listening to them in comparison to speakers, as seems to be the case with the majority of headphones I've heard so far.

www.askdirect.co.uk

Sony MDR-CD1700

 

Beyerdynamic DT531

Paul - the Cosmosis one is very well recorded, but they still reveal the "technique" of it Certainly on some of the shockers I've fed them (Sex Pistols and Dead Kennedys for a start!) they've ROCKED, never getting harsh

Does anyone want my Sennheiser 580s??? (severely tempted to keep them, but can't justify that R-E-E-A-LLY )

 

Almost tempted by your 580's, but like you cant reeeeaallly justify keeping em, I probably cant reeeaalllly justify buying them either, hehe

 

About 50/50 in my case. I'd much rather hear the speakers, but the computer's in the same room and the family's younger ladies and I don't have quite the same tastes in music.

 

I don't own a pair of headphones anymore, and I haven't done so for over a year now, so that answers the question pretty emphatically as to where my preference lies! However that may change, come September I'm off to uni and in halls I think my neighbours would prefer I got a set of headphones than let rip with the speakers...

 

Dom, YGPM mate.

 

He he - missed your last one dude - but caught this one

 

As I don't have headphone out on my amp my wife tends to watch TV with headphones whilst I use speakers......

 

Yeah Paul and remind here it costs about £1500 to do 'phones right, and she'll keep on doinhg it.

 

Good thought AK

Mind you we have a deal that if I spend cash on hi-fi she gets the same amount to spend... So the main objector might be my bank manager