How do you listen to your music ?

[Lee H]

I was going to do a poll but the amount of choices would have been extremely long and the forum would not allow it so I'll pose this as a question you reply to.

How do you listen to your music ?

I mainly use my PC for listening to CD's and mp3's, through a creative X-Fi card with the following settings on the X-fi setup ;

24-Bit crystalisation - on @ 75%
Speakers set to 5.1 surround.
sound set to "stereo Surround" and set at 50%
5.1 speakers spread across the bedroom with a nice nifty bass balance

I've noticed a huge increase in quality over the hi-fi downstairs so now I spend more time playing music via my PC getting ready to go out than using the Hi-fi.

So... how do you listen to yours ?

[irishjoe]

Earphones in work connected to winamp on PC.

At home, laptop if I don't want to make lots of noise. (winamp or media player)

At home and wanting to wake the dead, SFF connected to amp and 2 big ass speakers in the living room. (winamp)

[Kaos_Engine]

Normally just through headphones connected to my iRiver. If I'm at the pc and not using it for anything audio related then standard playback using my pc's stero speakers. If the pc is in use or if I want to listen to music without any interfering noise from the pc then I hook my iRiver up to my creative amp and speakers and run it in normal stero mode as music doesnt seem to sound right to me when run in any of the surround modes. That could just be because I havent taken the time to test all the settings on the creative amp or the fact that it isnt that good from a music point of view.

[DavidM]

Any time I'm playing CS - I turn the sound down and listen something decent instead

[5lab]

i've got a nice hifi (£800worth of denon kit) running off a mp101 (alternitive to the squeezebox), or my nice grado cans hooked up if i'm at my pc

[Mimp]

At home i listen to things on my PC via foobar2000 hooked up to some active studio monitors. Use a range of sound cards depending what os i'm using.

On the move it's an ipod shuffle cos i'm a posing ponce and it is small and beautiful.
Have some of those dinky sony headphones that are built into earplugs so you dont need to deafen yourself.

[herulach]

Either through the Gigaworks with the bass turned right down, or my Grados, although not recently as im deaf inone ear at the moe

[schmunk]

* mp3s from PC either through closed back headphones or through my 5.1 system attached to TV, usually with Pro Logic 2 -> 5.1

* CDs using DVD player on 5.1 system, usually with Pro Logic 2 -> 5.1

* Digital radio in kitchen - strictly mono...

[Funkstar]

right now at home i play my CDs through my DVD player and surround system. but i'll have my Squeezeboxes by the time i get home in a week or so. So then i'll have one hooked to the Pioneer reciever with Sony bookshelf speakers, and another hooked to the Harmen/Kardon Soundsticks in the bedroom.

When i'm out and about or traveling i use either my Rio karma or my K750i. I'd like to replace the karma with a Archos AV500 100gig for traveling and will probably upgrade the K750 when SonyEricsson release hard drive based phones.

Edit: Oh yeah. The car now has DAB so donæt need CDs much in there, but i'll get a CarPC and flip out screen at some point this year ...... once i pay off Blackhorse

[Howard]

Most of the time it's on my PC (music on hard drive) through Soundstorm + Creative/JBL 5.1 set (listen in 2.1 to music of course )

In my car it's through my Pioneer MP3 head unit with some select albums burnt to CDRW in MP3 format

In bed with my Zen Xtra 60GB mp3 player (all music stored on there) and Sennheiser headphones

Or on my bedroom hifi (Yamaha receiver, Monitor Audio speakers) through my MCE box or laptop


Basically, I like to hvae my music wherever I go

[Alex]

Mostly through PC -> Cambridge Audio Azur amp and 5.1 Mordaunt Short speakers, or

Pioneer DV565A -> Cambridge Audio Azur amp and 5.1 Mordaunt Short speakers - nicer sound (though not too noticeable as both use a digital connection, so most of the sound processing is done by the amp, which imo is the nicest bit of my kit) but a lot less versatile than using the PC.

Or with my Grado SR-80 headphones, which are also quite nice sounding, but not that comfortable. I still prefer the amp/speakers combo.

[autopilot]

In my living room, I have a Squeezebox 3 connected to my Cambridge Audio Azur 640a AMP, which powers my Mission 701's.

The music is streamed wirelessly to the SB3 from my PC/Music server (running slimserver) upstairs, which has a dedicated HDD (plus a 2 and for backup) holding my entire CD and downloaded music collection, which comprises of a mixture of FLAC (CD quality) and OGG files (plus some MP3's and WMA's which i used before i learnt better).

Here is the clever bit though - The SB3 is synchronised with a program called Softsqueeze which plays the music through my PC down a cable to the bedroom to my small Denon MD-30 and Kef Cresta system - so i can have the same or different music or internet radio in my bedroom.

Another cool thing is that Slimserver's web interface (complete with album art etc) can be controlled with Wifi enabled device that has a web browser, such as a PDA or Sony PSP from any room. You can do everything from adjusting the volume, changing track/album, creating playslist through to configuring Slimserver from the bath or bed etc. I can control both the SB3 and Softsqueeze from a portable WiFi divice and they don't have to synchronised, so have different music in different rooms. Sounds complicated but even my girlfriend and most techno-illiterate mates can use it with ease.

One day soon i plan to use a Homeplug solution to pipe the music around the house to every room via the power lines, and just plug a set of powered speaker in.

Apart from that, we just have a Pure Evoke DAB radio in the kitchen/bath room that belongs to my girlfriend.

Needless to say, parties at mine are pretty fun. People spooning around in different room's with different music for different, erm, 'moods' All without the expense of having my CD's collection trashed by a bunch of mash heads like it always used to and the hassle of changing CD's etc.

PS, cheers for getting my SB3 sorted Lee mate.

[hitman67]

I've got my MP3 Collection on my PC (1,630 files ) hooked up to my HiFi (£180 jobbie) so sound quaility is awesome.

[TooNice]

Currently:
NForce 2 (SoundStorm) -> Gigaworks
Or
Nforce 2 -> Hornet (headphone amp) -> Grado HF-1

I am currently looking for a good deal on a low end X-Fi and shopping for a DAC to improve my source. And also pre-ordered an AKG K701

[stud]

Getting into the HTPC scene, so upgrading sound at the mo. Used to using Soundstorm (and then onboard sound) and Creative 6.1 speakers. Now getting X-Fi Elite Pro, and so looking for much better speakers. Also got a pair of 5.1 Gainward headphones - mixed bag really (bit of fun).

[Aaron]

At home, I usually listen to the music on my PC (AAC, 320kbps) using my Denon AVR-1906 receiver and Mordaunt-Short Genie AV speakers. If I want quality then I'll use direct mode, but usually I use the 5.1 stereo mode for a big sound. I use a Creative Audigy 2 Platinum Pro ZS at the moment, but I can't say that I'm terribly impressed with it. I think I'll either be buying a Dolby Digital Live card soon or will wait for a DTS Live card to appear. If I listen to a CD, then I'll use my Denon DVD-1920 DVD player through the same amp/speakers.

On the move and in the office, I use a 60GB 5G video iPod with Shure e2c headphones.