Audiophiles of Fedi, how do you like to listen to your music?

My ears.

No just joking, YouTube music mostly. It's convenient, available everywhere, has a large catalogue, and good enough quality for me.

With all respect you’re not the definition of an audiophile at all. If anything you’re kind of the opposite
- Not everyone can discern the difference between a 96KHz FLAC and 256kbps AAC. I can't. But I still can (barely) tell the difference between 256kbps AAC, and 96kbps AAC.
  But I can tell if a song was well-engineered or a mess.
  I believe those who can't discern the difference between bitrates (especially on high bitrates), but have the appreciation for good music, good mixing, and good mastering, can still be considered audiophile.
Yes. As a lifelong musician (live & recording), you’d think I’d be more fussy about audio quality…
But I’m just not. Just like the 4k vs 2k “debate”… It’s all about CONTENT.
- Also a musician here. I cared a lot when I was younger, but I have so many other more important things to care about now. You only have so my capacity to care about stuff in your life, and the quality of my music doesn't even come close to mattering these days.

FLACs from CDs, deemix-gui, qobuz-dl, and Soulseek. 102,000 songs. Play at home with Logitech Media Server. On the road I've transcoded it all to 128kbps Opus so i can fit it on a microsd card and I play it with PowerAmp. I mostly use Blessing2 Dusk earbuds with a Shanling MW200 bluetooth neckband, but sometimes also I use Focal Clear OG open-back over-ear cans with a qdelix 5k for bluetooth.

Audiophiles don't listen to music, they listen to their headphones

FLACs through PlexAmp, either to nice headphones ($500 range) or two channel stereo into some decent speakers with a decent subwoofer. I'd like to upgrade to "full range" speakers one day and save the subwoofer for movies.

PlexAmp does FLAC when connected to Wi-Fi but I have it set to transcode if I'm using mobile data.

At home it gets played through Chromecast Audios (R.I.P) which keeps it all digital until it hits my receiver.

„Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to your music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment.“

Alan Parsons

I dunno if that's actually an Alan Parsons quote but up vote for any mention of his name. Does sound like something he'd say.

Spotify -> MOTU M2 -> HiFiMan Ananda non-stealth

"High resolution" audio is completely useless for listening (16 bit 44.1 kHz is the best it gets) and there is little value in lossless encodes for listening purposes too, so I don't get the point of all those "Hifi" streaming services.
If you own lossless encodes, I guess it doesn't hurt to use them even for listening as storage is cheap these days.

Speaking of which, I'd like to switch to purchasing my music though because Spotify will certainly continue on its path towards full enshittification. I want to be in a position where I own all my favourite music before Spotify will be infected with ads on premium plans. Oh and artists are somewhat more likely to be paid a little for their work that way (I hope...)
I plan to use the free YT music for discovery at that point.

Completely full of ads already, I routinely get promoted podcasts and gig ticket and merch notifications despite them being turned off.
- I started using Spotify lite on my phone. And thankfully, there's plenty of alternative clients on desktop (such as ncspot). No crap UI elements, just playlists.

Spotify through Sonos at home and work. Spotify on Google earbuds when out and about.

I used to really love music discovery on Spotify. I now find it's the same ald songs over and over. It finds what you like and reinforces that rather than gradually expand it.

I agree on the discovery being crap on Spotify. I started to listen to the podcast NPR new music Fridays, and get my discovery that way nowadays.

I have converted all my CDs to FLAC and I mostly listen to my music collection in stereo speakers instead of headphones because I find the sound more natural. I have built my sound system around the moOde audio software.

Music collection as flac, navidrome as streaming server, symfonium as android app and B&W P5 or B&W Pi7 S2 for headphones.

I really wanted to like symfonium (even tho its not open source), bc it is a beautiful client, but it is a battery hog. I had to go back to ultrasonic.
- I actually found all the subsonic clients to be quite heavy on my battery, so I just stuck with the one I liked the best.

FLAC's on NAS. Bluesound Node to stereo system, controlled with Roon. PlexAmp when remote.

Tidal is actually giving their lossless plan to their lower tier subscription, just got an email about it. Pretty nice.

Qobuz for me.

Best streaming sound available but I had some skipping issues even on very good connections and options for auto Playlist generation and new music discovery was way behind other services. Great if you always knew exaewhat you wanted to hear, but I went to Tidal and their focus on quality is better than most other services but the music discovery algorithms really are quite good, I find myself more eager than ever to tune in to a streaming service.

At home: Spotify through Amazon Fire TV through Klipsch The Fives.

On the move: Spotify through Jabra Elite 4 Active.

In the bathroom: Spotify through UE Boom.

I really want to ditch Spotify, but in the meantime...

Well, TIDAL just got some price cuts, and their library is pretty comparable. Just in case you didn't know.
- Just read that today! Thank you.
Same, but I want to export my playlists and liked songs from Spotify. Going through that manually atm seems like too much of a hassle.
- If you plan to move to another service, there exists a number of tools to aid in moving playlists between streamers. It is really easy, once you find a good one.
  Helped me break the feeling of being locked in due to have 100s of playlists.

Budget audiophile here: I wear Superlux HD681 semi-open back cans paired with a Creative G6 DAC/amp.

The headphones are $25 but have the the most realistic soundstage I've ever heard in a pair of cans, even better than $500+ ones. Pinna activation is almost perfect; feels more like being surrounded by speakers than wearing headphones. Makes them amazing for gaming and movies, but not the best for music due to harsh siblants in the 12kHz range, which I've managed to EQ out a bit using Equalizer APO. Nice neutral sound otherwise, mids are almost perfectly flat and bass is tight—yet full—extending well below 20hz. Honestly you can't do better without spending half a grand or more.

Ehhh, I'm ballin on a budget, so take that into account.

Generally, if I really want to sink into the music, I'm going with either my lgg7 and my beyerdynamic 770 80 ohm; or whatever device can connect with my usb DAC, a fiio q3.

I do have other options, but that's my main listening because I simply don't have the budget to do a proper system with how little I get a chance to listen to music away from headphones. My computer has a decent sound card, and some klipsch speakers that aren't bad. There's a home theater unit with cd/bluray hooked up, as well as the shieldTV, and the ability to connect via Bluetooth or cable to whatever device I prefer.

My car is decent, but not audiophile level. More bass focused than anything else.

I do have other headphones. Some tin t2s, some sonys, an old set of koss, that kind of thing.

File wise, its flac and opus.

I use poweramp and/or usb audio player pro. I prefer poweramp, but the other does bit perfect, which I do like on occasion, and it's more DAC friendly.

I'm happy with the options I have, all considered. Most of it was picked up either on sale or used. I would save up while shopping, then get the best I could get when I was ready. But the key to me is that when I want to, I can listen to anything I have and hear the nuance of it. The sound is as clean as I can get it on my budget, and in all reality, my old ears can't make use of anything fancier.

You spend almost fifty years living and listening to it loud, you aren't going to get much bang for your buck out of the really high dollar, precise gear. Hell, I can barely tell a difference between lossless files and mp3 om any given listening method. It's there, I can still hear a difference, but it's barely there for me. The better gear helps, but not enough to keep upgrading for tiny changes.

I just use YouTube music revanced

You should give ReVanced Extended a try. My biggest complaint about YT Music is that plays music videos with long intros, but with YT Music RVX you can have SponsorBlock and skip non-music parts automatically.

I use deemix to get songs and jellyfin/finamp to listen on my phone. I do miss the discovery of new music from things like Spotify or YouTube music. If anyone has suggestions for music discovery I'd love to hear about them.

Open the Nicotine program that connects to the Soulseek network, then chat with the heads on there. Name a few artists you like and they can hook you up. The most knowledgeable music listeners around. Pretty sure you can search for ppl who have files of an artist you like, and then view their entire library. (NB. Been 10 years since I've used it, so YMMV)
https://nicotine-plus.org/
Seriously though, the real answer is to resurrect whatever Audiogalaxy was doing in their recommendations-algo, shit was dope.

CDs ripped to FLAC and streamed using Emby. I also use Amazon Music. At work I have a pair of ATH-M30x headphones I really like. At home ibhave some Sennheiser HD350, which are ok, but I don't like them that much as they're not that comfy. I prefer going through the hifi - Audiolab 6000A amp, Wharfedale Pacific Evo 40 floor standers and a Wiim mini. I also have a NAD C541i CD player. On my PC I go through a NAD C320 amp and Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 bookshelves.

FLACs/Qobuz via Roon. I spend the most time in my office so that’s where my favorite setup is. LS50 Metas + SVS SB-1000 Pro + Peachtree GaN stack.

I also love my HD660s with the Bottlehead Crack tube amp I built.

I’ve got a special speaker assembly that I shove up my ass*. The bass response is particularly pleasing.

this isn’t true.

I listen to music mostly on my computer and in the car. The car system is nothing special. I listen through either some ATH-M40fs cans, or Presonus Erie 3.5 monitors, which are honestly glorified bookshelf speakers, but decent for the price, IMHO. All running from my (older gen2) Focusrite 2i4 interface.

I used to listen in the train/metro/bus a lot more, but I now work remotely. That’s where I used Bluetooth stuff. No need to worry about the cable getting stiff in the cold or stuck in my winter jacket. I had a pair of Beats Studio 3 I paid less than $100 for that were pretty decent for the price I paid. The sound was as bass heavy as you’d imagine from the brand, but not terribly overpowering for casual listening, and the ANC in particular was pretty impressive. I also had some Anker wireless earbuds I got with a coupon on Drop (formerly Massdrop) that were good enough for listening to podcasts and having background music.

In terms of platforms, YouTube Music mostly, and a hand picked selection on Plex for stuff that’s not on there or that I want to have always available. The music discovery algorithms are completely useless for me though. It’s the one thing Spotify did better than YTM for me. The “My Mix” playlists and artist radios have been pushing me the same artists for months on end now. Want to know the ironic part? I discover most of my music on YouTube (not Music) nowadays…

Honestly as far as cheap small monitors go, I really don't mind the Eries. They're not perfect for sure but they give a generally balanced sound and I paired them with a nice mackie sub to get pretty decent frequency coverage. Certainly perfectly decent for producing a variety of music and generally for listening to things.
- I’d put them in that gap between general purpose computer/multimedia speakers, and “proper” monitors. That product range used to be a pretty terrible place to be in, but these surprised me for sure. They’re flat-ish enough that I don’t feel like I’m shooting myself in the foot using them for light production work. The bass is indeed not quite it, but what can we really expect from drivers that size. I don’t have great experience using subs for production, but that’s probably me. They’re surprisingly good for the price point and form factor, at the very least.

At Home:

FLACs via mpd with a topping headphone amp and Audeze LCD2C headphones
Vinyl using an Audio Technica LP120, a Denon AV receiver and cheap wharfedale bookshelf speakers and a Klipsch subwoofer. That Setup isn't really audiophile tbh, especially because the room sounds terrible.
Streaming via Qobuz on both systems

On the go:

Everything encoded as Opus 128 kbit/s to fit on my phone. Played over Lypertek Tevy true wireless IEMs. Not really audiophile but tbh when I'm not at home I care much more about convenience as long as the audio quality is good enough.
also Qobuz, but at MP3 320 quality to save bandwidth

I wrote my own scripts to tag the music and encode it to FLAC and Opus and use syncthing to copy the files to my phone. So whenever I add an album to the library it will be available every where I want in the specified format without any manual copying involved. It's a little janky but has worked surprisingly well for years.

PC Spotify -> Schiit Modi -> Schiit Vali 2 -> PreSonus Eris E4.5 speakers.

Or

Pixel 8 Pro Spotify -> "TempoTec Sonata HD PRO" USB DAC -> Meze 99 Classic headphones.

Does anyone think it's worth moving to Tidal for my music?

Also, I'm running out of space on my desk. I can put the stack of Schiit on top of a speaker with minimal effects, right?

I did recently and will not be going back to Spotify. There are so many small things with Tidal - actual patch notes each update, updates which clearly address user reported concerns/issues, straightforward playlist management and queue controls, an actual shuffle that isn't some weird interaction based algorithm, and of course the quality. There's been so many times I'll be listening to a song, which I've listened to many times on Spotify, and notice something in the backing track which I wasn't aware of or some aspect of a singer's voice or instrument which really pops and adds texture. They also have great recommendations and a Daily Discovery playlist. And finally - it's just music; no scrolling through podcasts or non-music this... Just high quality, easy to manage, music.

Tidal HiFi/medium tier ->Equalizer APO with just a tiny bit of tuning -> a xDuoo stack of USB DAC + hybrid tube amp -> Sennheiser HD560S

Definitely a little bit of overkill. But still overall fantastic budget, and do it all setup. Competitive shooters, movies, and music all sound fantastic.

My next goal is a multibit DAC + tube only amp -> something like a HD 6XX. Or maybe a good solid state -> planar magnetic headphones.

At home: FLACs ripped from CDs (prefer to buy albums I enjoy instead of Spotifying them) -> KORG DS-DAC 100 -> TEAC AX-501 -> Elac Carina BS243.4

On the go: The same FLACs on Pixel 6 Pro -> B&O Beoplay HX

Sennheiser 6XX

A technics changer or linear tracker. I think the changer has a shure cartridge still but the linear tracker has an at. Sometimes through a pair of numark ttxs with m447s and a rane.

MusicBee on PC

Vinyl Music Player on my phone

Local mp3s and flacs work the best

I dabble with YouTube Music and music-map.com for music discovery

Haven't found a nice self hosted music streaming setup that I'm happy with (unsatisfied with the apps and features). I want a nice looking app (super subject of course) that supports offline play and ReplayGain. I'm super happy with Navidrome but not with the Windows/Android apps

With a drink.

My current chain is Tidal + Schiit Asgard DAC/amp + Audeze LCD-X. Moved from Spotify to Tidal last month and will never go back. I definitely prefer headphones over speakers, but have really been enjoying IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitors.

Did you look at Qobuz too? Seems pretty decent
- I did! I do think it's a great alternative, but when moving some of my playlists over, I saw too many missing songs. They were my more niche playlists/genres so I was kind of expecting it. Tidal didn't have all of them either, but did have more so I decided to go with them.
Moved from Spotify to Tidal last month and will never go back.
Will you consider moving back if Spotify bring HiFi as it announced? I mean no once can beat it's catalog.
- I definitely can't argue about the size of their library! While the continued dragging of their feet on HiFi was frustrating (years of telling us it was coming), the thing which finally drove me away is their constant tweaking of playlist and queue management.
  I mainly use their desktop client and controls would disappear with each update- no way to block songs, inability to remove a song from auto generated queues, playlists not syncing between devices, songs being weighted in a shuffle. I made a post on their forums about the missing options for their autoplay queues- their response was that while there was no button or context menu option to remove a song, I could select it and use the delete key. I just gave up on whatever type of user experience they want me to have.

I use the schitt magnius and modius as my DAC amp and the meze 99 classics as my headphones (though im looking on upgrading because my dacamp is overkill)

Spotube is my music player but by necessity im looking for something better if somone wants to recommend 👀

Love the Meze 99 Classics, worth every penny!

HD 560S for the cans. For my source, I use spotify, using my local library of FLACS for the stuff I like a lot, and just normal spotifly for everything else.

If I want the highest quality streaming, then Amazon Music.

Otherwise, things I've purchased in 96khz or 192khz from ProStudioMasters.com

I work in the audio post industry, so I'm generally listening on my work rig either through Genelec speakers or Beyer DT880 Pro headphones, fed by a UA Apollo audio interface.

Mostly? I have uncompressed FLAC encoded music on my Plex server, and I listen to that streaming through over ear (Bose NC-700) headphones on a computer, or on our home theater system (Monitor UK, 2 stand speakers, 2 rear wall speakers, 1 subwoofer) with an Onkyo receiver.

I also listen to Tidal hifi a bunch and electronica on youtube because some of the Boiler Room and other club mixes are pretty dope :)

Flacs on a server direct streamed to my source. Jellyfin is nice. for on the move I buy sony phones just cause they still have a headphone jack. I prefer to download what i want before i leave but also not a big deal. at home i use moodeaudio attached to my setup or kodi

For earphones I have a set of KZ ZSN Pro X IEMs for when I'm on the go, when I'm at home I have my Audio Technica ATH-M50X.
On the player side I love InnerTune as a YouTube Music Frontend, while for analog I refurbished my father's BSR turntable and Phillips amplifier, both straight from the '80s

24bit 96kHz FLAC (purchased from Bandcamp & HDTracks) -> JRiver Media Center software player -> Merging Anubis Pro DAC -> Coleman Audio M3PHmk2 passive monitor controller -> Pass Labs X250 class A solid state power amp -> B&W Nautilus 802 3-way floor standing speakers

Or if from vinyl KAB modded Technics SL1200mk2 -> Shure V-15MR cartridge -> Simaudio Moon LP5.3 balanced preamp ->

(in 20' x 14' x 9' room with bass traps, absorbers and diffusors by GIK, ATS, and Auralex)

Plex, though I do occasionally listen to online radios using my podcast player

I buy it if I can find it on a platform where the money is actually going to the musician. Then, I upload it in CD quality FLAC format to FunkWhale, and also add it to the SD card in my DAC (a Shanling Q1). Where it's convenient I listen on the DAC, where it's not I stream through FunkWhale.

Amazon music streaming has flac with their HD quality, I really like my Vanatoo speakers with optical in

General listening: Spotify + car speakers w/ EQ

Immersive listening: FLACs + HD 560S w/ EQ + Scarlett 2i2 + foobar2k

On the go: Truthear Nova IEMs + DAC via Sony Xperia 5 III LineageOS for microG phone or Shanling Q1 DAP (rarely Sony WF-1000XM3 if wireless is a requirement)

At home: Moondrop Variations IMEs + DAC via Moto M2 audio interface (all machines running Linux)

Music from: Bandcamp or Soulseek via Nicotine+, occasionally YouTube for discovery

Is there an active community outside of Reddit and headfi where one can talk about this? I haven't seen anything on Lemmy.

One place I frequent anytime I'm looking for an upgrade or just general information is https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php
The people there tend to discuss things which can go slightly over my head, but that's something I appreciate since it gives me things to look into and learn.
- Thanks a bunch

NAS -> ALAC, high-res files -> Plexamp -> Sound Blaster's recently top-end sound card (name?) -> Schiit Heretic amplifier -> Sony MDR-1ADAC headphones

Or

NAS -> ALAC, high-res files -> Nvidia Shield (via Plex) -> Yamaha RX-A8A receiver -> Polk Monitor 70 tower speakers

Easier question to answer: how don’t I listen to music:

Out of my phones speaker.

I’ve got a few pairs of earbuds, headphones, headphone dacs, and 2.0 system attached to my TV, Oh and the “premium” audio system my Prius came with. Spotify, Apple Music, Plex… wired, wireless

Were you looking for something specific?

Sources:
• FLAC on Plex or Jellyfin
• Apple Music set to highest quality

Output:
• Bluetooth to Car speakers when driving
• AirPods when walking
• AppleTV to Denon receiver to Polk speakers when playing music for whole house (occasionally I use a turntable here instead)
• iPad to a 2.1 Edifier setup playing VSQ when falling asleep

Not often enough:
• Technics SL-1200MK5G or SL-1500C to my AKG K240 Studio headphones
• high

Edit:
Now I’m gonna have to go back through all my old Lemmy posts because there’s so much info here it feels like I doxxed myself.

Modded Rockbox iPod with Wolfson DAC and 500gb storage. Around 150gb of CC music.

Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones.

A bunch of old CDs, played on 2 shelf stereos or in car.

On phone, .opus files with Aeropex Aftershockz(average sound) or 2x UEBoom2 paired in stereo(slightly above average)

I’ve got 3 options currently:

Sennheiser HD450s for on the go and at work
Sennheiser HD6XX for my desktop setup
PC/AppleTV/Turntable > HiFi Berry running Alpine Linux > Yamaha HS8s for the entertainment center

I’m not crazy picky about my digital source as 95% of the audio quality comes from the hardware to my ears. It’s rare I notice a poor quality encode.

TIDAL, K3/K7 (the K7 isn't portable), Sennheiser HD600s, and a pair of Hifiman HE1000s that I just bought. Both DACs work on all of my devices.

Buy on Bandcamp, listen with Strawberry.

Download from Deezloader, listen with Lollypop on desktop and Auxio on mobile.

I also transfer all my music to my Hauwei watch GT2.

Edit: not sure if I count as an audiophile.

I use Neutron Audio Player which has a profile for my headphones but at the same time I don't really think Bluetooth could realistically be called audiophile.

So yeah I do the best with what I've got but don't really go crazy with it.

At the houses of my audiophile friends.

I’ve got a shitty little apartment, no home system. But I drive Uber, and I take great pride in always having excellent music playing when I’ve got a passenger.

I play spotify through usb to the car’s system. It doesn’t sound so great.

But most of my friends are more well off than me, and have great home sound systems. One’s got an underground theater, with a super heavy door. You close that door, the silence is like being in a tomb.

I've got speakers for every occassion. Several in-ears, over ears, monitor phones, Bluetooth speakers, and main amp and stack. Because of this it all sits in that top of middle range to bottom of high range, else I'd be broke.

Mainly use Spotify and vinyl.

Mainly use Spotify and vinyl.
Talk about chalk and cheese…
- Well, I don't bother with lossless anymore outside of my own production. Not everything in the house is hooked up to EQs and I'm not hauling them out everytime I play music. So it's almost pointless these days.

I still have my iPod. It works great.

Sadly I have to rely on Windows to continue filling it up with songs. But it sounds better than my phone, even with AAC files (I have quite a lot of ALACs on there but they don't make a difference sound wise).

Really wish that Apple revives the iPod to target it specifically to audiophiles.

Dynaco ST-70 (stereo tube amp, mine is maybe 1960s?), 8Ω tap to either Klipsch Heresy II or Vandersteen 1c speakers.

I've had the Klipschs for 20+ years, so to me they're sort of reference/completely neutral speakers. (I know Klipschs aren't everyone's cup of tea though.)

Openback neutral headphones. Listen to music the way it was mixed. Obviously higher bitrate is better, but I cave in to the convenience of streaming and am content with minimum 320kbps for casual listening. Definitely lossless for critical listening.

At home I have a set DML panel speakers set up in a 2.1 channel system with a subwoofer. The panels themselves are made of EPS polystyrene that has been sanded down and coated in wood glue, are about 1 meter tall, 30 centimetres wide and 2 centimetres thick (3 foot 3 inches tall, 1 foot wide and 4/5 inches thick) and have rounded edges and corners. Each panel has a Dayton Audio 10 watt exciter mounted to it on the location recommend on their website. The subwoofer is a ported down firing unit, which I have placed in the corner of the room for corner loading.

Pixel 6, Apple dongle and Truthear Hexa in the streets, Shiit Magni+Modi and Hifiman Sundara in the sheets.

At home mainly records. Rega P6 as a player, marantz amp and totem speakers or koss esp/95x headphones.

On the go Qobuz on my phone to cayin ru7 dac and campfire Andromeda iems.

I match the music to the speaker. I don't buy gear to match the music.

Any sufficiently high quality audio stream from my Plex or Tidal, always set to max volume in app/OS settings -> Topping D30 -> JDS Atom -> Sennheiser HD6XX.

Good enough for me.

Not an audiophile, so bexcuse the ignorance, but what is the logic of max volume in app?
- The goal is to send the exact, unmolested digital samples from the file out to the DAC, which then sends its analog signal to the amp where you worry about how much to amplify that signal for listening.
  When you set everything to 100% volume in software, you can assume that there is no software doing anything to alter the digital signal before sending it to the DAC (scales each sample by 1.0). But when you're under 100% volume in software, it assumes you don't have any analog control over the volume, so it needs to step in and alter the digital signal so that it shows up quieter to the DAC (ex. scaling each sample by 0.25). Depending on how that's implemented, it can result in losing resolution and thus quality of the signal.
  I think this mattered more on older software that's more likely to use a smaller bit depth, but bugs happen, so why risk it and spend those extra cycles on a process that can only result in a worse signal, right?

Not sure if I count as an audiophile but here’s my list o’ stuff I’ve acquired over the years and like the best:

My house had speakers built into the ceiling when I moved in so I have a Denon AVR-S760H amp and play audio through the surround sound with an AppleTV, record player, or whatever other source. (I forget the record player model but it’s just one of the mid-tier Sony ones.) I also have some Sennheiser HD 598 headphones that I love the sound on. They’re open back so not appropriate for travel but if I’m alone and not in the living room, that’s my go-to.

I really like Sennheisers and I eventually splurged on a pair of 4.50 SE over the ear ones for travel. They have noise cancellation and a closed back so they work great on flights or trains. I like them a lot.

I also have some Beats Fit Pros that I use a lot. Most earbuds don’t stay in my ears very well so the little nubbin hook on the Beats Fits is really what prompted that decision but the audio quality ended up being perfectly fine for the form factor. Sometimes, you’re exercising or just listening to a podcast or a work call. They ended up being a good purchase.

PC (MPD with Ario frontend) -> SMSL DO100 -> Rotel A11 Tribute -> KEF Q150. I'm upgrading to KEF LS50 Metas next week, can't wait.

Very loud.

The best quality that is convenient.

On the go? Bluetooth headphones from Spotify.
At my desk? Open back sennheisers from the FLAC from the NAS, or Spotify.

Bluetooth Xiaomi headphones because convenience is king (and I can't afford to pay more than $200 for audio equipment lol)

Not sure if I merit being called an audiophile, but...

Huge collection of mp3s ripped from CDs. Stored locally, currently using a Unihertz Jelly Star as a glorified digital audio player, running BlackPlayer EX, which I like for it being a good mix of minimalist and giving me freedom to customize as much as I feel I need. When I'm using headphones, I want my ears uncovered so I use Shokz bone conduction headphones.

Plex -> Android -> Synfonium (use internal decoder) -> Meizu Hii+ DAC -> IEMs

I lose some information because of the Android resampler however most of my library is 16/44.1 flac. Although my collection of 24/96.2 is growing.

in silence.

Car mostly now. 2.5” Pioneer dash speakers, 6.5” Polks and 6.5” Kenwoods, 10” Pioneer sub and monoblock amp. About a million times better than any upgraded audio system in a new car. Crystal clear audio, very tight controlled bass. It’s sublime.

Otherwise in the house from Apple Music Lossless through the Sonos Arc+sub gen 3+ surrounds and HomePod minis, very rarely through the home theater Atmos syste (Yamaha TSR-700 and Onkyo fronts and sub, and Niles in ceiling surrounds).

I’m a firm believer in not wasting money on expensive amps and gear for marginal gains (pardon the pun). I went to school for audio engineering and have mixed on $100K speakers. They sounded phenomenal but I have more fun in my car with its ~$600 system than anywhere else. Audio is very psychoacoustic. When you’re groovin’ the system almost doesn’t matter.

Buy albums on Bandcamp, Stream from Tidal, get a USB DAC + either vintage amp/speakers (almost anything pre 80 is good) or modern amplified speakers.