Audio Equipment (Headphones, Amps, Players and More!)

[EcoHound]

Surely we have some audiophiles in the audience.

What's your current set up?
Do you prefer downloading lossless formats or buying physical media?
CD Players (both home and portable) or Vinyl?
Old iPods/MP3 Players/ FLAC Players
Headphones (both seeking and recommending)

Let's blow out our eardrums listening to good audio /s

I'm currently using some Grado SR80x headphones as my daily drivers and I want to try amassing a CD collection since I am losing faith in streaming so quickly. Also perhaps a FLAC player for on the go.

(Actually not sure whether or not this should be here or in the Music forum)

[Cayman]

Surely we have some audiophiles in the audience.

What's your current set up?
Do you prefer downloading lossless formats or buying physical media?
CD Players (both home and portable) or Vinyl?
Old iPods/MP3 Players/ FLAC Players
Headphones (both seeking and recommending)

Let's blow out our eardrums listening to good audio /s

I'm currently using some Grado SR80x headphones as my daily drivers and I want to try amassing a CD collection since I am losing faith in streaming so quickly. Also perhaps a FLAC player for on the go.

(Actually not sure whether or not this should be here or in the Music forum)

Hi! I actually work at a high-end hi-fi showroom and have been diving deep into this over the last year! I've learned a lot and gotten to listen to a lot of great gear, so this is right up my alley!

I've been collecting vinyl for years, and it's my favorite way to listen to music in my living space. I have a Pro-ject Origin turntable, a Sansui 3000A receiver (1974, their first solid state model, works perfectly!) and I'm outputting through AudioQuest cables to Linn 199s. I have an old dinky Sonos hookup for streaming to the system that works fine, but I might get a BlueSound streamer/DAC soon instead. I live in a small apartment so power and fidelity isn't a huge issue, I'm generally sitting five feet in front of my speakers at all times.

My headphones are AudioTechnica M40x's, and I'm usually using them connected right to my computer--no external amp or DAC. If I had the time and money to build out a good audio setup for my computer I would, but as is, it works fine for me.

I've only been learning about this stuff for a year, but it's been a blast. It can be confusing, figuring out what's worth it and what's not. I sell $5000 monoblocks to power $25,000 speakers. I can sit and train my ear, but it's hard when everything matched and set up right just all kinda sounds great!

[plumpan]

I messed around with fancy headphones and stuff in high school but ultimately decided I was best just getting something "good enough" and putting more energy (and money) towards music. I settled on Audio Technica AD700s and Sennheiser HD 25s. The former didn't last many years of regular (not super gentle) use, and also the pads are almost impossible to take off and clean. The later are basically perfect, though I recall it took a little bit to get used to the on-ear design at first. But I needed headphones for DJing and they were the best pick, they also sounded plenty good and were smaller than most other sets. Some stuff wears out, but you can actually buy replacements for them.

I have really mixed feelings on physical media. It's neat, I like it, but I don't like the space or cost or waste considerations. Moreso with new physical media, as used stuff is already out there and typically cheap. I have a lot of new records because of reasons but I'll be happy to sell them on some day when I find someone who could make use of them and wants to pay remotely what they'd be worth to sell individually. If you can find stuff at local thrifts (or the library if you're into ripping!) then that's the way to go, stuff you can only find online tends to get pricy fast, especially post 2020.

Best CD players are the ones that have MEGA BASS, it never gets old.

I'm long overdue in the process of getting a subsection of my music organized via Beets and doing a big export to an old ipod. I love my Sansa Clip+ but the screen is a bit too small for me nowadays. Old ipods are great but the transfer speed is horrific. There's no great solution for me nowadays, I'm much too accustomed to rockbox to use anything which isn't supported by it and that's a selection of various now hard to find players, each with their own unique shortcomings. But I've found sound quality to not really be an issue on ipods or clip+s.

I wouldn't remotely call it audiophile quality but I've had a hell of a lot of fun after upgrading the stereo in my car. I replaced all the speakers, put some dampening in, found a neat old head unit and an amp just powerful enough for the speakers and a relatively small sub in the back. All in it was still well under a grand, which on one hand is a lot but also not a lot in terms of car expenses nor audiophile stuff. Just got to keep little foam earplugs in the car because a lot of the fun is absolutely cranking it beyond safe hearing levels so you can feel your body vibrate from the bass.