Speakers are best. The question is, how much do you hate your neighbors?

Headphones with something capable of proper low freqs and infrasonics can be a really nice experience, but overall I do prefer big speakers to do my sound duties over any other method.

Tiido wrote on 2026-04-20, 20:24:

Headphones with something capable of proper low freqs and infrasonics can be a really nice experience, but overall I do prefer big speakers to do my sound duties over any other method.

Agreed.
Though I would prefer speakers only when I can manage them in a proper setup. A room with poor acoustics and/or improper speaker placement can be really off-putting to the listening experience. As much as I like and still praise old stereo equipment, I can't deny that certain more modern setups have more pros. In particular, I have found myself really liking the simple older analog 2.1 setups from the early 2000's. Once you find a proper place where the subwoofer works nicely with the room acoustics (and that's not too had to do), the setup is pretty much complete. With oldschool stereo, it rarely works nicely in the entire room. And don't even get me started on "surround" setups. I dislike these with a passion... except in the movie theaters - but there, they are actually professionally setup.

Errius wrote on 2026-04-20, 17:19:

Speakers are best. The question is, how much do you hate your neighbors?

Or the people you are sharing your home with. 😁
Given that I'm typically most "in the mood" for loud music late at night... well, that rules out the big speakers for me (though I do have them, just in case 😀 .)

For me, it's almost exclusively headphones, with speaker use only once in a while. But I can't say I don't enjoy to hear stuff on my desk and wall rattle when I play some OG D'n'B.

qdsong88@ wrote on 2026-04-20, 14:58:

Earphone are used to listen to music with the ears, headphones are used to with the head, and speakers are used to with the body. The immersive experience of speakers is unique.

My qualification are more along these lines:
Speakers are used... when no one is around to complain. 😉
Headphones (good quality over-the-ear) are used for everyday listening and/or immersive -proper- stereo experience.
And earphones / earbuds are used... to tie the trash bag when it's full. 🤣

Nice setup, by the way. 😀

Reminds me a lot of my college days: the computer was always some machine haphazardly thrown together... but my audio gear was always there and connected to it. Because... priorities, hehe.

I also like how you have the Maxtor HDD on a "Burn in Hell" mouse pad! 🤣
- It's a Slimline Maxtor, it doesn't need hell to burn itself to death.

Errius wrote on 2026-04-20, 17:19:

Speakers are best. The question is, how much do you hate your neighbors?

that's why i hate my neighbors 😀

tie the trash bag when it's full……Great idea, I'll try it 😄^_^：）

It's a Slimline Maxtor, it doesn't need hell to burn itself to death——————————this make me 🤣 ：）：）：）

For me, nothing beats a connection to a full audio system with Left, Right, Center, Rears if you have them and a good Sub.

For something slightly more desk-worthy, I've had good luck with the Logitech sets with sides & sub.

I've also had good results with bluetooth connections (you can get audio->BT adapter) using Bose & Sony under-TV "surround" speakers, as well as Bose "Soundlink Mini" for super-small/portable (but still surprisingly good sound).

For "on the go", I used to use Sennheiser headphones - can't find a model number but they fold quite small into a little clear/black case.

More recently I'm using "SoundCore" bluetooth on-ears (really tiny, like buds with an driver behind the lobe) - amazing sound for the size!

My "on the go" speaker is an EWA - very tiny and the best sound I've seen in such a small package (lets not talk about the "Pluto air" I tried first!) and ... if I have room/weight, I sometime take the Bose SoundLink mini.

I am absolutely positively biased for a proper, real stereo system with massive open baffle speakers and multi amps with active crossovers. They project the sound stage slightly wider than the speakers themselves and mono content / left=right sound as if it comes from the middle where there is no speaker. Stereo bass is awesome, I do not like single subwoofer setups.

The correct way to do surround, therefore, is with three high quality big speakers. (Which I don’t do, I prefer stereo)

Traditional speaker design (closed cabinet / vented box) sound like speakers, that’s why so many channels are popular. Everywhere you need a sound source must be a thing shouting “over here! I’m a speaker!”

Open baffles do have drawbacks, though. They need big rooms and space away from walls to breathe and sound natural. And you need MASSIVE displacement to compensate for the -6dB/oct below baffle frequency bass rolloff that is a property of dipoles. I run 4x 12” drivers per side in W-frames; that fixes the alleged bass problem and some. Another free advantage is you can set up the W frame so that driver pairs play out of phase, cancelling most of the second (actually all even) order harmonics acoustically that cone drivers tend to produce when driven hard. I linearized the response down to 30Hz with filters, the bass sounds effortless and natural. (I’m into classical music, that is important.)

For the phones, they must cover the ear.

I will remember the trick of tying rubbish bags with the other kind.