What music systems do you use to listen to music?

[wandflur]

Hello Knopfler fans

I would be very interested to know what equipment you use to listen to the music of Mark Knopfler or Dire Straits. What kind of music equipment do you use to listen to the high quality FLAC files. Do you listen more with headphones or with a high class music system?

I would be very interested to know which brands and products you use.

Thanks in advance for your answers 

Happy listening to Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler

wandflur 

[wandflur]

I'll start right away.
I mostly listen to music with the Fiio X5 3rd. Unfortunately I am not 100% satisfied with this device. The operation is very tedious. The Android is also outdated. But the quality of the music is excellent. But maybe there are other recommendations of mobile devices, which can convince more.

Thanks for your recommendations!

[quizzaciously]

I usually listen music through the phone or laptop speakers, or desktop speakers, when I'm alone, or through the buds. Sometimes, but rarely, I use a "proper" 3.1 system. Sometimes I use good Audio-Technica cans. Just recently I watched a video on why musicians usually don't care about hi-end audio, when it comes to listening to music. I'm one of those guys, I can listen music on a rock. Never had any particular affection towards hi-end music gear.

[TheTimeWasWrong]

I use a set of KRK Rokit monitors with a Universal Audio interface. I previously used Apogee interfaces. I like the transparency and clarity of studio monitors, not a big fan of HiFi stuff. The uncompressed files from DTRW sound absolutely stunning, especially the less rocky songs like Nobody's Child and Pale Imitation. Guy is not good with songs like SAN, Trapper Man, Beryl, etc... I wish Chuck would mix the next record again and make it sound pre-KTGC.

[Pottel]

I'll start right away.
I mostly listen to music with the Fiio X5 3rd. Unfortunately I am not 100% satisfied with this device. The operation is very tedious. The Android is also outdated. But the quality of the music is excellent. But maybe there are other recommendations of mobile devices, which can convince more.

Thanks for your recommendations!

had this device on my amazon list for ages, now realised i do not need it anymore, as i have all my 1000 or so CD's burned to an SD card, using a Brennan B7. my MK related bootlegs are available in flac on a server. my entire bootleg (Flac, SHN and APE) collection is on a 12TB drive that is connected to my computer( work comp) and i listen to that all day, every day. using jabra (work issued) headphones.at the moment i am listening my way through the entire 1994 Division Bell tour. i no longer have a hifi set up.

[Pottel]

just leaving this here:

[binone]

When on the PC, I use Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO headphones connected to an old Onkyo stereo amp that is fed by a Topping DAC DSD capable. In the living room, I have a Yamaha receiver with JBL speakers fed mainly by a Raspberry Py with USB DAC connected to my server. Not Hi-End, but pretty easy to manage.

[qjamesfloyd]

I always buy the CD, then I rip it to my laptop, to either listen to it there, with Sony headphones, or to transfer the music to my phone to listen to in the car using doubletwist, using a 3.5mm aux cable with DAC. But the best way I can listen to albums is on my hi hi-fi set up of Rotel RA-02 amp, and Rotel RCD-02 player, through Bowers & Wilkins 686 speakers, the set up is over 10 years old, but still sounds as good as the day I bought them, so no need to change.

[quizzaciously]

I have a question for the non-hi-fi gang. iPhones have this cool thing when you rotate it in landscape mode, it basically just outputs stereo audio, but anyway — it's one of the most satisfying audio experiences for me. I tried to buy various stereo speakers, including relatively expensive ones, but I sold it because it wouldn't give me this awesome stereophonic experience which iPhone with its tiny speakers delivers. What is the most 'stereophonic' option, could Guy Fletcher's little Bluetooth thingy give the same effect? Why tiny phone can do that and fancy speakers can't I just don't understand.

[Dutchessy]

When i was in search of a Hi-Fi system 6 years ago i was at the store and they had a room setup with different speakers and recievers so you could compare them. The salesman had a couple of example discs for testing and he asked me the question... Do you know Dire Straits? 

So i tested different setups with my favourite music on, and i ended up with a Yamaha reciever through 2 (large) standing Klipsch speakers.  I'm happy with the sound 

[superval99]

When i was in search of a Hi-Fi system 6 years ago i was at the store and they had a room setup with different speakers and recievers so you could compare them. The salesman had a couple of example discs for testing and he asked me the question... Do you know Dire Straits? 

So i tested different setups with my favourite music on, and i ended up with a Yamaha reciever through 2 (large) standing Klipsch speakers.  I'm happy with the sound 

A similar thing happened to me when Tracker was released and we were looking for a new system.   We took the disc to the shop to test for sound and they said that Tracker was the one they used for testing. 

[dmg]

When i was in search of a Hi-Fi system 6 years ago i was at the store and they had a room setup with different speakers and recievers so you could compare them. The salesman had a couple of example discs for testing and he asked me the question... Do you know Dire Straits? 

So i tested different setups with my favourite music on, and i ended up with a Yamaha reciever through 2 (large) standing Klipsch speakers.  I'm happy with the sound 

A similar thing happened to me when Tracker was released and we were looking for a new system.   We took the disc to the shop to test for sound and they said that Tracker was the one they used for testing. 

I took a CD to a hi-fi shop to test it too and bought a system that suited the music I liked.  Some players do some music better and some speakers the same so it's best to try things out for yourself.

I had my eye on a few things and they tried out a few set-ups.  I settled on B&W DM801 speakers and a Sony XA-20ES CD player through a Technics SE A900s mk2 and SU C800 power amplifier and preamplifier.  The amps were originally bought for my turntable. 

All pretty antiquated now but there's a lot to be said for these B&W's and the ES player.  I'd buy them again tomorrow.

95% of the time though I'm too lazy to power up and just listen on my laptop through my Beyerdynamic DT331's.  I've owned various other HQ headphones since (including their own 441's) but these have outlasted them all and I keep going back to them.

[qjamesfloyd]

When I was choosing my above system, they asked me to bring in music I liked to test it on, so, I brought along, Brothers in Arms, The Dark side of the Moon, Tubular Bells. They all sounded great to my ears. Sold.

[herlock]

In 2009 I bought a Blu-Ray 2.0 home cinéma system, the LG HB354BS. It was cheap (500€) but his its egg-shaped speakers were designed by a famous Hi-Fi designers and surprisingly sounded amazing. I still have it (if it ain't broken, don't fix it), and it is perfect to me to play a CD, to play music from youtube from my Samsung smart TV, or to broadcast music from my Google Play music library on my Android phone, via bluetooth (with a small Philips bluetooth adapter). Granted, music via Bluetooth is lossy, but so is most of my music library on the phone, and it sounds great. I don't think I need more than that. CD is perfect to me when I want top quality.
Other than that, I play a lot of MK music with my phone on its small internal speaker in my bathtub while having a bath. Since the room is small the sound is sufficient to envoy it while surfing

[hunter]

You don't need high-end gear to get a highly satisfying listening experience, but once you arrive at a decent hifi system that plays well, sounds good and is set up correctly, the music attains another dimension. A very important element is the placement of the speakers and where you sit in the room. That determines the tonal balance, the soundstage and imaging. When it's right, it's like the speakers disappear and you are staring into a big, deep space filled with music and it's as if you could put your hand out and touch the musicians. Almost eerie. I played Altamira the other day, and track 2 or 3 where it's only the lady on percussion who plays sound fantastic.


"Audiophilia" may not be for everybody, but a decent system (buy used for value for money) set up right is a pure joy and something all music lovers should look into. Listening to laptop speakers (sorry, Pavel) is just offensive LOL