Asklemmy

Not quite as big of a audiophile as I was at a few years ago but I still have most of my equipment.

My desktop setup is a Topping DAC/AMP stack (the D90 MQA and A90), running a pair of Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pros. I've heard Topping be referred to as a "Chi-fi" brand but this stack has never done me wrong. I never saw much appeal financially in getting dozens of different pieces of gear to do the same thing.

For my television, I have a 5.1 set of the Atmos-capable Pioneer Elite by Andrew Jones speakers. I know that Pioneer isn't the most well-received speaker brand out there, but they sound phenomenal for me and I have some sentimental attachment to some of the pieces which is too personal and long-winded to get into.

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.

General listening: Spotify + car speakers w/ EQ

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.