How do you listen to Music

Picture of my desk showing MacPro, storage, speakers and a Schiit audio pre-amp.

I am seeing more and more people on line talking about getting rid of a certain music streaming service.

Vinyl is also making a comeback as well as CD’s. There was a recent report about Vinyl now being the number one seller of physical media in the UK. If you go by price that is correct but not numbers, CD’s can be anywhere from £5 to £25, but vinyl tends to start at £20 now. Many are buying to collect and not play.

Many people are getting back into more focused listening. Sitting down, and actually choosing to listen to an album. While I have all my CD’s ripped to my Roon server, I’ll often sit back at night, pop a CD into the draw and just listen to a whole album.

I also see DAP’s (Digital Music Players) even making a come back. If I do not want to be disturbed I’ll pull out my old hard disk based iPod classic and listen to an Album. Cutting myself off from my phone and notifications is a blessing sometimes.

I cannot see physical media beating streaming, and having streaming available for finding new music and seeing if I like it is the best thing about it.

One thing I would like to see is people making a choice about what streaming service they use. Some do pay more to the artists and if you like a song then buy it.

My office music system as you can see from the old picture above is basic, a MacPro running Roon endpoint software, connected via USB to a Schiit Preamp with a USB DAC built into it. Then out to a pair of active RuakAudio desktop speakers.