How do you go about listening?

[jetpig]

I'm kinda curious as how everyone else here goes about listening to the boys. What gear do you use? Headphones? Speakers? In the car? Whole albums/sets or individual songs? Do you go in alone? Do you care if others are there?

I'm usually alone, or with my SO as they tend to put me in a raw emotional spot. I'll put them on (usually Thing in a Book or similar) at work when I'm alone doing prep work in the kitchen or when I'm closing up I'll put on something fast like the Pearl's Girl EP or the Heineken Music Hall or Belfort 98 to help me keep my pace up. I'm usually listening on my sony V6 or beyerdynamic 770 headphones on my own. Though with the SO we'll use the mackie speakers.

How about y'all?

[potatobroth]

lately I've been almost always on headphones and while at work (Beats - sounds great.) My new car, same model as my old one, sadly destroys the midlevels of the songs and all i hear is shitty bass. No idea why but hopefully its just a setting.

[holden]

It all depends on how i'm feeling or what i'm doing!

If I'm relaxing at home, i like to listen to full albums on the stereo. Same when i'm on a long drive. Make it more immersive and without breaking up the flow!

For exercising, i will listen to select songs on the headphones. Short drives, i might put in a single or EP.

[Andrea]

I´m driving 2 hours a day so I listen very often in my car, alone. Mostly random mixed with other tracks, unless I feel that irresistible longing for some U / W piece, which is actually happening quite often. I love the sound and I love his voice, so sometimes I just need to hear it.

I had a full set U/W CDs in a folder but all are gone without a trace after a car wash or something. Good to know that U/W have so many fans at least.
Luckily I had a copy in my iPod, so now I use mostly my headphones, especially when I travel by train, like 6 hours yesterday.

Btw. I just have to say, my train was so brand new you could still feel the smell of plastic and glue & the seats were incredibly uncomfortable & half way to Stockholm it also needed a reboot, so guess if I was happy having my iPod full of U/W songs among others :)

[jetpig]

I miss public transit for that. My last job allowed me an hour and 15 minute commute each way exclusively on bus and foot/longboard (weather permitting). Most albums and a healthy number of sets were easy to fit in that space and there's that peculiar privacy afforded on buses and trains. Now I have a 20 to 30 minute walk to work that, while I appreciate the close proximity, leaves me far fewer choices and opportunities to listen and needs me more aware of my surroundings. I get a lot fewer Peel sessions and albums in now, and I'm forced to examine specific tracks or sets of tracks alone. Can't close my eyes and float away while walking on the shoulder of the street either.

PotatoBroth: You like the beats? I've heard a lot of mixed reviews from people who either love them or hate them. Ever had any other headphones in the price range? I will say the velour of my 770s allow the most comfortable fit of a headphone I've ever experienced. Maybe try lowering the bass levels in your car? It's been a trend in the audio industry to accentuate bass and highs more

[BrotherLovesDub]

99% of the time I listen to curated playlists in headphones, most often while biking.

[the mongoose]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rocketfish%22+Mobile+-+RF-MAB2+High-Definition+Stereo+Bluetooth+Headphones+-+Black/9246862.p?id=1218068108153&skuId=9246862 :cool:

[King of Snake]

mostly just playing individual tracks (or couple of tracks) from albums/shows on my my phone to nice pair of headphones (sony mdr 7506) when I'm on the train to or from work.
It's been a while since I've listened to a whole show or album on speakers... I think I should do that again sometime soon ;)

[ultradave]

iPhone 4s - Bose Headphones - Custom Playlists. Occasionally I listen to complete albums - STITI and BF usually...

[negative1]

mostly on my altec lansing speakers through a pc, headphones on my zune HD, and in my car,
and also various tablet pc's.

later
-1

[Sappys Curry]

Usually when I listen to UW (or most anything from the electronic genre), I like to listen to UW with some headphones and an iPod while lying down in bed. This way, I can relax and be at ease and just take in the music. With so much music from the electronic genre, I like to be able to really pay attention to what is going on in the music. For a lot of other music, like rock, it is better suited for on the car stereo and on the computer while browsing the net and so forth.

If I'm going to be a passenger in a long car ride, I almost always take the oppurtunity to listen to music on an iPod, and I usually include UW with the things I listen to.

[jetpig]

I like that you give electronica (traditionally the party music to rock's emotional) the energy and effort to hear the little details. I'm similar in that. I've based most of my audio purchases around the enjoyment of my techno.

[Sappys Curry]

I like that you give electronica (traditionally the party music to rock's emotional) the energy and effort to hear the little details. I'm similar in that. I've based most of my audio purchases around the enjoyment of my techno.


Yeah, when it is good electronic music and it has depth to it, I like to hear the subtle elements to the music, as well as take in the things that aren't subtle, of course.

[crazysugarboy]

Long walks in the countryside with an ipod and u/w are a match made in heavan. particularly at this time of year with snow on the ground. Long tracks like 215 miles and Thing in a Book perfectly reflect this. Dark tracks like Luetin and Something Like a Mamma sound superb when, during my walk, I chance upon a remote church or ruin.

[Caprice]

The best times ever listening to Underworld was when I was in gradeschool. I was about 12 to 16 and I had to ride the bus to school. Every morning I would have a couple underworld CDs with me - or CDs I had made from Napster (if it wasn't for Napster back then I would most certainly not be the person I am today, this was in the 56kbps days), my discman, and my earphones. Every morning the ride from my home around to all the other kids homes to the school was narrated by Underworld. Someday's it would be a dance party in my head all the way to school, other days I would ponder out the window taking in the landscape and Underworld's depth of sound.

I haven't really listened to Underworld that well since.

[tonyb]

I listen most often to UW on headphones when on my treadmill, 2-3 times a week for at least 45 minutes.... Underworld are keeping me healthy!! I found a nice selection of tracks and remixes that run at around 124-130 bpm that work for a nice cardio workout, fast walk-to-the-beat, on a reasonable incline. Makes the whole workout routine much more interesting and enjoyable!

So... if anyone has recommendations for tracks in that category, feel free to recommend.

Songs that are working well:
Crocodile
Downpipe
Most of the Isles Of Wonder remixes esp Rez and Dirty
Parc
Luetin
Confusion The Waitress (gets a bit sweaty, that one)
Holding The Moth
Beautiful Burnout (Mark Knight remix)
Dark Train
Boy Boy Boy
Juanita / Kiteless
Air Towel
Oich Oich
Glam Bucket

Suggestions always welcome :)

[jetpig]

45 minutes... Have you thought about doing setlists of live stuff? Maida vale 2010 is just about that long, ibiza is an hour. Thing in a book might be a good one too at 20 minutes itself. Peel session is a little over an hour, but not as up pace till the end.

[Champiness]

Long walks in the countryside with an ipod and u/w are a match made in heavan. particularly at this time of year with snow on the ground. Long tracks like 215 miles and Thing in a Book perfectly reflect this. Dark tracks like Luetin and Something Like a Mamma sound superb when, during my walk, I chance upon a remote church or ruin.

That's basically my Underworld story. I find that I listen to some of my "favorite bands" more often in certain times of the year than others, and Underworld are definitely in the fall/winter category. I've already told my story about Showlder (http://www.borndirty.org/forums/showpost.php?p=146112&postcount=2), but really all my memories of Underworld songs are like that: sitting in the backseat of a car staring out at a wintry sky in that gauzy time after noon but before sunset, or wandering around my snow-covered neighborhood listening to some bootleg from 2002 or humming Sola Sistim to myself. Even their most uptempo stuff has a really intimate quality to it... I had a wonderful moment of bonding on a wintry night-drive with the "Relentless Legs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kRyND6QoSk)" mix of Moaner. Fond memory-making music if there ever was such a thing.

[jetpig]

I recently treated myself to a pair of Shure se215 in ears. They run around $100 and are a GREAT addition next to the Beyerdynamic 770s I have. Where the Beyers reach REALLY deep bass levels and have a forward high end but are widely known to be fairly meh in the mid range, these have some decent bass that doesn't extend as deep, a rolled off (but accurate) treble and the most clear and amazing mid range I've ever heard. Build quality is very heavy duty, with a replaceable cable and a good selection of ear pieces.

Heineken Music Hall 07 was the set that most typified the contrast between my headphones. All the post-emerson material (NUXX is included here, as it's the 03 rewrite with a track from the riverrun mixed in) were MUCH more enjoyable with these than before. Far more nuance and detail came through than I'd heard before. Crocodile, Bamboo, 5 foot 5, TMO, Beautiful Burnout, etc all were MUCH MUCH improved over my DT770s. On the flip side, most Emerson-era material (jumbo being the notable exception) left me wanting more. Kittens could have had more bass-weight and presence and while KoS's Donna Summers line was more textured than I usually hear, KoS wasn't as overpowering as it usually is. The shortcoming was most noted on Cowgirl's stabs as they felt distant and not as immediately arresting as they usually do.

90s sets can be hit or miss with these. Some of them are improved due to the not great recording gear only getting the mid range, while some of the better recordings aren't as great with these due to the lacking sub-bass and not as sharp treble.

Peel session was GORGEOUS, a real treat with these.

EE was absolutely still EE. A testament to Rick's abilities at making this disc sound wonderful through anything.

I've only briefly flirted with Barking era stuff (a little bit of Maida Vale 2 and kcrw) but I didn't feel lacking at all.

TL;DR: Overall these are GREAT headphones and I like them quite a lot, but they don't QUITE beat out my DT770s, with a few exceptions. Bass isn't as deep, and treble isn't quite as sharp. The midrange is MUCH better though, lending most of the AHDO/RR/OwB material a much better experience. If you are in the market for a new set of portable in ears, you could do much much worse than these.

[hypeless]

Most days, through $30 Sony earbuds from my laptop or iPhone.

But when the remaster of dubno came out, I decided I wanted to try to be able to hear the remastering of my favorite song and one of my favorite albums. A friend recommended a pair of ATH-m50x's to get started, and I listen to my FLAC rip of the album on my desktop computer using foobar2000. I started bring them with me to work, cause they sound great to my untrained, amateur ears.

I think I'm supposed to get a DAC or an Amp or something of the short, but I haven't yet.

Looking forward to the day I get a turntable of some kind to listen to the dubno vinyl :)

[jetpig]

Extra DACs and amps aren't always required, and play a DISTANT second to the headphones/speakers. You already have a DAC, too, it's the Digital to Analog Converter chip in whatever device you have. Only real reason to get a DAC is if your laptops sound is noisy from being around all the other electronics in the case. Even then almost anything over about $75 is considered transparent to the listener. An amp is only required for certain more power hungry headphones. My big dt770 headphones get a small but noticeable improvement from an amp, while the se215 earbuds do not get any that I've noticed. On the other hand there are sets that won't get to a listenable volume without one.