Most Americans listen through PC Speakers?

[BasicHIFI1]

FYI

There is a real need to improve PC speakers.

55% of Americans Prefer Their Music through Computer Speakers - Digital Music NewsDigital Music News

"“…most listening happens through systems that aren’t designed exclusively for music.”"

 

[pkitt]

I'm an American and the last way I'd listen to music is through PC speakers. In fact, the only speakers on my computer are the tiny ones inside the flat screen monitor and I keep those turned off almost all the time.
Paul

FYI

There is a real need to improve PC speakers.

55% of Americans Prefer Their Music through Computer Speakers - Digital Music NewsDigital Music News

"“…most listening happens through systems that aren’t designed exclusively for music.”"

 

[rdf]

The 'typical' use cases total 240%.

 

[Charles Darwin]

The 'typical' use cases total 240%.

That's because more than one answer is possible.
My daughter for example typically listens to music on 'phones of a mobile device, a component system, speakers on a portable device or pc speakers but not on a home theater system, tv soundbar, radio or wireless speakers.

I'm just pleased she prefers the component system. ;-)
But that is in her student digs and she is home right now so it's either her mobile phone or my stereo.

 

[GM]

americans-prefer-their-music-through-computer-speakers

Worse, many of the rest use B0z3 or cheaper brand HTib systems In my locale, their mobile audio system is the most used, upgraded, on a regular basis.

GM

 

[GM]

I'm an American and the last way I'd listen to music is through PC speakers. In fact, the only speakers on my computer are the tiny ones inside the flat screen monitor and I keep those turned off almost all the time.
Paul

+1, laptop in my case, but we types are apparently so few nowadays that statistically we amount to zero.

GM

 

[pkitt]

IMO, the reason we're a disappearing breed is that we likely sit down to really listen to the music rather than just having something playing in the background while doing something else (short attention span syndrome, which sadly is so prevalent today for so many, comes into play I'm convinced).
Paul

+1, laptop in my case, but we types are apparently so few nowadays that statistically we amount to zero.

GM

 

[GM]

Spot on IME; the few long term friends I still have around that still work and all my neighbors, etc., that I [want to] know work so long combined with long commutes [up to ~120 mi round trip to get a $$$ job in their field of endeavor] that they barely have any quality time and often have to 'afford' expensive monthly mobile/net/TV bills to do their jobs and eat out/take out/deliver their meals on a regular basis and/or pay others to clean, wash, etc., so consequently have little/no disposable income to afford any hobbies even if they make an above average salary.

If they still have children at home, then the total cost of child care is so high locally [nationally?] that the S.O. too often has to stay home and earn what little they can in piecemeal jobs or similar.

There are so many young families with small kids in my 'hood that they finally had to resort to setting up a couple of 'stay at home moms' in a 'round robin' rotation to be nurseries, pre-k, k-school childcare plus pick-up the latter, with all the costs being shared; otherwise they could no longer afford to feed/clothe them due to the ever rising cost even though our corrupt gov't. claims there's not only no inflation, it's sometimes a negative one, so with yet another year of no S.S. COLA, me and many other retirees are 'feeling their pain' too!

GM

 

[pski]

Dynaudio makes PC speakers...

but then again, so does B(l)ose.

 

[picowallspeaker]

PC speakers means plastic boxes with cheap speakers with the aid of a subwoofer ( in some cases ); they're powered by chip amps. That's all it takes to listen to PC music which is lo-medium bitrate lossy encoded. Nearfield listening suggests that 2-3 W are well enough for the duty. I'd say that it's OK

 

[apoopoo999]

Is it really that surprising that 55% of americans listen to crappy main stream pop music recorded in a studio with only 1 microphone mixed with a laptop and saved in mp3 format on their PC speakers?

 

[DPH]

Is it really surprising the amount of snobbery expressed in reaction to this survey?

At a certain point, I appreciate that more and more music will be mixed to be listened in this manner (not much new here), which probably is less than ideal for better performing systems. But I also appreciate that, on a day-to-day basis, almost all my listening is done on headphones or crappy computer speakers. I'm still more happy than not to have the music.

 

[pski]

Is it really that surprising that 55% of americans listen to crappy main stream pop music recorded in a studio with only 1 microphone mixed with a laptop and saved in mp3 format on their PC speakers?

... and a lot of the rest are all hepped-up with that half-sided paralysis of an elite fad called Sonos..

In the U.S. there are fewer and fewer who appreciate (or will ever hear) a real stereo. Then again, there are very few places to buy them now. Most medium to high-end gear is devoted to home theater-- what a waste for something like Thor's Hammer !

 

[Tubelab_com]

friends I still have around that still work..... that they barely have any quality time......no disposable income to afford any hobbies even if they make an above average salary.

Before they "retired" me from my 41 year engineering job, much of my music listening was done at work. The music player was a PC or a cell phone.

There is a real need to improve PC speakers.

That was my initial reaction. I had an enclosed office, so I brought in a little tube amp and a decent set of speakers, and about 1TB of music in uncompressed WAV format......No problem even the old Dell sounded pretty good.

Now that I am "retired," guess what.....I still listen to most of my music on my PC, through a tube amp and nice speakers of course. All of my CD's and many of my records have been ripped to WAV, so I just sit back and listen.

Now that I have moved (hopefully) for the last time, I DO plan to set the turntable back up.....it still does seem to sound better than the exact same record ripped to WAV....even if it is only "psychoacoustics."

 

[jacco vermeulen]

work so long (combined with long commutes)

How long is that, if you don't mind me asking ?

 

[GM]

10-14 hrs daily with some having to work Saturday and/or Sunday and/or be 'on call' 24/7 depending on their job title. Note that these folks have pretty decent high tech or management jobs/salary/perks, but for various reasons there's been so many employee cutbacks that they're forced to 'take up the slack' or lose their jobs, which is a daily fear, especially when you're over 50, due to all the young college grads with huge debts who are willing to do whatever it takes to get their 'foot in the door', i.e. willing to work for much less.

The young [mostly skilled] laborers really take it 'on the chin' as there's so many for so few jobs.

GM

 

[Tubelab_com]

10-14 hrs daily with some having to work Saturday and/or Sunday....so many employee cutbacks that they're forced to 'take up the slack' or lose their jobs

It sounds so familiar......

I worked for Motorola for 41 years. I was in various groups / teams during that time. I was in the cell phone group when the Nextel "walkie talkie" phone wad designed, and manufactured in Florida. The plant had about 5000 employees, and the company had about 140,000 world wide. Nextel was a latecomer into the cell phone market, but had a unique product. We played catch up for the first 3 or 4 years. During that time there was a period of 16 weeks where I worked 10 to 12 hour days, 7 days a week. I finally cracked under pressure and told my boss that I had to find another job. Either I was going to have a heart attack, or he was going to have a phone up his a$$, either way I would be leaving the building in a city vehicle (cop car or ambulance). He didn't care......engineers were cheap.

I found a job in the advanced development group.....they wanted someone to design and build "proof of concept" prototypes. Cool, like I get to BUILD SOMETHING, not sit in some boring meeting arguing about what color an icon needed to be on a flippin phone.....It seemed that nobody could do that job, and the few that could, didn't want to......Hey, going to work was fun again.....for a while.

About 10 years down the road the phone group was gone....bought by Google, then sold to Lenovo (Chinese). Wall street corporate raiders had dismantled the company and sold off all but one of the parts. Layoffs happened daily. 140,000 people had become 18,000 with only 2500 left in the USA. The plant where I worked that once had 5000 people then had about 500.

Then I got the letter from the CEO......take the buyout, or be laid off. I took the money and ran. Most of my friends thought it was a bluff, they were laid off. There are about 200 people left in that plant, which has been sold. It is being refitted into a medical park......welcome to corporate America 2106 edition.

 

[tomtt]

i would have guessed earbuds, ...


that website claims to be a

' a premier industry source for news, information, and analysis. '

It sounds so familiar......

I worked for Motorola for 41 years.

very familiar -

greg timbers worked at jbl for 43 years.

End of an Era. 43 years with JBL is Over
I was unceremoniously separated from employment by Harman following a 90 second explanation.
My position was eliminated!
Following an explanation of benefits, I was escorted out.
The timing came as a surprise and as such, I haven't thought about my future plans.
While I don't need to work financially, I need to be active and challenged so I must figure out what makes sense for me going forward.
To be clear, this is not what I wanted or deserved, but I will not comment further on details until a much later date. My decision, not theirs.It was a good run and I am very pleased that I have brought so many people enjoyment with the products I have developed over the last 4 decades.
Once things settle down,
I hope to be more available on the forum, but I need some time to adjust.
My best wishes to all you JBL fans.
Treat your products well and enjoy them while you can.

Best Regards,Greg Timbers

GREG TIMBERS

 

[Tubelab_com]

My position was eliminated!

I heard that one too. The decisions as to who got the letter from the CEO was made by the spreadsheet pushers in Chicago. My boss did not know that I, or anyone else in our group, had received the letter, or who had accepted the offer. The bosses in Florida were told about a week before the hatchet men from Chicago came to town and laid off about 300 people. They wiped out the PC board fabrication shop, the machine shop, the parts stock room, the mechanical lab, the X-ray and electron microscope lab, and other support groups that I depended on.

In a strange twist, I was given a "stay of execution" for three months to wrap up some work that was in progress when the CEO letters were sent out. What I wasn't supposed to know was that plans were already made to interview and hire my replacement. I knew several of the applicants, and it didn't take me long to figure out what was happening. The guy they hired was half my age, and received about half my salary. He could do about half my work, so I guess MY position at MY pay grade WAS eliminated. Now, almost two years on, he is still there.

 

[nigelwright7557]

I use a USB DAC head phone out into a 400 watt folded horn speaker.
Its adequate for living room use.