I see some of you have mentioned headphones. One reason I am going to be ’slumming’ it with the Magnepan Mini’s is that the end game for me is to buy the RAAL 1995 Immanis headphones to use with my existing RAAL VM-1a tube headphone amp. The Mini is for background and the Immanis are for serious listening.
Some consider these the best phones ever made. I do not have the comparative background to make that claim but I have heard it with my headphone amp, and it was almost as good as my Livingroom 2-channel system.
I heard a $200K+ system at a dealer in the summer and all I kept thinking was that it was great but not as good as the Immanis.
Hearing chines and phone calls will not be an issue with phones, kind of the same thing with speakers.