The quality and price of engineered flooring varies enormously. The cheapest stuff is some sort of composite board like chipboard, and may have as little as 2mm of wood on top. The decent stuff is made from plywood and should have at least 6mm of timber on it.
Personally I prefer to use reclaimed timber, although it may be a bit harder to lay. Vinyl? Not in any house I would want to live in!
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For a listening room thick carpet with good underlay is likely to sound better than any of the hard floor alternatives (or a large very thick rug covering much of that beautiful wood or whatever!).
If you do go for a hard floor pay attention to underlay to prevent the floor being noisy when you walk (and transmitted) - a common problem especially with laminated flooring.
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Yes, noise from upstairs is new and annoying compared to carpet, though Mrs AC and my son have asthma and I think theyāve been better since we got rid of fabric floorings. There are many factors apart from looks/cost with flooring.
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If you decide on real wood you could think about sealing them.
The fitter who done our real oak did the usual proper job - although between the boards lengthways is a very narrow gap, which after a few years is now a black infill of bedded down crud.
Not a deal breaker perhaps, but laminate should give a new look for longer.
Having experienced the noise aspect of laminate flooring in otger peopleās houses I researched it and in our hall, kitchen/dining and sunroom where I installed it I used special acoustic underlay, and the surface noise is minimal (except with one relative who seems to stomp!)
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Look at bamboo or cork as a possible alternative to hardwood. We have cork flooring which looks very nice and is extremely comfortable & quiet. Cork can be a very good value vs both wood and lvt.
Modern cork flooring as opposed to the 1970s thin cork tiles?
Ours was installed in 2010. It certainly has a modern look. Iāve seen it in both planks and tiles. Our floor looks like marble but has no seams found on real rock floors. Having lived with it for a decade, Iāve come to believe its nearly ideal. Not sure why it isnāt more common.
Cork is an option Iād not considered. Seems to have lots of good properties, including acoustic. Just wondering why itās rather specialist. Will investigate it.
For me, wood effect vinyl doesnāt really work aesthetically, I have wood floors in my lounge and a bedroom, ceramic tiles in kitchen and bath room and carpets elsewhere. If I was refurbishing the house again, I probably would change the ceramic tiles for vinyl and keep with the choice of wood flooring. My personal choice would be to avoid vinyl with wood effect patterns because I donāt think they look good, I donāt like wood effect ceramic tile either. Accoustically, I have no idea whether wood or vinyl is better, maybe give your hi-fi dealer a ring, they are likely to have installed systems with both types of flooring and might have a view they are willing to share.
Nice. Bet that cost a bit
We went with Kardene flooring which is a heavy duty wood or stone effect vinyl flooring in planks, laid in a floated latex surface. Looks like wood and in kitchen and hall is very tough
I had the hallway and the conservatory laid with Amtico vinyl tiles , the guy who laid the tiles said nearly everything he did was in mock wood and from a narrow range of colours . My hall conformed neatly with his preconceptions.
The conservatory was something slightly different 
Not perhaps what you would do in a sitting room, but it is rather fun. Amtico supplied a swatch sample and my late handyman got the paint made up to match the floor.
If I ever get an LP12 , this could be an option
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The room is roughly 4.7 x 3.9mtr and it came in at Ā£2500 all in 2yrs ago.
Regards
Richard
I DIY-ed an engineered wood floor in a 6.5M x 6.5M room many years back. Some thoughts and lessons (and experience with Fraim):
1- the starting point is to understand the base e.g. going over wood joists or concrete - and what sub-floor works are needed, as you must have a flat surface and this isnāt as easy as it sounds. If you have elderly floorboards, the reco used to be to lift all these, lay a (strong) chipboard/ply base, and then latex as needed.
2- Beware falls and dips, and things like door thresholds and hearths, as the latter can sit slightly proud of floorboards. Be very careful when considering using self-levelling in rooms, as you can find the stuff has material impacts on door thresholds, such that you can create far more work & challenges - and some are best avoided!
3- You can use a latex base and/or the thin membrane some recommend (in addition to the plastic damp barrier if over concrete).
4- re Fraim and any support, this will bounce a tad if over a soft underfloor membrane. Not an issue if you have a TT 'shelf but I wouldnāt put an LP12 on to of Fraim over a floating wood floor.
Of course, rugs etc can be used to deaden sound and, ultimately, one can used Townsend Podiums to disconnect speakers from the floor.
5- Installation is actually quite easy but itās not to be rushed - if you want to know about this from a DIY perspective, please ask.
Naturally, the guidance for laying LVT is pretty much the same.
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My guess is high end vinyl - because that looks like your kitchen - and vinyl is perhaps more practical than wood.
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Yes, thats a good point Alley Cat.
When I was a young researcher at the Martin Centre, Cambridge University, I met a senior researcher who was leading one of the main studies investigating the connection between dust mites and the internal home environment. Asthma was one of those respiratory conditions he was interested in.
Long storey short, one obvious conclusion was that if you remove some of the environments in the home where dust mites like to live, ie. carpets, you will reduce the amount of faeces in the home and reduce the likely hood of some respiratory irritations.
Suffice to say, he was right. Dust mites canāt live in wood.
I should also add, he was also interested in the effects of dust mite faeces on young children who had not prior respiratory illness, ie can it cause respiratory issues in children as opposed to add to an already existing condition.
So, from a purely health point, the prevailing wisdom is remove carpets from your home and specifically from your bathroom where it can be warm and damp.
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You can deceive the eyes, but not the mind.
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