Haha. Tell me if this sounds familiar.
Mrs. FZ: It’s a bit loud.
FZ: (starts nudging volume down)
Mrs. FZ: A bit more. More… More.
(volume is now so low there’s no point listening)
FZ: (walks over and switches off music)
Mrs. FZ: You didn’t have to turn it off! Just listen to it like that.
FZ: At that volume, I’ve got no interest in bothering to listen.
Fin.
The Termagant likes Coldplay, and this is the main reason we don’t live together. Otherwise it would be a massive problem.
I feel for you. More chill over here fortunately. I prefer volume at 9, she not always, more preference for 8.
Some forms of music require a fair amount of volume to sound good. In my case, I like to crank stuff like Sunn O))) and admittedly it’s rather annoying if you can’t stand that type of metal drone noise.
The problem is often background noise from outside on the street, laptop fans etc, so you need to tweak it up a bit to cover that, only to be met with, “It’s so loud Dad.”
“Leave the room and I’ll be able to turn it down a bit!”
This is why it’s essential to also have good headphone systems. Mrs CG and I overlap on some and go very different paths on others. It’s a good mix and I introduce her to stuff she has liked and vice versa. If it’s too heavy and repetitive then I have no chance. But I go and use headphones or play when she’s in bed.
I’d rather listen to The Smith’s than Pink Floyd any day of the week.
It’s a good job we’re all different 
I have some very good headphones.
Mrs Bruss wears them while I am listening to music.
I wear them while Mrs Bruss is speaking, although to be fair Mrs Bruss does say there is no need as I never hear her anyway.
Mrs Moot doesn’t like any of my jazz collection, and as for prog-rock, well…
Oddly, the four or five times we have been to Glastonbury have gone well, considering.
Are no good for listening to music your partner hates while sharing a room, nor if your partner wishes to listen to other music or watch TV unless they also have headphones.
Thinking that some time I may want to choose to keep my wife company even while listening to my choice of music I have pondered closed back headphones, though decent ones of a quality to match the system isn’t so easy… I’ve a few to try when travel becomes possible again to get to compare.
Sounds veeery familiar …
Open back are great for when the kids are asleep though or listening while working and not annoying other people working from home.
I considered some high end closed back but the presentation just wasn’t what I was after. Besides, if I sat and listened while others were up doing stuff and not engaging with the kids, I’d never hear the end of it.
I have both open-back and close-back headphones but prefer my loudspeakers. Open-back is great if I need to hear what’s going on around me if I need to hear what’s going on around me. This means I am not immersed into the music. Closed-back is good but I am worried I will damage my hearing. I most often go to closed-back headphones if I want room filling sound and there may be other noise I want to block out / drown out such as when both mrs and I share a room and she is having a conference call.
That is only a greater risk if you are tempted to play louder while wearing them. Are you? When I was 17/18 and still living with my parents I had a pair of headphones and often used to listen through them in the evening, when Not infrequently I used to wind up to realistic rock levels because I could only do that with speakers during the day. I would often have ringing ears after a long session.
One day reflecting on the possible harm I realised it was a bad idea and stopped reduced the frequency, also advising friends with headphones to be careful. But the temptation was still there and I did sometimes do it. When I left my parents’ home I had more freedom with speakers, and from that day to this I haven’t listened to music through headphones other than when travelling.
Oh yeah, I am tempted to, especially in my younger days! Nowadays, for most of the time, I don’t listen at great volume so my tolerant mrs doesn’t usually have a problem. It is actually me who has a problem most of the time because she wants to talk to me, or work in the kitchen which is connected to the family room where I listen to music. If needed, I will retreat to my 2nd system in a separate room.
I know I have mellowed a whole lot over time. Went with a younger colleague shopping for headphones and bluetooth amp just before the lockdown. He was auditioning with volume at or very close to max and he claimed that’s his normal listening level. 
Could be my wife speaking…
I’m not much of a Jazz fan at all but I still have maybe 50 or so such albums I like. And yet Mrs. FZ describes the sound of a jazz saxophone as “a long drawn out fart” the second I give one album a spin.
Obviously if I give my unvarnished critique of the musical value of J or K pop, I’ll be sleeping on the sofa.
I’m amused I recall my parents were always telling me to turn it down, and now it’s my daughters telling me to turn it down. And Captain Beefheart? Only played when they’re all out 
I have the same problem here too; can only play Swans, Scott Walker (his later albums), GYBE and some others when the house is empty.