[unwabuisi]

There is a similar line of thinking for audio engineers who do a final mix/master of music before it is sent off to radio, streaming platforms, etc.

After spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on expensive sound systems and professional speakers, engineers realized the average users listen to their music through inexpensive mediums. A cheap pair of headphones, a small bluetooth speaker, or even laptop speakers. They rarely listen to their music through mediums where the full audio spectrum is present, so in order for an engineer to get a mix that translates well across all mediums, they do their final mixes and tweaks on devices like a pair of apple earpods, or a more famous example, the Yamaha NS-10 [0].

The line of reasoning being: if you can get it to sound good on a basic speaker, it will sound great on high end systems, which is a win-win!

[0] - https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/yamaha-ns10-story

[spindle]

Just to clarify, they do the final mix and mastering of each piece on a variety of speakers. But right - the closer they get to the finished product the less they care how it sounds through expensive equipment.

[zrobotics]

This is also done in the toy industry--a sound effect may sound fine through good studio monitors, but will be screech and unpleasant when played through a 10 cent speaker with the crappies amplifier money can buy, so it is important to listen on the actual hardware.