[bmichael]

I have an odd question, but pertinent. How do you listen to music?
 
Let me flesh this out a bit. The whole reason why I'm on this forum is because I have music on constantly. I am a music writer, part-time, by trade. I think a lot of music writers, peers who I've asked at least, do not have anything near audiophile-grade gear. I got a friend of mine, a writer at New York Magazine, to buy the Audioengine A5, and that was a major upgrade over what he was using, previously.
 
So I'm off buying headphones and things based on your guys's great information and knowledge. But I'm still mostly listening to music while I'm writing, working, or reading. There are some occasions when I listen to music in bed, undistracted. And I listen to music when I'm walking my dog or walking/riding the subway. But at those times, I'm using an iPhone and B&W P5s--not audiophile stuff.
 
So my question is do you, like, just sit there in a chair or on the couch and simply listen to music on your headphones and just, you know, focus on the music? Is that a common practice? I feel like I should be doing that.
 
People complain about reading, about not having the attention span to read books, say. But I think it's much harder to focus on listening to music than it is to read. I suspect many people listen to music kind of passively, and think that's perfectly fine. And it is, to a point. But try listening to an audiobook or podcast while you're working, and then see how much you've retained (or how much work you've gotten done) and you'll see my point.

 

[logwed]

I used to listen laying on my bed in the dark, but my current living situation does not allow that anymore. I really liked being able to focus on the music like that. Now I mostly sit in my chair when I'm on the computer. I can't focus nearly as well, and I don't like to sit and just listen (as opposed to laying down and listening, which I very much enjoyed). When my rig is closer to my bed, I'm definitely going back to the old ways, I miss it...

 

[salannelson]

I can only sit and solely listen to music for about an album's length of time. After that I get bored/distracted/etc. I usually do that about once a night... I give an album my full attention and then I go back to browsing Head-Fi, etc. with music in the background. Sometimes I put on iTunes Visualizer to help me listen.
 
Edit: I also listen to music while I'm driving. Something about the movement and the music together just makes it so enjoyable.

 

[Cdis99]

Music while driving is GREAT.
 
Much like salan, I can only sit and focus just on music for about an albums length of time. A lot of the times I just have it running in the background. (Like right now.)

 

[yliu]

When I have time, I listen to music with my 5.1 home theater system running on stereo, and I don't do anything else, just sit an listen to music for at least an hour every week.
Otherwise I listen to my music through my earphones or headphone on the go, so I can't focus on the music that much. Laying in my bed and listening to music just makes me fall asleep, so I don't really like to do it.

 

[bigshot]

I only use headphones when I'm digitizing or restoring sound. Headphones are like a magnifying glass. Lots of detail, but not so much overall balance. For casual listening, I use bookshelf speakers in a few rooms of my house streaming from my a/v server. For serious listening, I use my main rig in my screening room. You can't beat speakers for natural and enveloping sound.

Some music is OK for backgrounding, but classical and jazz requires my attention. I NEVER get bored listening to music. If you get bored listening, you're listening to the wrong music.

 

[Alu]

I usually have all of my attention on the music, even though I'm extremely ADD in my everyday life.
 
Sometimes I'm surfing the web, but I usually get lost in the tracks.

 

[ptownjungle]

Honestly my favorite place to listen to music is at night time in the car by myself driving through the city.

 

[salannelson]

Quote:

Honestly my favorite place to listen to music is at night time in the car by myself driving through the city.

Yeah, occasionally I'll be driving home late at night, and take the long way through the city just because.

 

[Cdis99]

+1
 
I look forward to just missing lights. It means an extra 2 min or so for music in the car.

 

[bmichael]

This is an interesting sort of discussion, because it kind of underpins a lot of what I've been thinking about lately. 
 
For instance, I was downloading some 24/96.00 recordings, and catching up on the forums about that topic. (Don't want to bring that up again, per se!) But it seems like there's an awful lot of focus on reproducing sound. It reaches the extent (funny to me) at which it seems like H-Fers want to shake the sound engineers, producers, and musicians by their metaphorical lapels and get them all to make more hi-fi-sounding music. This is, of course, ridiculous.
 
I suppose it's kind of philosophical, but you could look at the practice of listening to music as being one aimed at producing pleasure. You know, I'm sure there are religious and cultural practices that hinge on music, as well, but on H-F, it seems like we're mostly dealing with a simple equation: Money + Time = Enjoyment. It's the basic thrust of rationalism and (blah blah blah) the post-industrial consumer class that most of us seem to occupy.
 
Which all is why I thought it would be interesting to see how exactly people listen to music. I had a working hypothesis behind my question, which hasn't really been shaken. It's that I think most of the people on H-F are likely more into enjoying music than necessarily geeking out over gear. Sure, that's part of it. I get into discussions with some people about opportunity cost, and there's that. A lot of time, I just want someone to tell me what to buy. But it really is enjoyable to read through the forums, too. But at some point, it seems like H-F veers into a pathological technophilia that seems to afflict photographers and guitar pedal enthusiasts, when really, if you loved the craft you'd just get out there with a camera or jam with a guitar, and deal with improving your set-up as you gain more money and experience.
 
The fact that it seems like (in this insanely limited sample) most people enjoy their car ride listening the most is totally unsurprising. It's the practice that, in our presumably busy lives, that allows us to focus the most on the music itself, which is the end goal of all of this, right?

 

[bigshot]

I think you are assuming that internet discussion boards represent the average hifi nut. They actually don't. Internet discussion has a disproportionate number of people with OCD and Asperger's Syndrome. They are attracted to the anonymity and lack of direct social interaction and wig out on numbers, trivia and absolutist statements. They are not interested in the emotions of music and the nuanced sort of communication that one gets from it. They're more interested in talking about how they can hear the inaudible and counting beans.
 
The average person would probably agree with you that music is the sole reason for sound reproduction, but there are people for whom the technology is its own reward. The differences are easy to spot. The average person is most interested in equipment when he is planning to purchase it. After that, he moves on to other things. The folks with OCD and Asperger's continue to go over and over the same ground and have no interest in music.
 
You're absolutely right about guitars and photography discussion boards. They attract the exact same sort of audience as hifi forums.

 

[Adub]

I have a habit of using music as kind of a meditation where i will lay down on the couch or comfy chair, have a "smoke" and just listen to 2-3 albums in a row and it just makes my stress disappear. Sadly i don't do it nearly as much as i want to, but my "meditation" time is split between reading book with complete quiet and that type of meditative music listening.
 
I have to admit though when I'm out in the world commuting on the train/bus/walking and what not i do pay quite a bit of attention to my music, and pay just enough attention to my surrounds as to not be hit by fast moving vehicles and not miss my bus/train hehe.
 
When at home i almost always have music playing, and if i don't it's because I'm watching films or seasons of tv shows, or reading a book.