[350Rocket]

Sitting in my chair at the computer with a beer, eyes open.

 

[SleepyOne]

Eyes closed if I am asleep...

 

[Bengt77]

There are times, especially during late night listening sessions, when I like to listen with my eyes closed. Most of the time, though, I'm doing stuff while listening. So yeah, I mostly listen with my eyes open.

 

[tenzip]

I do a lot of reading (books) with headphones on. Also web surfing. Work, sometimes I can put the headphones on, mostly I use speakers.

If I close my eyes, I'm likely to fall asleep.

I can kind of let my eyes go unfocused if I want to concentrate on the music, not really look at anything, if you know what I mean, but that normally only happens at home, after everyone else has gone to bed. Otherwise, too many distractions.

 

[- Xtreme | Fidelity -]

I don't understand, I can listen to my music in a dark room and keep my eyes open and try to image a soundstage as the song plays away and stay wide awake. When I do this with my eyes closed I end up drifting off to sleep. Does the eyelids trigger something?

 

[haloxt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by satshanti /img/forum/go_quote.gif If it's still light outside, I keep my eyes closed. If it's dark out, I close the curtains, put out the lights in the room, and keep my eyes open. I like that even better than keeping my eyes closed. So, what's the difference? If I'm really relaxing with my eyes closed, I tend to fall asleep. If I keep my eyes open, I remain fully awake to enjoy the music. And in some funny way (which can probably be explained by some genuine scientific physiological-psychological phenomenon), I am more able to "perceive" the sound stage of a recording with my eyes open in the dark, than with my eyes closed. Anybody else has that experience? If not, please give it a try. It works for me.

Black is a very relaxing color according to William H. Bates. If you want a theory for your question you could find it buy reading and digesting his work.

Otherwise I'll give a layman explanation and say it's because SEEING black gives you something to consciously do, when you close your eyes you are telling yourself to stop thinking so you can sleep and you don't think about your surrounding, like the sound from your headphones. But with some focus and imagination you can close your eyes and concentrate on the color black and stay as aware as if you had your eyes open looking at black.

 

[logwed]

I'm interested in what 'Other' means...

 

[- Xtreme | Fidelity -]

Quote:

Originally Posted by logwed /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm interested in what 'Other' means...

1. Exercising
2. Dancing
3. Singing

 

[tdogzthmn]

I like most close my eyes when I want to focus solely on the music.

 

[lucky]

I'm always doing something while listening--riding my bike, surfing the internet, writing a paper, driving the car, etc. It's not about being aware of my surroundings; it's just about whatever I'm doing at the time.

 

[squall343]

If i am surfing the internet while listening then eyes open for me

Otherwise, i would prefer to close my eyes

 

[koshman]

As most of the guys here, when I close my eyes during listening I usually fall asleep in 10 minutes, so I rather keep them open.
Btw. I find that when I'm listening with my eyes open it really depends on the surroundings how well can I focus on the music and not be distracted. I like listening when sitting in my mom's living room, because all those paintings on the walls and china on the shelves make me calm down and just enjoy the music + the view of the woods from the window helps, too. On the other hand I can never fully concentrate on music when in my room, because there are so many distractions everywhere and it's messy, the Clash poster on the wall (London Calling) doesn't help me relax either

 

[roker]

other:

usually in pink jeans while looking at issues of cosmo

 

[paaj]

eyes closed in traffic, eyes open in the evening when at home on the couch...

or was it the other way arround

 

[panda]

eyes open. doesn't make sense to listen with eyes shut. if you're trying to imagine that the performance is there in front of you, you are distracting yourself away from the actual music which defeats purpose of listening.