Question Why do you listen to music?

jonnybee123

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Since getting back into hi-fi ive realised I listen to music in different ways for different reasons.
Critical listening.
I irritate my wife no end when im critically 'speed listening' to the first 30seconds of an album track and jumping to the next in search of the section that will make my system sound great. So I tweak and experiment, adjust this and move that. Always trying to get the best out of my system despite its limitations. My kids think im crazy that im so obsessed with speakers.
For pleasure.
When I have found a favourite album i just put my feet up, turn the lights down low and enjoy the the musical details that my lovely system is presenting on the soundstage in front of me. I question whether my time listening to music can be better spent and sometimes feel guily that ive just spent an entire evening sat on the sofa with music filling my room.
Music can be my life saver too especially when washing up. I hate washing up. So i put on something loud that i can sing along to on the kitchen speakers and those dishes are finished in no time.

Music also has its place in my car and also when er, talking to the wife in bed ;)

I stream from my living room, kitchen stereo pair and just the tiny speaker from my Galaxy tablet or phone.
I love how streaming has brought the entire world of music into my home and to each and every member of my friends and family. Whom I excitedly share with via WhatsApp etc.
In the last 3 months ive saved over 100 awesome quality albums on my Tidal favourites list but I dont actually own a single record. Is that a good thing? Well at least its good for the environment i guess. My old vinyl and CD collection were lost years ago.
So how does being a music lover and an audiophile make a difference in your life?
Why do you listen to it?
How do you listen to it?
Where do you listen to it to?
And what price do you put on it? Is it throw away or priceless?

Id love your thoughts.
Thanks in anticipation of your replies.
Jon.
 
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I do like a well recorded and produced CD. One that has not been compressed flatter than hammered ****. That's my critical listening bit over and once that benchmark has been passed then I'll listen to enjoy.

Music is important to me. It certainly there to help me relax, wind down even, but most of all just to enjoy it. I prefer singer songwriters through the eras from my first introduction to Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel in the 1960s through to the likes of Laura Marling and Tom Odell in more recent times.

Most of my music listening is done on headphones and although I much prefer to listen on my full system, Rega Elicit-R and KEF R300s, headphones carry the majority of the listening. My wife has a serious heart condition and goes to bed quite early, headphone listening has to be the priority for late night music. Invested quite a lot with Oppo PM1s and a Lehmann Linear headphone amp.

Source wise I prefer SACD and CD to streaming, infact I'd not have a clue what to do with streaming, for too old in the tooth to try that. But I so love music.
 
The time I most enjoy listening to music is late in the evening. Playing a record (usually a prog one something like, Camel, Floyd, Alan Parsons. Jethro Tull,Supertramp Gentle Giant,Rick Wakeman, you get the idea) at medium volume takes me away.... I rarely use headphones as I love the way vinyl records communicate and image beyond the confines of my speakers, in a way cd rarely achieves.
Casual listening in my garage/workshop is via zone 2 from my tv systems' AVR. Sources are CD and internet radio.
I couldn't live without music,and my partner thinks the stuff I like is just noise,but she thinks music is whats being pushed on TV like X factor! Ugh!
 
Jethro Tull,Supertramp
Always loved Tull after seeing them live in Bristol in 1969 with Procol Harum opening for them. Supertramp has been a favourite of the wife, she saw them in Cardiff in 1976 (not a good a day as yesterday mind you;)).

Some of the Steve Wilson remixes of Tull's albums, especially Songs from the Wood, are brilliant. I have the SACD of Supertramp's Breakfast in America is a wonderful example of how good that particular media can be.
 
I'm more a casual type. Most of my listening is done off axis when I'm on my laptop (like now). It's a rare day when I just sit in front of the speakers and just listen. Prefer to be doing something. All of my music is streamed via either Spotify Premium, or very occasionally online radio.

I recently got my old headphone setup (AKG 550/Aune T1) out of a cupboard, but it's just so weak/limp sounding compared to my speakers/amp.

Most of my day time listening is done via a Makita site radio or an old Roberts world radio from the 80s I think.
 
I try not to listen to the system rather than the music. I suspect Gibbsy and lotsatoys and I could share a record collection I can heartily recommend Tidal and Qobuz for quality streaming into quality kit. But for me the best sources are Blu Ray audio SACD and DVD audio. Big fan of Steven Wilson as both a musician ( first saw him in an early Porcupine Tree concert when they were supporting Ozric Tentacles) and as a producer of some serious 5.1 mixes of some of my favourite Prog albums ranging from Tull to Yes to King Crimson

I’m eagerly awaiting delivery of the 4.0 SACD of Wish you were hear due from America soon to meet up with its elder brother DSOTM which has been one of my go to SACDs for years
 
I’m eagerly awaiting delivery of the 4.0 SACD of Wish you were hear due from America soon to meet up with its elder brother DSOTM which has been one of my go to SACDs for years
I've just had the new Analogue Productions WYWH. It's excellent. Only played it in stereo on headphones, the wife not being a fan. Great display case which is similar to the blu ray edition of Marley's Legend.
 
This question got me thinking and realised that the two parts to my answer

Technology - not very critical of the playback equipment, speakers/headphones or the quality of the recording as long as it is half decent.

Content - it occurs to me that I listen mostly for nostalgia. I realise that I don’t listen to much later than the 90s. So mostly, 80s, 90s, 70s, 60s and classical. I stopped listening to the radio in my car 10+ years ago when I switched over to audiobooks. So although I’m vaguely aware of todays music trends, enough to know that they are not for me, I barely listen to any.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I've just had the new Analogue Productions WYWH. It's excellent. Only played it in stereo on headphones, the wife not being a fan. Great display case which is similar to the blu ray edition of Marley's Legend.
Even more excited now Gibbsy .
 
This question got me thinking and realised that the two parts to my answer

Technology - not very critical of the playback equipment, speakers/headphones or the quality of the recording as long as it is half decent.

Content - it occurs to me that I listen mostly for nostalgia. I realise that I don’t listen to much later than the 90s. So mostly, 80s, 90s, 70s, 60s and classical. I stopped listening to the radio in my car 10+ years ago when I switched over to audiobooks. So although I’m vaguely aware of todays music trends, enough to know that they are not for me, I barely listen to any.

Cheers,

Nigel
That’s one of the advantages of Spotify to be honest it recommended lots of new music on the basis of my listening and as it’s effectively free to give new bands a whirl you can’t loose
 
Always loved Tull after seeing them live in Bristol in 1969 with Procol Harum opening for them. Supertramp has been a favourite of the wife, she saw them in Cardiff in 1976
You beat me seeing JT in '69. I didn't get to see them until 70 something. I've seen them loads of times since and always were very impressed with their musicianship.
Seen IA a few times since their demise and its not quite the same without Martin Barre. The flute/guitar interplay just didn't gel for me the way it did with MB.
Despite that the TAAB and TAAB2 tour was really memorable.
Songs from the Wood (on vinyl) has been a reference recording for me since it was released and still sounds incredible all these years later.I just can't bring myself to buy SACD versions of LPs I already own,but if I come across sensibly priced used ones I may be tempted....
 
To change my mood.
 
For me there are two points throughout the day that I listen to music with two very different purposes:

1) On the train into work
2) At home in front of the speakers

When I am on my way to work I don't care what I have on the headset, it's simply to block out any noises coming from outside. I'm normally too close to someone to be comfortable and music on the headset provides me with with some sort of bubble to make me feel I don't have somebody in my personal space.

When I listen at home I want music that sounds amazing to take me away and help me unwind. I have a decent setup which makes listening to music very enjoyable. (It also has lowered my patience for music that is poor quality). I have some of my favourites that I have been listening to for years.

I have a subscription to Spotify and am currently trialling Tidal, I love how you get access to all this music and discover bands and music you wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to. At the same time it has turned music into a commodity, I can't remember the last time that I got excited over an album in the same way I used to get excited when I went to the CD shop to by an album and then listen to it non stop for weeks.
 
I listen to music because:
1) It has been my soulmate / panacea / elixir since childhood till date! According to Heraclitus, "Change is the only constant in life", music will always be my constant.
2) there are hundreds of songs by so many accomplished artists from my favourite decades - the 80s & 90s that have that soul-stirring effect every time I listen to them. It's a eureka moment discovering 'one-hit wonder' singers whose albums did not make it to CD.
 

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