How do you listen to music?

[godofwealth]

What I mean is, when you play a recording, are you one of those audiophiles that have to be glued to your listening chair positioned exactly in between the loudspeakers? The great pianist Alfred Brendel decried the listening of music that required a listener to sit exactly between loudspeakers that had to be positioned just so to make music. The legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz called high fidelity high phooey and hystereo. These great artists decried correctly the idea that music required such artifice.

Me, I’m a pacer. I walk up and down listening to music. My work involves the application of the most abstract forms of pure mathematics to design the next generation of AI systems. I can’t sit still listening to music. It evokes in me a creative spirit. I think best when I walk.

What do you do? Dance? Or sit still?

 

[Ron Resnick]

when you play a recording, are you one of those audiophiles that have to be glued to your listening chair positioned exactly in between the loudspeakers?

yes

 

[TonyW]

Yes, I am drawn into the music. For me it is no different than sitting in a movie theater or watching TV. I started listening to music that way in the 80s as I got drawn into hi end hifi. Listening to my system is like being at a concert for me. But I also listen at times while at my desk in the back of the same room. Would these musicians prefer that the audience mill about the concert hall while they are performing? Like at a dinner party where the musicians are there for background music and not the focus of the event. That’’s the difference- is the focus for background music or to enjoy a concert in your room?

My current speakers have the most focused sound stage and imaging at the center listening position but the sound and imaging seem consistent around the room. When sitting at my desk, I can hear the imaging of a band, just less focused from that position but the sound, frequency response is the same as being in the “position”. The bass sounds the same as I walk around the room. It is only when I am partially down the stairs at the back of my room that I hear a change in the bass.

The alternative is wearing headphones but I am not a headphone person. I wear them only when flying or mowing for the noise cancelation.

 

[tima]

Me, I’m a pacer. I walk up and down listening to music. .... I can’t sit still listening to music. It evokes in me a creative spirit. I think best when I walk.

So, cerebral cortex and not much limbic listening.

 

[hopkins]

So, cerebral cortex and not much limbic listening.

You never consciously think about the music you listen to? You just sit in stupor?

 

[morricab]

What I mean is, when you play a recording, are you one of those audiophiles that have to be glued to your listening chair positioned exactly in between the loudspeakers? The great pianist Alfred Brendel decried the listening of music that required a listener to sit exactly between loudspeakers that had to be positioned just so to make music. The legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz called high fidelity high phooey and hystereo. These great artists decried correctly the idea that music required such artifice.

Me, I’m a pacer. I walk up and down listening to music. My work involves the application of the most abstract forms of pure mathematics to design the next generation of AI systems. I can’t sit still listening to music. It evokes in me a creative spirit. I think best when I walk.

What do you do? Dance? Or sit still?

I have different habits depending on my mood. Sometimes I sit rather glued to the seat and sometimes I am reading or doing something else while listening. Sometimes I am lying down when listening. I am not walking around and such, but I am not always "glued to the seat" and am often doing something else (usually reading...music stimulates my reading desire and speed). I think that reading while listening to music goes back to my University days where I always had music on while studying, so kind of a state dependent learning, where I find learning easier with music on in the background.

 

[Ron Resnick]

The great pianist Alfred Brendel decried the listening of music that required a listener to sit exactly between loudspeakers that had to be positioned just so to make music. The legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz called high fidelity high phooey and hystereo. These great artists decried correctly the idea that music required such artifice.

It's great that you like to walk around while listening to music. It doesn't require justification by professional musicians (who often make fun of audiophiles) or anybody else. (And who knows what the people you cited were actually talking about in the context of their comments?)

Humans have two ears. Stereo is two channels. Stereo seems to make sense for human hearing. What is the artifice?

Do you use omni-directional loudspeakers?

 

[AudioHR]

I have different habits depending on my mood. Sometimes I sit rather glued to the seat and sometimes I am reading or doing something else while listening. Sometimes I am lying down when listening. I am not walking around and such, but I am not always "glued to the seat" and am often doing something else (usually reading...music stimulates my reading desire and speed). I think that reading while listening to music goes back to my University days where I always had music on while studying, so kind of a state dependent learning, where I find learning easier with music on in the background.

I also have different habits depending on my mood and well intention. I am definitely not a pacer.

My electronics take a good hour to warm up and begin to sound their best. If I know I do not have the time I usually stream something and relax perhaps reading or writing If my intention is to listen longer I will usually pull some vinyl and actively listen, sitting in the sweet spot. Typically I will set out a half dozen LPs I want to listen to but it's not unusual for me to change course and be back looking in my collection for the perfect next selection.

The best times are when I am fully drawn into the music putting on album after album and listening late into the night. Then it doesn't seem to matter if I am sitting or lying down or what I actually intended to do.

 

[Elliot G.]

For me listening is an escape. Its time travel. Its imersion into a diiferent place or world. I think that music is good for my wellbeing both physically and mentally and I keep that in mind always by how I handle my decisions. I see too many people always wanting to change and seem to be in a constant state of being unsatisfied. That state is IMO unhealthy and not what I want from listening tro music. If my system doesnt allow me to relax and be immersed with the music then I won't listen.
There is a slippery slope of wanting more and being consumed by it.

 

[ADGold]

I exclusively listen to my system in the designated listening chair to maximize my connection to the music. To my non-audiophile friends, I state that I listen to music the same way that most people watch a compelling TV show or movie.

 

[godofwealth]

It's great that you like to walk around while listening to music. It doesn't require justification by professional musicians (who often make fun of audiophiles) or anybody else. (And who knows what the people you cited were actually talking about in the context of their comments?)

Humans have two ears. Stereo is two channels. Stereo seems to make sense for human hearing. What is the artifice?

Do you use omni-directional loudspeakers?

When I was in my youth, and perhaps a more dyed-in-the-wool audiophile than I am now (!), I used to sit glued to my listening chair. Those days, we had less distractions -- no mobile phones or iPads or even laptops existed! So, listening to music meant usually reading liner notes on an LP or CD. I used to really care about sound staging and whether my system was reproducing the spatial cues in a recording. Excessive reading of TAS and HP's influence no doubt affected my sanity. These days, all these childish things are behind me. I care only about the music, which of course I want to be reproduced with its full dynamics and in particular, tonal balance. One reason I'm drawn to electrostatics is that they sound great whether you sit in the middle or are off to the side or walking about. In fact, a really remarkable quality of my current reference -- the behemoth Soundlab G9-7c's -- is that the radiating panels are so large (> 3000 sq inches, rather the minuscule penny size tweeter drivers in box loudspeakers) that the sound barely changes as you move closer or further away in terms of loudness. I find I can enjoy music whether I'm in the main listening room, or off to a side dining room area. I listen more now for what the musicians are trying to say, what the composer is trying to communicate, and far less about audiophile criteria. In a live concert, one doesn't always sit in the middle. A concert is equally enjoyable if you are sitting off to one side, in front of the orchestra or behind it.

 

[exupgh12]

It depends. If I have the time and focus, I’ll sit and listen, and during those moments, I usually play vinyl. Other times, when I’m multitasking—whether reading, training, cooking, or doing other household tasks—I’ll stream music or listen to CDs.

 

[tima]

You never consciously think about the music you listen to? You just sit in stupor?

What a stupid comment.

 

[hopkins]

What a stupid comment.

Thanks. Trying to categorize listening habits by referring to brain functions is absurd. But I guess you use those scientific terms as a metaphor for what you probably mean to be a more "analytical" approach (of what? The music? The sound?) versus a more holistic approach. Since you don't mince your words, I won't mince mine: it is complete BS.

 

[tima]

Thanks. Trying to categorize listening habits by referring to brain functions is absurd. But I guess you use those scientific terms as a metaphor for what you probably mean to be a more "analytical" approach (of what? The music? The sound?) versus a more holistic approach. Since you don't mince your words, I won't mince mine: it is complete BS.

No metaphor. Do your homework before spouting off.. The more the cerebral cortex is occupied with thought while listening the less emotional involvement.

limbic system when listening to music - Google Search

 

[hopkins]

No metaphor. Do your homework before spouting off.. The more the cerebral cortex is occupied with thought while listening the less emotional involvement.

You mean, google search and copy paste things you don't even understand?

 

[Republicoftexas69]

I just listen to music, regardless of what I am doing, skydiving, racing motorcycles, brain surgery… I listen and enjoy the music.

 

[facten]

In my case music that I have a strong emotional connection to I will listen seated between the speakers. If it is music that I enjoy but only occasionally listen to, or if I want to listen while also reading or the such I am less prescriptive with my position. I do at times move about while listening for leg circulation reasons

 

[Lagonda]

I do all my music listening between the speakers, seated at the best distance for all audiophile attributes, i will occasionally jump up and do a little white man jig when the spirits moves me, both in front and behind the listening chair. These days i rarely listen to music in the background or during travel, i like my music fresh for listening sessions, not watered down by constant background repetition like younger people tend to do. Traveling is for podcasts.

 

[tima]

i will occasionally jump up and do a little white man jig when the spirits moves me, both in front and behind the listening chair.

Lagonda's Lambada ?