ADD or Audiophile?


I’ve loved listening to music since a very young age, starting with my parents Grundig console tube stereo which they brought to the states when the army transferred my dad back to the US. I bought my first stereo components as a young teen and would sit in my dark basement bedroom listening to Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Steely Dan…..In college, I’d sit and listen to music for hours.  Fast forward 40+ years…I now have a nice system. I look forward to weekends when i can listen to music in peace and quiet. What I’ve noticed is i can no longer just sit and enjoy music. I usually read (a lot of times Audiogon Discussion Forum) while listening. When a particular song comes on or a beautiful passage comes up, I focus on the beauty of the music and artistry of the musicians creating it, then its back to mental muli-tasking again. 
I suspect its some form of ADD, but I’d like to think that doesn’t disqualify me as an Audiophile. 
Anyone else share this “affliction?”

ezstreams

@artemus_5 this is spot on. Sometimes I catch myself browsing on the phone and I'll make an observation and catch it, then I'll put the phone down and listen again. The convenience of technology is great, but it's probably more of a setback. 

I listen to familiar Jazz music, streaming or CD, while reading stereo magazines, nothing that I have to concentrate on. If a particular song is highly enjoyed, I stop to appreciate one of life’s finer moments. If it is a new Jazz album suggested by the above magazines, I will critically listen, eyes closed, to review properly.  
I listen to streaming music on Spotify.  One of the reasons is that I can see the lyrics for most of the vocal albums.  I listen to Rock and Roll, Blues, and Pop looking at the lyrics on my TV screen.  Ever since I was a kid and started listening to music, I never could fully understand the words of the R and R songs I heard.  It frustrated me.  
( I did find out in college that during certain weed-induced listening sessions I could understand every word spoken.  Ah, the good old days.)
This Spotify-enabled ability has greatly increased my enjoyment of all of my music.   

Every week I try some of the new music coming out at Qobuz even though I know hardly any of these artists.  Most of the time I am bored after 2 or 3 songs and move on.  Once in a while I find something I like, which makes it worthwhile.  For those with a short attention span, try an internet radio station in your favorite genre.  My favorite is Aardvark blues, but there are a few jazz stations that sound very good, too.

@oldaudiophile thats a beautiful piece of furniture and family memorabilia.

Here is the piece my parents brought back stateside with them in 1958.

  • Apologies if the image doesnt fit.  This is the first time I’ve entered anything except text in a post  

 

A. Primary 2 Channel System.

By myself, always selected content, always focused listening. Frequently Donna on the sofa, loves the music, doesn’t care about imaging. Occasionally focused/semi-focused listening with friends to content and/or equipment.

B. Office System:

Always purposeful background. Always working, sitting dead center of monitor and speakers, excellent imaging.

Computer: I put on Pandora, pick or shuffle stations, discover new to me content/artists. What grabbed my attention while working, buy some?

Computer: YouTube music videos up here occasionally

Turntable or Reel to Reel, select content, start, back to work, thus selected background.

C. Small Home Theater

Audio has been a big part of enjoying video, since I pulled the speaker wires out of old CRTs, hooked to decent speakers, the audio signal was surprisingly good, made any video more involving.

Early Home Theater. Onkyo made the 1st Receiver with a TV Tuner in it, I pre-ordered one, signal from my roof antenna. And, all FM is between tv channels 6 and 7, so you could grab FM from your cable feed, until, you guessed it, they blocked the FM on their signal.

Along came dolby, VCR’s, 5.1 surround, DVD/Blu-Ray, improved cable audio (not always, I avoid pseudo surround).

I watch a lot of music based video, dvds, broadcast and YouTube, and enjoy darn good audio of any other content, i.e. Korean Dramas, Netflix, Amazon Prime

D. Shop/Garage System: always selected content on while working, remote volume and mute important!