Listening to music I don’t particularly like

My job involves music I don’t like. Not listening to more at home.

I used to, sort of.

A few decades back I used to try and get the recordings the reviewers used and raved about in doing the reviews of equipment.  I then realized their musical tastes and mine were on different planets.

I only listen to music I like.  Luckily, the genre I prefer (Jazz - mostly modern co temporary) is pretty well recorded.

Lately, I don’t dry music at all, I want
I really like listening to podcasts, they inspire me to new actions, since podcasting has become very important now, I began to design a series of my podcasts made using podcast cover art maker.
Definitely, I will not make podcasts myself, but my friends will help with this.
What will happen from a series about the life of great artists of all our time, I am sure that it will be very interesting, as well as informative.

Just listening to Mickey Hart Dafos. Yes, MC… interesting collection of sounds. Well recorded… about once every ten years or so sounds about right.

I don’t think that anyone here doesn’t take into account the sound of his system when making a selection of what to play. And no matter what the musical content, the sound is important. Having said that, if you make that selection solely on the basis of SQ, it’s certainly not going to be as fulfilling as with music you like.

Alot goes into putting together a hifi system that pleases the owner. One element is being honest about what sorts of music, from what sources, and then making the sure the system plays that in a really pleasing way consistently.

I don't listen to music i like which is not well recorded or i liste to such music in my car. I was and still remain a rock fun but no more listen to most of the rock. There are though exceptions. Blues,bin general, is better recorded, there are recordings of quite acceptable quality of Jimi Hendrix, Erick Clapton, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, etc. Emerson Lake and Palmer and King Crimson albums have tolerable SQ unlike Genesis and Jethro Tull. 

But the majority of artists i listen regularly are jazz and classical musicians. There are 1950s jazz recording which sound better than almost any rock and many temporary jazz albums. In classics, for me, ADD CD s sound better than DDD ones. 

You enjoy listening.  Nothing wrong with that, not at all.

I don’t think that anyone here doesn’t take into account the sound of his system when making a selection of what to play. And no matter what the musical content, the sound is important.   Having said that, if you make that selection solely on the basis of SQ, it’s certainly not going to be as fulfilling as with music you like.

‘Indeed, You appreciate your system and it’s qualities MORE with something you like.

Take a couple of those Decware Pills mentioned elsewhere and all music will be cool.

...and sometimes I just stumble into things that impress me as to what a large group can make happen....
...and wish we could do something like that....

I listen to different things all the time. You can only watch the same TV show some many times. The same goes for music. Come Together, Whole Lotta Love, etc, just gets boring. I hated Sinatra as a child, and now I like his work, but I have gotten bored with it too, so I keep listening to things like the Koda Drums. If you enjoy it listen, don't worry about whether your feet tap or not if you find it interesting, and enjoy it.

Funny one guy said I would rather have root canal without a drug...lol...I had a dentist who said ,oh you don't need anything the root is dead....he started drilling and I jumped out of the chair...I was screwed up for a week...But I will listen to almost anything, well not rap a crapa until theres sexy girls dancing to it,but that's eye candy not ear ....lol....I'm 69 a rock and roller ,but I like  Classical, Progressive, Rythm and Blues ,Soul.I like playing movie sound tracks,the music.Play what you enjoy ,you sent plenty on your systems, enjoy them....but playing what I don't like to hear ? My grandfather used to tell me why buy a album ,when you can just turn the radio on...Grandpa died in 1982 he was 87...Fought in WW1 and WW2 in Navy,then joined the National guard and was sent to Germany when I was born in 1952...3 wars served.so I guess he like his music on the radio.lol..RIP Grandpa...11/11/1895

I'm sure we've all been guilty at times of listening to the equipment rather than the music, especially with new gear. That's a big part of this "hobby." I am skeptical, though, when someone equates a love of equipment with a love of music. I sometimes wonder if there's *any* relationship between the two. One can love music wholeheartedly and not care a fig about putting together a top-notch system. I know many people who are just as crazy about music as anyone out here and most have modest systems at best. I have known many professional musicians (including members of premier orchestras and quartets) and few have spent much time worrying about the difference between currents and watts, or about room treatment and cables. Maybe their ears can hear what our ears can't. 

If I don’t like it, I won’t buy it. If I have it and no longer enjoy it, I don’t play it no matter how good it sounds. Thankfully, that only has happened on about 5% of my records. I sometimes wonder what the hell I was thinking when I bought it. If it sounds really good and I play it, I enjoy it more than an inferior sounding one from the same artist or another one, but I still listen to it.

If I ever go to a store to listen to some new equipment, I am sure to bring my own records with me.

If you are trying to hear your equipment, get the best sounding records you can find, if you are trying to hear the music you like, try to get an excellent pressing of any new records you buy. That’s why guys like Acoustic Sounds can get $35-60 for new pressings. There are still plenty of excellent sounding ones in the low $20’s. There are also records made for demoing equipment like Session Ii that was made by Yamaha to  play so they could sell their equipment. I still have it back from when they gave it to me when I bought my first real stereo stacked with Yamaha gear. I never play it…..

Whatever floats your boat….It’s like watching critically acclaimed movies you don’t like- some people have to see it, not me.

I’ve been in the hobby for about 3-4 years now, and I’ve finally kicked the "chase the dragon" element of this hobby.

Went through the typical listen to random music that sounds good phase. Chased detail etc. But I’m really a big prog rock and metal guy (poor to okay recordings), as well as some blues and jazz sprinkled in.

Now I know what I like and don’t like. I know I like the scale offered by big speakers, and a well delineated sound stage / imaging. I don’t really care about micro detail anymore, I like dynamics and warmth. I’ve sold silver cables to go back to copper etc.

Long story short - I think we all go through that phase, especially when you are deep in the thralls of the obsession. But once the hobby takes a step back in your priorities, I find you can re-approach it with a clearer head and even save some money !

Not my thing. I love a good system, but love good music more. Rather listen to music I love on a substandard system than music I don't care for on a great system.

That said, not too much music I can't stand

...and on occasion it's cathartic to endure something one really is disgusted by, so you can appreciate better what you like.

How does something like Lady Writer by Dire Straits sound? Maybe you need some Super Tweeters to lift your listening experience.

Most audiophiles are a mixture of love of music and of great sound. So, for most, the better the sound the wider the horizon of music accessible to be appreciated. I have known a couple of music lovers that would gain the same satisfaction from a horribly reproduced tune from small transistor radio or a high end system. And conversely some audiophiles that seem to completely lost any appreciation for music through the relentless pursuit of more detail and slam, constantly swapping equipment and quickly becoming bored with what they have.

So, like in all pursuits there are all kinds of people with different interests, motivations, and tastes.

My first reaction to a person having a system that makes music they would not ordinarily listen to compelling is to offer them congradulations on putting together an outstanding system. The true mark of success in building a great system is not being able to drag yourself away from it.

I think it’s more like a microscope. The telescope is your brain.

At a Dead show many moons ago I saw Mickey Hart play some pieces of what MC is speaking to.  And agree that at first it is amelodic and then (given the always incredible sound system) it begins to grow on you and ends up quite fascinating.

The flip side is I saw Steely Dan this past weekend in Boston and they are the best I've heard them play in a few years.  Flat out kickin' butt.

Life is too fleeting to listen to music you find distasteful. Although I would never tell anyone what they should listen to.  Your system, your ears, your time.

Regards, barts

I’ve found that if a change in my systems gets me listening to, and enjoying, music I’m less fond of, or don’t usually listen to, that’s a good sign.

Have you you ever found yourself being drawn into and enjoying live music, when it’s a type or style that you’re not normally into? Shouldn’t a really good system be able to do that, as well?

Listening to music you hate because it sounds good = listening to your system. Listen to music instead.

I know. Quality content this high, they're not paying me anywhere near enough. Thanks!

A good system is like a good telescope. If you want you can tell yourself all that big scope does is give you a crystal clear view of the pimples on your neighbor's butt. Or you can marvel at the rings of Saturn, lose yourself in the Milky Way.

@millercarbon thanks for the humorous analogy

Do you find yourself listing to music you don't particularly like because it sounds so good on your system? If I'm honest with myself I am an old dude who grew up with classic rock and really enjoy it but a lot of it was not well recorded. So I find myself listening more and more to other genres of music that I normally wouldn't  just because they sound so good on my system.

Robert Harley covers this in his book The Complete Guide to High End Audio. Music is different than other forms of communication in that the delivery is everything. Written words mean the same on paper, screen, or Morse Code. Music is performance art where timing, tone, volume, and more all carry meaning. Tchaikovsky heard on a iPhone is literally different music than in the concert hall, or high end system. 

Most of us will enjoy a far wider range of music performed well live than played back poorly. I dread classical in the car- the quiet parts drowned out, the crescendo too loud, everything in between all messed up. At home though or in a concert hall, wonderful.

I have one record that epitomizes this. Mickey Hart Rafos is a bunch of unusual percussion and string instruments. With hardly any discernible melody or rhythm it is more like some kind of audiophile test record than music. Might have played parts of it 3 times in 30 years, and not once in the last 15 for sure. 

Put it on the other night and at first was all, "Here we go again." But then within a few minutes it had drawn me in. What? First side done already? Side two! By the end I was shaking my head at how I had let this wonderful record languish on the shelf all these years.

Of course I knew the answer. It wasn't anything to do with making any particular recording sound good. It was my whole system is now so good it let me hear what the musicians were doing. I also enjoy jazz, blues, swing, big band, classical, everything a whole lot more now.

A good system is like a good telescope. If you want you can tell yourself all that big scope does is give you a crystal clear view of the pimples on your neighbor's butt. Or you can marvel at the rings of Saturn, lose yourself in the Milky Way.

@mijostyn:

Hard to argue with that!  

What is the problem here? You can listen to anything you want for whatever reason you can come up with. We like music for a multitude of reasons and that includes badly recorded music. Sometimes the bad recording is part of the charm. If you are listening to it there is something you like about it and that can legitimately  be anything. 

Back in the seventies I used to argue with high end dealers that I don’t like or play the demo garbage they used in the showroom on my home system. When I did bring in records I liked and their products only magnified the bad recordings they became as silent as car salesmen when you bring up another brand. 

I was considering starting a thread very similar to this one, you beat me to it.

I'm of the opinion that many 'philes go for what sounds good on their system and happens to be in their wheelhouse.  Some of you remember the days when an audio demonstration included sound effects tracks...jet planes, trains and such.

It also appears to be readily apparent that many contributors to this forum are music lovers as opposed to equipment addicts.  I love all my gear, but not to the point that I discount music because it doesn't stand up to what sounds the best on my system.

I do not listen to music that I dislike, I only listen to music I really like.  There is a life time worth of listening in that category.

As an aside, if I start to think that my rig is not performing well all I do is put a 78 on my 1917 Victrola.  And then listen to the same music on the big rig.  Brain foolery works every time.

Regards, barts

I would rather have a Root Canal without anesthesia than spend 5 minutes listening to music that I don't like because it sounds better on my system

 For me, this is really a 'to each his own' case as the audio hobby in general. I have gritted my teeth at someones new toy when I worked at a local college. Dam, the kid was so impressed by his new ear buds, what was I going to say? He loved them. I listened to them and tried my best not to wince.

  Same for me though. Sometimes when I get 'the next level' component (or think that I do), it takes a little bit to come clean with myself. 

 I have to remember how excited I was by the music itself, way back before I had ANY good gear.

The closest I come to the OP’s situation is that I listen to different music when in my car than when listening on my home system.  In the car, I prefer uptempo and hard rock.  In my home, I prefer easier listening and some genres that I would otherwise not listen to, like old-time country (not a fan of most modern country music).  I think it is because the softer music has a broader range of sounds and I can hear individual instruments more on my home system than on the car radio.  Still, I enjoy the music or I don’t listen.  Like classical music — it just strikes me as more suited to a funeral than to a relaxing evening at home. 

Diana Krall.  I would certainly never have gotten any Diana Krall if I had not started chasing the audiophile sound.

@edcyn 

bikeske -- Try the Third Movement, the Adagio, of Bruckner's Symphony #8, in a performance by Eugen Jochum and the Berlin Philharmonic on Deutsche Grammaphon. The rest of the symphony can get, as Bruckner tends to be, more than a little long in the tooth. But the Third Movement is as beautiful and moving as anything I've ever come across. I love it dearly.

Thank you, I'll give it a listen. Jochum with the Berliners is typically done well.

@4krowme "that doesn't make you bad person, right?"

Of course not. But I think it would be more analogous to suggest someone watching a bad movie all the way through simply because of how good it looks on their tv, then rewatch it. To each his own though. If watching a bad movie or listening to bad music because of how good the picture or sound is, well, more power to you if that brings joy. Personally I'd rather cut one of my toes off before watching The Love Guru again no matter how glorious the picture quality.

I disagree with the non music equipment listening comments. I think you do like the music and your system is helping you to discover the new music. The amount of music that is online and just a click away is incredible today. Radio is good in the car but all the stations are run by maybe three firms and they all play the same 10 artists over and over. I to listen to music I thought or never liked in the past but my taste has expanded and yes my system make it sound fantastic. Don't over think it just enjoy the music!

I'm pretty sure this particular territory has been visited and re-visited many times and this thread will not be the last. 

For me, music is melody, harmony, rhythm, emotion, timbre, tonal color, density, dynamics, etc.  Its sonic presentation is secondary to these factors as well as being secondary to my enjoyment. There are many musicians who don't particularly care about sonics-- their focus is the music, not the sound. 

Music is the cake and sonics are the frosting. Cake without frosting is not as appealing but whereas I can live just fine without frosting, life without cake is unimaginable. Still, it's not an either/or proposition-- it's a spectrum. 

I consider myself a music-lover who enjoys good sound, rather than an audiophile. 

This means that while I cannot relate to the OP's circumstances, I also choose not to listen to painfully poorly recorded/mastered CDs. 

Each person eventually discovers their own natural point of balance, no? 

I continue to wonder whether where one locates one's self on this spectrum is affected by whether one plays an instrument or not...

I bought and listened to Madonna’s Immaculate Collection because I wanted to hear another Qsound recording.

It's a crap shoot folks. Sometimes I talk to people that I don't like and regret it. Unfortunately they can't be turned off as easily as Stereo. Switch the station man. But don't we do it with audio anyway? I mean I will listen to 'Deep Tracks" on FM and cringe every so often, and yet find new stuff from a group that I previously didn't care for just to hear something from them that I do like. 

 So, about the recordings and our listening pleasure. Just to hear if something new in the system pulls it's own weight, I will listen to music that I normally wouldn't. And yes, it has happened more than once that I hear something for the third time and start to like it. Maybe it becomes more to me than I expected after all. 

  If you have watched a movie all the way through even though it sucks, that doesn't make you bad person, right?

You're not alone. I do the same thing. But it has opened my eyes and ears to a lot more music.  One reason I have several systems so I can use the one that fits the music I want to listen to at the moment. My Klipsch hates classic rock. So I listen to my Def Techs for rock. Those speakers are very forgiving. 

Thanks for this post, very interesting. The reason for having a nice system is the ability to hear all the music and come as close as possible to having voices and instruments sound natural. Any music mentioned on this forum or songs featured on YouTube videos by Audiophiles or stores showcasing their equiptment, we pull up from Tidal and give it a listen. If we like it, save it or move on to the next song. Tracks that are poorly recorded are difficult to listen to,  yet sometimes the recording is so good we may continue to listen just to enjoy the detail andd clarity.

OH YES ! There are many,many recordings from the past that were not only poorly recorder, but also poorly transcribed and poorly produced.  I have been able to clean up some of the poorly "produced" albums but it's only part of the picture. 

I actually have found that MANY afficianodos of ROCK and ROLL and HEAVY METAL bands, etc. actually like the "distortion" associated with a large number of poorly recorded albums from the past. Even some of the newer albums or the so called RE-MASTERED recordings. aren't a hell lof a lot better.

You can clean up a little of the "grunge" with a first class DAC, but even with that it still remains a "GI-GO" situation.  For some, the pain is worth it.  I'M NOT ONE OF THEM !

I too find myself listening to well recorded songs to hear my system.  Percussion is a big thing for me.  

You might listen to these songs to hear what your systems are capable.  These are high quality recordings:

1. Girlfriend (Feat, Dam-Funk) by Christine and the Queens

2.  Lights on by Maggie Rogers

3.  The River by Aurora (ADifferent Kind of Human

4.  Chocolate by The 1975

5.  Kiss in Blue by Yello

6.  The Expert by Yello

7.  Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancocks 1973 Head Hunters Albumn 

Roon radio plays often in my house. I tune it out until something good comes on. At that point you can save that song to a playlist and later start the playlist from that song. I would call that exploration. Saved songs typically have a good sound and rythm. 

That's something I rarely do, listen to music that I'm not fond of, but that makes my system shine.

When I toured my then local lineup of brick-and-mortar audio stores to find a new pair of speakers, it really bothered me that one of the dealers insisted that I listen to a particular piece from an artist I didn't know or enjoy, but made the speakers really shine.

Then, there are albums like this: Betty Carter, 'Social Call' I just bought.

Put out in 1980, her original material from 1955, and never released from 1956. Mono, as I said, recordings in the Mono era were quite good, Quincy Jones and Gigi Gryce involved here.

I always love hearing how an artist began and developed, you get that with the first listen, and the liner notes are very informative.

Listening to one of my all time favorites of hers, 'Finally', you know how she progressed, turned herself into an instrument, amazing. Only some of the 'Social Call' material is wonderful.

If it was a CD, I probably would just play the 5 songs I really liked, LP, I will listen to all tracks, in the presented order That's when you hear something you missed first or even 2nd time time thru, busy reading the notes, ... I will never play it frequently like 'Finally', but I will never part with it, and will play it on the rare occasion for the several great songs it contains.

Also, I learned, try favorite albums CD versions on Shuffle. You will discover certain songs, typically the ones that follow the 'hits' in new ways. Cannot do that with LPs.

I would contend that you're expanding your horizons music-wise as a side effect of having better equipment, but if you enjoy it, that's what it's all about, isn't it?  As others have mentioned it can lead you down a rabiit hole where you only listen to a small selection of recordings that sound good, but I've found that with a better system most music sounds better (or different, at least), and you start searching out more diverse music.  I find I'm listening to all kinds of things I never bothered with, like jazz and acappela groups; still can't listen to most classical music or opera, though.  Also it could be a matter of getting more nature in your listening habits, but I too have come across albums that I used to play to death in my youth but now are so compressed and such bad quality that it's distracting to listen to.  A live album from Journey that I loved is so compressed and lifeless on my better system.  I used to listen to Grand Funk Railroad's Live album and I recall my father coming into my room, calling it garbage and stomping out of the room.  I just listened to it recently and you know what?  He was right - I couldn't even listen to a whole side without yanking it off.  I am forcing myself to go through the pile of records that I've picked up recently or have had for years and am giving them a spin, and I'm finding more often than not I'm enjoying them as if they were recordings I'd never heard before, because of all of the extra detail and the instruments and effects that I never realized were there.

Not at all. If I don’t like the music it doesn’t get played on my system.