It occurs to me that this not unlike another of your recent questions: “Music lover or audiophile?”; but, considered from a somewhat different angle. You pose some interesting and sometimes provocative questions, but I think that there can be a downside to overanalyzing the music listening experience. My comments are not meant to be judgmental in any way and are simply a reflection of my personal approach.
I love my gear and have no trouble admitting that there are times when I like to revel in the sound for the sake of the sound; the “ear candy” aspect of it all. I can’t tolerate listening to music that I don’t consider to be of at least reasonably high artistic quality no matter how good the sound, but there are recordings in my collection that simply sound so good that their ultimate musical merit takes a back seat to their sonic merit. I have no trouble admitting this because when all is said and done I love music more than my gear or the “sound”. I may not always have the time to listen, but I can honestly say that I am never not “in the mood”. Like all of us, I am always in one kind of mood or another and whatever that mood is dictates what music I listen to. Moreover, when a recorded performance absolutely kills artistically it doesn’t matter that much whether I am listening on my big system or my car radio. Of course, when that great performance also sounds great and the time/scheduling stars align so that I can listen to it on the big rig the experience can be special. Sometimes, depending on my mood, I prefer to not take a chance that I may start to worry about my four year old power tubes. Sometimes there can be an upside to keeping it all more simple.
