What’s your obstacles on the way of listening

Great, funny topic.  Thanks OP!

No evening noises except my old basement furnace in winter.  Pretty amazing since the old houses here are tightly packed - but it's a residential side street.  The furnace can intrude during quiet musical passages but is less noticeable when things get loud.  Still, it adds noise no matter the volume.

Soon to come - the 17-year locusts here on the East coast.  Natural, inescapable cacophony.  My 4th experience: 1970, 1987, 2004, 2021.

No wife = less noise, even when not listening.

Sleep (still need it)

Preoccupation with the sound of my system.  You know....cable A vs cable B, fuse directionality, carbon fiber footer or metal cone?, “is it broken in yet?”, etc. 😱

I listen most early in the morning and later in the evening. Sometimes I'm washing/drying clothes in the laundry room across the hall at night, and that's distracting, but I try to avoid that usually.   

been at this since the early 80’s... but for a few years prior to covid i almost stopped listening to music at home, playing with the hifi rig... it just sat idle ...

work, community service, parenting, golf, cars, cycling, live sports and musical performances, socializing with friends, and maybe too much cable news...

for better or worse the covid shut-in brought me back whole hog into it... i am glad it did... listening to beautiful music, marveling at the performances and the sound (sometimes of performers who have passed, long ago or recently), it makes me happy, more positive, and more balanced, more at peace overall i think - don’t think i will let it fall by the wayside again