Critical listening and altered states

Tacitus (I think) says the Germanic tribes used to make decisions:  (1) at night when they were all sh*t-faced, and (2) in the morning when they were sober.  They only followed their own counsel if the decision was the same in both cases.

first off, no doubt i view this as a legit subject matter, one i take very seriously, and one i think about and plan for.
i’ve made a considerable hifi system life commitment.......so building my system has taken a huge effort and i’ve loved the process. OTOH i can’t be stressed about critical listening. i have to free my mind.

for me to do ’system building’ listening, where i’m making decisions about gear or set-up, i need to first-off, feel good personally. if i’m tired or something is heavy on my mind, or feel rushed or bothered, i don’t really try to listen critically. i have 100 or so digital tracks i use, and another 20-25 vinyl cuts, as my references.

then i just start listening and try to clear my mind. certainly i will have the food fuel part behind me, and will have water of some form or fashion. i avoid alcohol for the most part as that will make me drowsy and shorten my listening time. i go along and see if i’m slipping into my ’zen’ mode where the music is connecting. if it feels good i just let go and float along. i can then really hear my familiar cuts, consider how i’m pulled into the music, and what i’m hearing. is it something new, different, better?

depending on what i’m investigating, i might remove it or make a change and continue. as long as it’s not disruptive to my state of mind.

if work or my wife calls and interrupts, sometimes i will abandon my critical listening and come back to it an hour later and re-boot.

i love this type of listening, and can go for 5-10 hours doing it. my room is in a barn, and there are zero noises or distractions. if i’m doing an extended session, i will have a meal without engaging in conversation where i will lose my state of mind and focus. i view my method as a learned thing. i discovered how this best works for me. i’m sure everyone is a bit different on how you might get into your most effective state of discovery.

my room and system are now at a mature end-game arrival point where these sessions are almost completely behind me. 5 years ago i spent 9 months tuning my room literally with every square inch (this was after 10 years of learning about my room). and also have made digital front end and vinyl front end decisions where i’ve added 4 tt’s, arms, cartridges. i’m all done with that now so little critical listening on my horizon unless i were to move residences. my only critical listening these days involves media choices and format compares.

hilde45

What, in your experience, are the pluses and minuses of altering your state of mind for listening?

The plus: You’ve altered your state of mind.
The minus: You’ve altered your state of mind.

At WSU we gained a lot of experience with altered states. I have an advanced degree- or would, if only I had remembered to show up for the final. This question reminds me of one time when I came back to the dorm and everyone was already deep into studying altered states. They were discussing the various topics as deeply as ever, you could tell they were really getting somewhere. Only something strange, they were hearing deep philosophy, I was hearing blather. 

From this experience I conclude if you get messed up to make decisions don't be surprised when you make messed up decisions.

There is no benefit in chemical enhancement. You may be led to believe you perceive things better, but you don’t.

Your mind needs to be in an empty state, or "Wuji" ("the ultimate of nothingness") in order for the sound to communicate to you most effectively.