Audio gear, sonic quality when you listen in less (or non-) focused ways

@clearthinker I can see how those two might be swapped. Thanks!

I appreciate the answers so far.

There is a bias toward listening to music the way we look at paintings in a museum -- e.g., by staring at them. We call it "immersion" and we often aim for it in our systems and in our listening habits. Of course, music is everywhere, and used in many different ways. Brian Eno understood this when he developed ambient music, and he sought to challenge the idea that focal attention was the only (or even the superior) form of attention. (This is a good challenge to audiophiles, if only because it raises a question that may engender a more intentional commitment to the focused way of listening. It stops being an automatic bias and it becomes more intentional.)

My curiosity is about the intersection of sonic character and listening that is not focused (like in a museum). Some of the best times I’ve ever had with music was when it was blasting all over my apartment or house on while I moved around, did dishes, sang along -- or if I was driving down the highway. I have been surprised that while I enjoy my focused listening (with clearly better sound quality) that it is not as ebullient or fun as when I listen in other, non-focused ways. It is transcendent, intense, joyful, and lots of good things -- but it is not enjoyable in those other ways. Clearly, enjoyment varies in different situations, and the question becomes, What kind of acoustics/sound goes well with those forms of enjoyment?

@hilde45 

Listening while driving is an interesting case.  I have done many long drives with a pile of CDs to listen to.  If I am concentrating on the music my driving goes into totally automatic unconscious mode, as it can do in other circumstances like if I am thinking about something.

How do I know?  Because something happens in the traffic and conscious driving input comes back into play.  I realise that for the previous 15 minutes or 25 miles I have been driving without being conscious of doing so.

I am sure other long-time drivers experience this.

You might be wondering how many traffic accidents I have but it is well over 30 years since I had one and that was another driver jumping the lights and T-boning my car.

@hilde45 

FL - Focused listening -- sitting at focal point, concentrating on music and/or acoustic qualities.

I think your first category is actually two and should be split into FLE (focused listening equipment) and FLM (focus listening music).  Once a system is up and running to the owners satisfaction FLE, then it switches to FLM.  That is unless one is really suffering from Audiophile Nervosa.  Actually I find that sad as it is all about the music...

Regards,

barts 

If I'm doing focused listening on the music, the sound quality is surprisingly unimportant - so long as nothing is horribly off I'll be OK because I'm focusing on the music itself and my mind is able to do a tremendous amount of "error correction" for less than optimal sound quality. If I'm doing focused listening on the sound quality, then of course the sound quality is everything. 

SFL - the best kind of listening in my opinion  in terms of listening for sound quality. I become less judgmental of sound quality and generally enjoy myself a lot. I do notice sound quality in this setting, so it's still fairly important. As long as there are some noticeable good qualities to the sound I'll get a lot of enjoyment, picking up on the good without being very critical of the bad. I think I enjoy music the most in SFL too. Music can be listened to as a total point of focus, but it often works so well to enhance other activities when attention is shared between the two that I think I have richer overall experiences that way.

CL & AL  As long as it's not screeching horrible sound quality doesn't matter too much in these settings for me. It's still nice to have some quality though.