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

I'm wondering about how folks listen to their audio, and to what degree the quality of the sound is important, or, perhaps how it differs.

Here are four kinds of listening I can think of. (Did I miss any?)

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

SFL - Semi-focused listening -- listening is the central but not only activity (sitting in front of audio, listening but also reading, playing games, emailing, etc.)

CL - Casual listening -- listening to music but also involved in equally important tasks (cooking, doing dishes, laundry, etc.)

AL - Accidental listening -- music is on but it is in the background, mostly (music at party, just on for ambience)

For the kinds of listening other than FL, what do hope your audio gear can produce? What kinds of tonalities, soundstage, lows/mids/highs, transient response, dynamics, etc. does it need to produce? Are there other things that this gear needs to do that is different than your main rig? How good does the sound need to be? (In other words, how cheap a solution are you willing to get away with for those other kinds of listening? What do you use?)

128x128hilde45

Showing 2 responses by clearthinker

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

SFL - Semi-focused listening -- listening is the central but not only activity (sitting in front of audio, listening but also reading, playing games, emailing, etc.)

CL - Casual listening -- listening to music but also involved in equally important tasks (cooking, doing dishes, laundry, etc.)

@hilde45   You have these two the wrong way around.  Reading , playing games involve intellectual input, that get's in the way of listening.  I know, I often listen while reading.  Cooking, and especially dishes, laundry, need no significant intellectual input, so do not interrupt the connection between brain and music.  My wife listens to talk radio while gardening and follows it perfectly.

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

@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.

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