Concentration

Reading, doing chores, or writing something ... really lessens your enjoyment and can potentially cause you to doubt the quality of your system.  
What do you think?

I disagree. If I listened to my system only when I can give it full, undivided attention I would be listening 20 or 30 minutes a day, as opposed to 5 or 6 or 7 hours. So, far from lessening my enjoyment, ancillary activities greatly multiply it.

One other factor is relevant here.  In one way we’re talking about apples and oranges.  As I’ve said, those who listen to classical music generally have to concentrate a little more on to what is going on in the music.  I believe that rock, pop and the like is detected more viscerally and instinctively than classical.
People feel the music rather than think about it.  Of course classical music lovers also feel the music, but there is an added element to their listening.

I, Will: SkRoLL>>> pasT

Literally laughing aloud.  You are killing me, @unclewilbur !

Obviously we're listening to the sound and music simultaneously, the two are inseparable. Which is most salient at any moment in time is the question. I can't recall a single listening session over many decades of listening to high end systems when sound quality or qualities didn't rise to primacy at certain times. This mostly due to the high variability in recording quality, how one could ignore the often extreme differences in sound quality between recordings seems unfathomable. The only time I can ignore this is when listening on midfi systems like I have at work or in cars, these systems homogenize recordings to a large extent

. I'm also very content listening to mediocre recordings, being attentive to the sound doesn't have to be a necessarily judgmental exercise. Beyond this, paying attention to sound quality can quickly morph into the music and/or performance of that music rising to primacy, I don't listen in only one unchanging mode.

While it is true we listen to music and sound at the same time, it’s the priority that we give to each that’s the issue. 

@rvpiano  Thanks for the reply to my comment. Your word "priority" is one I associate with making a judgment after doing an analysis. I think of "making a judgment" as a different activity than "listening to music & sound" for enjoyment purposes.

I’m sorry my analogy of "flavor" and "texture" doesn’t work for you. For me, musical content and sonic texture are entangled in that way. (Consider why people love YoYo Ma; it's not just his way of playing music, but his touch and tone; those seem like sonic elements to me.) Only if I am analyzing for some other purpose (adjusting the system) are they pulled apart to determine "priority."

If one of them does become more salient, it is in the kind of experience sns describes, with one becoming more prominent than the other but neither disappearing or becoming irrelevant.

In many of your posts, I notice you return to a struggle you have to keep your analytical side in check. That’s a valuable initiative, but I don’t think it reveals a reality about listening for everyone.