Critical listening and altered states

Forgot to mention subjective physical qualities of our individual brain/ears. Makes me wonder if a truly objective mind can even exist within the ascetic?

Initially became an audiophile through exclusive listening to first and only audiophile system in my circle of friends while on hash/honey oil  or hashish. The shock of discovering high quality sound, much new music and genres of music, and the buzz from the medication all compounded into meditative states with the right music.
My need for altered state prior to listening sessions continued for many years as a result of prior peak experiences from the early listening sessions. Over time repeated exposure to same experience grew old and tired. Then, being 'straight' became the new altered state, this coincided with period of much critical listening. Wholesale changes, systems never in static, I'd often start drinking later in session in attempt to mitigate what I didn't like.

In time, as I learned to put together a coherent system I found myself increasingly immersed in music, not needing much in the way of added enhancement to 'straight' mind. Over the past few years, my system has exclusively delivered an altered state. I may have one or two bourbon based cocktails over five to six hour listening session, so may have a slight impact on state of mind.

The altered state my system, more importantly the music delivers to me is most similar to what I feel when alone out in nature. The world becomes a wonderful, beautiful place for me. Sometimes, with some special music I can even believe that I somehow know the performer, and/or they know me. And so now, far more than my state of mind affecting my perception of music, it is now the music that affects my state of mind, or altered state.

How about if I hire a robot for the objective listening, it will disabuse me of  my emotional connection, aka delusional pleasures of connecting with the music. Millercarbon reminded me the machine/robot doesn't hear. In that case I have to do the objective listening, which I now find out isn't possible with humans.

I'm ok with all this, I'll simply listen and build my system based on what's pleasurable to me.

This word, objectivity, seems to be so misused these days. In regard to listening to an audio system, I could argue its used as what in reality is a subjective state. Objective listening as used here is in reality an evaluative or judgemental state. This is a state with so many subjective variable impositions as to be perhaps the most subjective state one could exist in.

I'd suggest the most objective state humans can exist in are those of the ascetic mind. A state where no desires, wants, needs exist. In this state no judgment or conscious thought exists. In this state, the mind is freed from past and future, only living in the moment. I can only wonder how the mind would interpret sound emanating from an audio system in this truly objective state.
Anyway, I'd suggest the closest we come to an objective state when listening to audio systems is when we are no longer judging the quality of sound, we are only listening to the music emanating from that system. The music takes over the mind, we are living in the moment!

And so, objectivity as used here is in fact one of the most subjective states one could be in. In judgmental state we aren't free from all our prejudices informed by our individual experiences, needs, desires.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for judgmental listening, but understand its not an objective state. Plenty of evidence for that by all the different evaluations of the same equipment, and even by the high likelihood one's system is totally unique amongst all systems on this earth.