Listening to music I don’t particularly like

I occasionally (infrequently) listen to recordings that I either don't like or didn't like the last time I listened to them, just as a reality check that what I heard the last time is still true.  Personal tastes change over time, not to mention our hearing.  Sometimes I am surprised; the artist (or recording) sounds better than they did the last time.  When you make significant changes to your gear, all bets are off and it's usually worth a re-listen.

Not at all. If I don’t like the music it doesn’t get played on my system.

I would contend that you're expanding your horizons music-wise as a side effect of having better equipment, but if you enjoy it, that's what it's all about, isn't it?  As others have mentioned it can lead you down a rabiit hole where you only listen to a small selection of recordings that sound good, but I've found that with a better system most music sounds better (or different, at least), and you start searching out more diverse music.  I find I'm listening to all kinds of things I never bothered with, like jazz and acappela groups; still can't listen to most classical music or opera, though.  Also it could be a matter of getting more nature in your listening habits, but I too have come across albums that I used to play to death in my youth but now are so compressed and such bad quality that it's distracting to listen to.  A live album from Journey that I loved is so compressed and lifeless on my better system.  I used to listen to Grand Funk Railroad's Live album and I recall my father coming into my room, calling it garbage and stomping out of the room.  I just listened to it recently and you know what?  He was right - I couldn't even listen to a whole side without yanking it off.  I am forcing myself to go through the pile of records that I've picked up recently or have had for years and am giving them a spin, and I'm finding more often than not I'm enjoying them as if they were recordings I'd never heard before, because of all of the extra detail and the instruments and effects that I never realized were there.

Then, there are albums like this: Betty Carter, 'Social Call' I just bought.

Put out in 1980, her original material from 1955, and never released from 1956. Mono, as I said, recordings in the Mono era were quite good, Quincy Jones and Gigi Gryce involved here.

I always love hearing how an artist began and developed, you get that with the first listen, and the liner notes are very informative.

Listening to one of my all time favorites of hers, 'Finally', you know how she progressed, turned herself into an instrument, amazing. Only some of the 'Social Call' material is wonderful.

If it was a CD, I probably would just play the 5 songs I really liked, LP, I will listen to all tracks, in the presented order That's when you hear something you missed first or even 2nd time time thru, busy reading the notes, ... I will never play it frequently like 'Finally', but I will never part with it, and will play it on the rare occasion for the several great songs it contains.

Also, I learned, try favorite albums CD versions on Shuffle. You will discover certain songs, typically the ones that follow the 'hits' in new ways. Cannot do that with LPs.

That's something I rarely do, listen to music that I'm not fond of, but that makes my system shine.

When I toured my then local lineup of brick-and-mortar audio stores to find a new pair of speakers, it really bothered me that one of the dealers insisted that I listen to a particular piece from an artist I didn't know or enjoy, but made the speakers really shine.