Why does the question have to be framed as an "or"?
We can have both.
Just listening to the gear is not the point, it is a vehicle.
As to relative sonic merits, I'm most interested in how "regular" records sound, not "audiophile spectaculars"- thus, the baseline is for commercial records from the '50s through the late '70s. If it a question of where my personal priorities lie, that would lean toward music. But, I can usually find good sonic representations of good performances. There is so much music out there....