Is “Dedicated Listening” becoming a lost art?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Khorn, Aug 3, 2022.

  1. Tourswede

    Tourswede Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin
    I didn’t read all the posts… but as the OP asked for opinions here’s mine.

    I don’t think dedicated listening is an art. It’s a preference. Like reading a book… in public vs in private. To use one example.

    I do sit down and listen on my own sometimes but my goal for a very long time was a high level sound system (by my standards) that could integrate into a normal living situation and also please other people regardless of music genre or volume.

    Having an integrated now rather than big separates means I don’t have to have hifi gear conversations with people I don’t don’t want to have, most of the time.

    I do find though that many people who visit us comment on the music, the tunes, the band etc. Which is great. I used to do more listening in private in my own but as I got older I wanted to share the music / songs more than I wanted to listen solo.
     
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  2. Glmoneydawg

    Glmoneydawg Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario Canada
    Yep...a couple of scotches can turn off the mechanical/scientific part of the brain and activate the ethereal/music lover side :)
     
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  3. slovell

    slovell Retired Mudshark

    Location:
    Chesnee, SC, USA
    I do that with headphones almost every day but I never thought of it as dedicated listening. To me, imho, it's just finding time to listen to music.
     
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  4. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    Sitting down and listening to music without distractions. Dirty job, I know, but someone's got to do it.

    No it's not. It's a music lover thing.
     
  5. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    No, it's like reading a book without the TV on, carrying on a conversation or working.
     
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  6. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    I was the only one of my youth peer group in the later 80s to regularly sit and actively listen to recordings.

    Now, I’m a middle aged adult who is the only one in my peer group with an active listening stereo system.

    ….which is what i always called it. A lot of people do so at concerts. The communal version. While my parents used to sit on the couch together and listen to an album….ive not seen that elsewhere in my life. Tends to be more solitary. Thus why NOW i imagine cars and headphones make up most of it.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  7. slovell

    slovell Retired Mudshark

    Location:
    Chesnee, SC, USA
    My sentiments exactly.
     
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  8. Carl Swanson

    Carl Swanson Senior Member

    I'm the only one in my group who even has a system.

    However, we're working on ginning one up out of rags and bones for our youngest son and his family. So far, I've got a Pioneer PL660 TT that I fitted with an AT-92E, a Yamaha RX496 receiver and a pair of Polk Audio R15 bookshelf speakers.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  9. Oscillation

    Oscillation Maybe it was the doses?

    I have no idea if it is a dying thing or not, as I'm fairly solitary now. When I was a kid we would all gather at friends houses/apartments, get high, and listen to music. No one spoke much, we were listening, we would smile or chuckle at a particular passage together and we would go on a group journey in the vehicle of great music. I'm not sure that happens anymore, because I'm no longer hanging out at friends houses, however, at home, every day, I listen to at least one album without interruption, and my 12 and 8 year old kids are with me, so maybe they will carry the mantle.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  10. Brother_Rael

    Brother_Rael Senior Member

    When it's applied as "serious listening" that usually goes hand in hand with the audiophile.

    I'm a serious music lover, have been for decades, but these days I'll consume it in a manner that suits me, not what somebody else's idea of how one should focus on what they're listening to.
     
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  11. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    Well, it’s nice to know that after all the yammering we do about equipment here most of us actually use it for it’s intended purpose, listening to music. Sometimes it doesn’t quite seem that way.
     
  12. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    I'm just listening to Brahms' "Ein deutsches Requiem". Now if I told you, that while doing so, I've been reading this thread, hung up a machine full of freshly washed clothes, refilled my vaping device and now answer to this thread, you would probably take away my music lover card and confiscate my main system. And justifiably so!

    Thank God, I had my house elf do all these chores (including writing these lines), while I sit here with my eyes closed, listening to Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Brahms would be pleased.
     
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  13. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    No Question. Music is an adaptable accompaniment to many activities in life and can make these much more enjoyable.
     
  14. Geordiepete

    Geordiepete Tippet tyer

    Location:
    Japan
    I know young people (teens) who very much enjoy listening to whole albums on headphones, as I do myself.

    Figure of speech, I know, but still, I wouldn't call it an art. The mind is alert, the attention is engaged, all true, but it is a perfection of passiveness. But of course, it's probably the best way to appreciate good music. (I said 'probably' because there's also live concerts.)
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2022
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  15. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    Live performances can provide both the best and worst of listening experiences. Like Jazz club/concert hall vs stadium extravaganzas.
     
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  16. JackG

    JackG Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    Exactly. I think it's important not to conflate "dedicated" listening and "critical" listening. The latter seems to be done by reviewers and forum wanna-bees, but my own focus on listening as a primary activity is purely hedonistic. It happens before me, I soak it up. It's not a man-cave so the family digs it as well.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  17. Vibrolux_Reverb

    Vibrolux_Reverb Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    I have dedicated listening every day. It is harder to get my wife into it though. She likes to be on the computer while listening, but still enjoys it.

    sometimes I have a good friend come over and we will simply get stoned and listen for a couple of hours without saying much. It is the best. Most friends would be incapable of this, and almost all of my friends are very much into music
     
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  18. Tribute

    Tribute Senior Member

    With 78RPMs you could not use a record as background while doing housecleaning. It was far better to sit (or dance) and listen as the three minute record played.
     
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  19. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Most of my listening is critical.
     
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  20. BrentB

    BrentB Urban Angler

    Location:
    Midwestern US
    WAY too much to simply list. I mean... If you don't understand by now the it does not apply. Carry on...
     
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  21. Fastnbulbous

    Fastnbulbous Doubleplus Ungood

    Location:
    Washington DC USA
    If I had to guess >90% of music today is consumed either passively or recreationally/co-actively via earbuds. Personally I did a lot more dedicated listening in my teens and 20s than I do now. Having a wife and kids meant Spongebob vs. Miles and you can guess who won that fight.
     
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  22. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    When I was young, before the Internet, I'd hang in my room for hours listening to LOUD music. Now I find, I'm reading the Internet or doing chores while listening to loud music.

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  23. John76

    John76 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    Dedicated Listening.

    This is generally a solo endeavor and requires alone time to do that where you’re not bothering others in the household. I’m fortunate to have three rooms setup where I can venture off to and do so all fed from the same high quality source.
     
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  24. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Not so much a "lost art", but a focused "activity".
     
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  25. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Cool. I like to hang, right in front of my turntable, and between the speakers, in the "zone".
     
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