Concentration

When I have a listening session, I catch a buzz, sit in my listening chair, and just get into the music I put on...  I don't read, do chores, or anything else while doing that, except the occasional fridge raid as required.  

I think it’s likely that those who listen to classical music have to concentrate more on the music than others because of the complexity.

I've never listened to my reference audio systems casually, number one it's not possible as I've always been drawn in by the quality of the sound. Another concern is finite life of tubes, some of these tubes are pretty expensive and rare, why would I use up this finite life to serve as background noise for other activities. 

Quick thoughts:

I’m with @sns and believe that sound/music are not separable. 
@rvpiano — do you taste an apple without the texture? I think this is an apt analogy, so if you agree that those things go together, you’ll back off of the (false) between "sound" OR "music."

As Brian Eno discovered -- and most others here are mentioning -- the notion that the "best" experience aligns with one kind of attention is a bit hard to accept. It’s like asking, "What the *best* kind of conversation -- a heart to heart about deep topics or a fun, shooting the bull conversation with banter, humor, etc.?" It’s another false choice.

If you’re asking, "Is it a better experience to not be distracted when you’re trying to concentrate?" then the answer is "Obviously, yes." But that’s too easy a question, isn’t it?

Possibly of interest:

https://news.emory.edu/stories/2019/01/er_eno_book/campus.html

"Lysaker is led to consider the different kinds of listening that “Music for Airports” requires.

Even casual music fans would be familiar with background listening, the sonic accompaniment to other activities, and with performance listening, the focus required at a concert.

Lysaker argues Eno’s willingness to use catchy musical phrases in the absence of clear rhythmic structures keeps “Music for Airports” from existing only in the background, while the lack of narrative development keeps it from serving as a showpiece.

That leaves avant-garde listening, for sounds outside of traditional configurations of melodies and scales — for sounds such as reverb — and reverie listening, in which the music initiates open-ended reflection.

Eno’s album provokes each kind of listening. Although no one can listen in all four ways at once, Eno’s deliberate engagement with each of the four creates that hazy and calm new space. 

But it also demands more than what German philosopher Theodor Adorno calls regressive listening, what we now think of as those who believe they are fully engaging with music only because it confers some kind of prestige.

“The way we often theorize listening sounds passive,” Lysaker says. “I think Eno is showing that listening is active.” 

@rvpiano -- In my case, yes. I know others who are more interested in sonic details. While I can appreciate those, I am much more interested in what the musicians might be trying to communicate, and that doesn’t come through if I’m doing puzzles or reading a book at the same time.