Anyone else prefer listening to their system more than a concert?


I know I do. It seems like most people on this forum don't feel that way. That's OK. To each his own. 

For me, I like being able to control the volume. I like choosing what song I want to hear. I like not being in a crowd. I like hearing the music without any distracting sounds from others. I like the privacy. I like the convenience. I think my system sounds wonderful. I'm a happy camper.

Just my opinion. Not trying to change anyone else's mind.

Enjoy the music! Whichever way pleases you.

tomcarr

I generally prefer listening to my system for all the reasons given by the OP, plus my system sounds better than amplified concerts.

I occasionally attend local jazz performances, but there aren't many good shows or good-sounding venues where I live, and really not that many performers I'm interested in seeing, especially who come to my area.

I would be inclined to attend orchestral concerts, but rarely do orchestras program an evening of music I would want to hear, as I don't care for most 19th-century orchestral music, and that still seems to be the core of most orchestral repertoires.

There are a lot of folks that enjoy watching the performers. I do not. I typically close my eyes while at the symphony. I have some friends that think of themselves as musicians and watch intently. 

I have been to way over 100 concerts and I would say 6 were very good sounding. It’s the sound engineers that screw things up.

For a few decades now, the sound engineers have turned up the bass way too load and the music is very very loud. The best concerts have been some amphitheaters in the hills and at some wineries. 

 

I used to live for going to rock concerts - they were a peak experience, and between 1969 and 2020, I’ve seen many hundreds (used to be in the music biz too, so got a lot of free tickets for awhile).

The 2020 lockdown kind of coincided with me turning 70, and I’d been slowing down significantly anyway, so unless I know somebody in the band, I’ve stopped going to gigs. But probably for me more to do with age than anything else. 

Live classical music moves me in ways I’ve never experienced even on the best systems.  Same with other acoustic performances.  But as soon as you introduce amplification and sound guys, I’m likely to skip it and listen at home.  Nearly universal lousy sound, artificial, brittle, distorted, poorly mixed, and ear-splitting volume easily outweigh any pleasure I would get from the synergy of live performance.  I ask myself, would this artist release a recording of this performance, sounding as bad as it does?  If not, there’s no reason for me to attend.  And that doesn’t even take in to account the astronomical ticket prices, parking and unpleasant crowds.