What is your most anal audio habit?

Jeffloistarca, cleaning your ears out? That's not anal at all. I had a feeling all was not well in my aural cavities last year, so I had my doctor clean my ears out. What a difference it made having those rather shockingly large amber chunks removed. Best upgrade I ever made! Lately I've noticed things are starting to get a little muffled again, I think it's almost time for another upgrade!

I didn't have any anal habits until I started reading this thread. Now I'm just another hopeless obsessive compulsive audio neurotic. HOCAN for short. :o)

Actually, a lot of these make sense once you think about them.

When I really want to listen closely and for a while, I have a pretty obsessive dietary and physical regimen:
1. No caffeine or alcohol during the days that precede the listening session: usually impairs hearing.
2. No red meat on the day of the session: usually, a small portion of sushi is best.
3. A long, hot bathe: actually, I think the body listens through the pores as much as the ears.
4. Perhaps, a nap, if tired.
5. No long car or train rides the day of the session, or anything involving alot of vibrations.
6. No audio magazines in the listening area when the session approaches.
7. Freshly ventilated and dusted room.
8. Perhaps some light yoga beforehand.
All of this while all of the components in the system are warming up: hopefully for three or more days beforehand.

Slawney, admirable! Alas, you've forgotten lovemaking.
A double dose of it beforehand or none at all? Or does it depend on the type of music you wish to listen to? The Paris version of the overture to Tannhäuser, for example could do the most strage things to your composure, if you had been abstinent for too long. (Ha, this gives me an idea for a new thread, which I'll launch at once) Cheers,

Detlof, I admit my regimen seems a little chaste. I left out lovemaking, because then my partner usually wants to "cuddle" for too long afterwards (you know these German women, they want it all, an exciting climax and then hours of "Kuscheln" afterwards, so unlike the "Flittchen" we both know about ;-) ) while I immediately want to jump out of bed to put Stravinski's "Firebird Suite" on the turntable. A visit to a hot-water spa (Wiesbaden and Bad Homburg are nearby), hopefully with a full body massage, can take the place of lovemaking: however, the ear can irrigate with too much blood, and lead to dimished high-frequency sensitivity.