Having fun listening to music

My recent hifi splurge has me excitedly exploring music. Before I go on, I want to make clear: It is empirically true that nobody needs “nice” gear to have a blast with music. You can do it with $8 headphones. I believe that emphatically. That said, spending a bunch of cash on said nice gear sure did the trick. (And what a waste if it didn’t!) I’ve been looking up lists of great albums from different angles: albums that audiophiles rave about, that are critically acclaimed, that are under-appreciated, etc. This is exposing me to music I didn’t know about, to stuff I kinda knew about but hadn’t really listened to, and to stuff I already know and even love but haven’t paid close attention to in some time. I just used a key word: attention. I’m being more deliberate about paying attention when I listen. Since my speakers are on my home-office desk, I’m often doing something else while I listen. But I’m trying to stop at least a few times a day and just listen. Loosely related, I liked…