in my consideration of the finest music (using the word "fine" very specifically here, but i don't feel like explaining it right now), the mode of listening (feeling of sound, sound-space, sound delivery, sound environment, volume) is always a key consideration. since this can't be imparted to you as-conceived-of (with the artist's intentions), it's entirely up to you to find and determine, so it's kind of strange that this aspect of the listening experience is so rarely commented upon.
how we listen to music affects our experience of it, but people treat music very frivolously and will just play it from a bluetooth speaker while they take a shower or play it in the car and consider this equivalent to listening to it intently in a sound-restricted environment. some artists will specifically say if their music is to be played from speakers as opposed to headphones which i greatly appreciate -- even stuff that is relatively old (not from the internet era). for example: "
Don't listen by headphones"
i treat the music that i love the most with such reverence and trepidation that i won't relisten to it unless i plan for the occasion and make sure i am able to finish the entire album while listening intently the entire time in the right mood. it's so rare for music to deeply and powerfully affect me that i would be diminishing the range of experience i have access to in this world by treating the greatest music poorly and frivolously, turning it into popcorn, something that becomes background noise. this also makes me hesitant to even tell other people what these albums are, because i am usually not confident they'll treat them respectfully.
so many people go through life without ever truly caring about anything. it's very sad to think about.