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codifus wrote:

You and I have very different perceptions of critical listening. Your
description is what I would describe as casual listening. I do the
same thing when washing dishes, but when I'm critically listening,
really listening, the doors are closed, it's usually at night, and the
TV's off. Even my PC is powered down because it's fan noise becomes
very apparent on quiet passages of music. It's so quiet when I'm
listening to the music that any distant chriping birds outside my
window ay inadvertantly become part of my listening experience Yes,
the window should be closed as well, which it is in winter time.
During the summer, it's open a bit. The ambient noise outside provides
a pleasant background.

I understand. What you need is a good pair of Sennheisers. That way the
sound is injected directly into your ears and background noise is missing
completely. Obviously the experience with headphones is different--but, on
the other hand, you do not have to worry about external influences. As far
as your PC noise goes, you can always submerge the thing in mineral oil
(and overclock your cpu, too), but then you've got a mess on your hands and
it's not very convenient. :-)

mp