Listening rooms are rekindling our love of hi-fi

Dial down the noise and tune into the high-quality sound experiences found in listening rooms – the latest experiential environments changing not just what we are tuning into, but how and with whom.

In Peckham, London, for example, Shai Space carves out a quiet studio retreat for the community to come together for bi-weekly listening sessions in which albums are played in full, as the artist intended. The experience allows for an engagement on a deeper level with the track list, but also access to a shared frequency with fellow listeners.

Interest in immersive sensory experiences has evolved with speed post-lockdown. There’s theatre, like the long-running You Me Bum Bum Train, or concerts like Max Richter’s Sleep, in which a live orchestra played to 900 people in beds especially installed in London’s Alexandra Palace for the night.

Now sound, particularly, has come into sharp focus. At this year’s Louis Vuitton show, creative director and musician Pharrell Williams placed a listening room at the centre of the house’s AW26 menswear runway show, full of custom vinyl-sleeve art and a Paulin Paulin Paulin sofa with speakers embedded in the backrests.

These purpose-built arenas for audiophiles are the product of some of the world’s best sound engineers, architects and designers, but musicians and artists such as Rosalía and Sega Bodega are creating makeshift versions, too, taking over rooms in banks and museums to showcase new work to fans.

Listening rooms are even striking a chord in the virtual world: indie record label Silent Songs has created a deeply seductive digital listening room online, with interactive turntables and ambient playlists.

Image: Louis Vuitton