Do you listen to equipment or music.

Good point. I think 'listening to the equipment' comes and goes..   
Particularly when one has been buying new equipment!  
For example, I had the same basic setup for eight years, with Magnepan 3.6 speakers, The only changes over those years, were a few new interconnects.  Then I got the bug to maybe buy new speakers. So after thinking I went all out and bought the most expensive I could afford, Magnepan 20.7   
That got me started on a bunch of upgrades. And all the time listening TO THE EQUIPMENT.        
New CD spinner, whole new to me upgrading the duplex, all in even the conditioner internal duplex..     new PC cords   etc...    
Now almost a full year later, A year filled with lots of small upgrades after the two main upgrades: speaker and CD spinner..And finally I am down to just moving power cords around, adjusting the resistors on the speaker midrange. Still. always LISTENING TO THE EQUIPMENT. But close to stopping the nonsense of listening to the equipment, and just getting back to listening JUST to the Music.   
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++      
Now in-between, certainly I was enjoying the music, but also listening to how it sounded, so I could make some adjustments. LOTS of adjustments.   
SO I am getting back to JUST enjoying the music, finally.    
I think one has to occasionally listen to the equipment just to keep up on does it sound as good as it did? OK , But not too often. Seems more like noticing something is off.. What??    
And then like me, buying new stuff. One has to get it set up right. That requires listening to the equipment.     
There are folks who call 'listening to the equipment' a curse (I have!) where one gets stuck endlessly listening to the equipment, judging it, always. That is a problem for some folks. It is possible to stop.  
Then folks who claim they never do..  who somehow magically claim they have never listened to anything but the music. Maybe they have no stereo, and play in a band?? or orchestra??    
"Listening to the equipment' is an insult one audiophile tosses at another. SO it is recognized as a negative. But a necessary one at times.

I got carried away.... All I can say.                      
What makes it easy to 'adjust resistors' is I am crazy about clarity. Most of the upgrades go to more clarity. The downside of many clarity creating things is in addition to getting the clarity, one loses some midrange, going lean sounding. So I am always on the edge of the system sounding lean. With that problem, the things that take it out of lean to neutral, maybe even a tiny bit rich, are easy to hear! (when they work) In particular, the midrange resistors for the Magnepan speakers are NOT to lower the sound level. they make the midrange richer. more mid bass, more mids, less lower treble, the resistors change the midrange tone. So it is actually easy to hear the difference between (having narrowed the range from 0.5 to 2.0 with cheap resistors) to using Duelund CAST in pairs to get 0.95 ohms. 1.0 ohms. 1.1 ohms. and what is in the speaker now, 1.05 ohms (pairing  2.0 ohm with a 2.2 ohm) I am pretty sure the best is either 1.0 or 1.05 ohm as of now. The increments of 0.05 ohm are pretty easy to hear IN THIS SITUATION. So I do not claim golden ears...Just sayin'.            
Also... One way to break 'listening to the sound'.. is to listen to poor recordings.  Like right now I am listening to Miles Davis Birdland 1951. The sound is bad.. LOL but great music! So worth listening to. certainly NOT for the sound quality. Certainly one needs to like the music, but good music with not so good sonics is one way to break the habit, even if temporarily, of listening to the sound.

My head lumps tell me I like clarity. Not so much bass... Classical first, Jazz second, Rock third. I must have acquired a new lump sometime in the 1990's to suddenly like Jazz, 'cuz I never had any interest in it prior...

Also sometimes one is listening to the tinnitus! ...              
Or the pressure on the eardrum from a blocked ear canal tube. Ever have an ear 'pop' and suddenly everything sound better???

My testing playlist is my general favorites. To me, the fact i know my favorites inside out upside down is the best reason to use them.When I get a surprise.. something I really never heard or noticed before THAT gets my attention when auditioning some new equipment.

The experience of great music on junky little devices is a phenomenon most of us have had. Some folks easily get into the great performance despite the poor equipment. A few, just are revolted by the sound so much they cannot listen.
Another form of this is the great performance with dismal sonics. being readily enjoyable on any system, average, good or spectacular. Verses average/blah performance with outstanding sonics that are the meat of some high end system owners listening.
Same animal.
To me, THAT is the division between music listeners, and equipment mavens.

I think mahgister is on the right track. After I moved up to Magnepan 20.7 and bought a high end digital device, I started upgrading the AC bits (already had two good power conditioners) I have to say replacing decent ordinary duplex with Furutech really moved the whole to greater clarity.Adding (7) Ps Audio Nose Sniffers, using the blinking, and then a noise sniffer borrowed from a dealer, I was able to place those to be effect.