Demistereophonics

I have a broken pair of headphones. Only the right channel works, so I've been listening to music in one ear, and only the right half of the stereo signal. I'm finding that I notice a great deal more about the sound production of a given recording this way, at least more than I would be without sitting down with the explicit purpose of doing so.

I suppose it's because listening to only one half of a well-engineered stereo mix is totally breaking the mix. Some parts that are supposed to blended with or even buried under strong sounds in the left channel pop out this way; parts that are mixed hard left and which I strongly identify with a song are suddenly gone, which changes the feel of the song, and often reveals to me basic tricks to the construction of the mix that are neat to discover.