My best relationship was with someone who liked classic rock. I was perfectly fine with that. His favorite bands weren't necessarily my favorite bands and vice versa, but we were content and had a good, healthy balance of give and take (in all areas)...and neither of us had to keep earbuds in all the time. So, the ideal person can be found without having to wear earbuds all the time! I'm just speaking for me and others who don't want to wear earbuds all the time.
If you like wearing them, that's great. Personally speaking, I don't mind sometimes, but not most of the time during the entire relationship lol
I "hear" you, CarriePie.
I can't stand anything in my ears, so earbuds definitely wouldn't be the answer for me either. I was on a flight a while back and had the free earbuds the airline passed out to be able to watch movies on the little screens in front of each seat.
But the earbuds bothered me so much -- I couldn't even stand one -- that I opted to watch the movies silently with closed captions instead!
And much more important than the earbuds, of course, was the red flag you brought up about someone who is only interested in allowing their own music and preferences during your time together, with no room to compromise and no interest in the things you're interested in.
I was talking to a young person (20's) about the dating scene, and I mentioned that my own finding is that people don't want you for you. They want you for how much they can mold and shove you into the narrative they have for their own life.
I always tell the story about two separate times on the Christian dating sites in which white single fathers with adopted Asian children were extremely excited to meet me (online,) and you could see the whole narrative playing out in their minds. They had found an adopted Asian woman who could be a stepmother to their Asian children, which they imagined would be a great match for their children's identities and self-esteem, etc., as well as a great look for themselves with having an Asian wife with Asian kids. (Their previous spouses were not Asian.)
I've always said, I felt like a handbag being matched to a pair of shoes. Bless them for wanting the best for their kids, but not once did they ask me about anything I was looking or hoping for in a relationship. They just figured I'd see the "great matchup" right in front of me and would be 100% on board.
When I tried to explain that I didn't think we were a match, one immediately wrote me condescending replies and said, "Well it's your loss," and blocked me before I could reply or defend myself.
This is a big reason as to why I'm not in the "active" dating scene.
I wish everyone out there the best, but I got tired of being cussed out (even without cuss words) just because I didn't fit someone else's story that they had already signed, sealed, and delivered -- to themselves.
Kudos to you for sticking to your own standards!