Comparing systems through phone recordings

You have entered a world of mystery and imagination. It is a dimension as vast as space and as empty as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. The signpost ahead, you have entered the geoffkait zone.

To hear the basics of the amp - speaker - room integration.

Yes well that one's a lot harder. The thing of it is, its all about comparison. Even in our own rooms with our own systems we can't meaningfully compare if we change several things at once. If for example I change the amp, interconnect, and power cord to a different amp, interconnect and power cord, and hear a difference, then I have no idea what did what. Which if that seems funny someone actually did exactly that here just the other day.

Now if instead of 3 components it was just the one then a valid comparison could have been made- and here's the thing- regardless of whether it was by listening in the room or a recording made by anything and played back on anything. Because as long as we have just the one change then we know whatever difference there was, it was just that one thing.
You see where this is going, right? With all those other things it doesn't matter at all who recorded what. But with your room integration now all of a sudden its the only thing that matters. Because when everything changes- and not only all the equipment but even the room itself- then the one thing that must not change is the recording equipment. And technique.

Otherwise, even a tiny change in something as small as which direction the phone is pointed can easily overwhelm whatever differences there might actually have been.

So yeah we're thinking in the same direction. Its just never forget the first commandment of comparing: thou shalt not change more than one thing at a time.

Yeah, it works. But the consensus around here is this will be a waste of time.
So let me say right up front I am NOT telling anyone to start auditioning components via YouTube! Yet sometimes something is better than nothing. Which for most of us nothing is what we got.
There's whole series of Youtubers just playing records, reviewing gear, pretty much everything you can think of. One guy has a bunch with a Koetsu Black Goldline and Herron phono stage. Different records, tables, arms, but same cart and stage. What is it we do when comparing? Change just one thing? So that's what this is. That's all that it is. One more opportunity to listen and compare.
Listening to just one gives almost no idea. Listening to several where the one constant is the cart, after a while the inherent character comes out. That's what I did. And guess what? When I bought the Herron and the Koetsu they did indeed sound pretty much as expected from listening to them on Youtube.
Now nothing will ever stop the nitpickers and arguers but just so they know I am not saying my stereo sounds exactly like my laptop. What I am saying is your laptop does not need to sound exactly like your stereo in order to be able to get some benefit from this. Its a comparison. Listen. Compare.

Sound is sound. Listening is listening. What you are doing, at the very least, is learning to listen and evaluate. Something we all could afford to be better at.