I echo what @freediver said about becoming familiar with live music in real spaces. Live acoustic music is priceless for understanding tonality/timbre, smooth vs grainy sound, soundstage, rhythm/pace, other issues you’ll run into in audiophile systems; electric live music is priceless to assess dynamics, dynamic range, and bass.
An equally important piece of the puzzle is you developing your research skills...learning how to amass and triangulate the streams of high end audio reviews (Stereophile, Absolute Sound, HiFi+) and user comments in threads like this. You learn to sift through all this, looking for clues as to how a given audio product sounds.
The only way those clues will make sense is if you understand your own sonic preferences--really know (just one example) that you really appreciate, or really don’t appreciate, lots of detail, "accuracy," and resolution (which some hear as bright, etched, clinical). Or whether you appreciate, or don’t appreciate, the same natural weight in the lower midrange and bass that you will consistently hear in live music.
Early on I learned to snatch knowledge from unexpected places: a recording heard on the radio (which became a trust demo CD); a friend’s audio system (I liked something I heard & checked out what was in the chain); and of course, visits to high end audio stores.
An equally important piece of the puzzle is you developing your research skills...learning how to amass and triangulate the streams of high end audio reviews (Stereophile, Absolute Sound, HiFi+) and user comments in threads like this. You learn to sift through all this, looking for clues as to how a given audio product sounds.
The only way those clues will make sense is if you understand your own sonic preferences--really know (just one example) that you really appreciate, or really don’t appreciate, lots of detail, "accuracy," and resolution (which some hear as bright, etched, clinical). Or whether you appreciate, or don’t appreciate, the same natural weight in the lower midrange and bass that you will consistently hear in live music.
Early on I learned to snatch knowledge from unexpected places: a recording heard on the radio (which became a trust demo CD); a friend’s audio system (I liked something I heard & checked out what was in the chain); and of course, visits to high end audio stores.