Maybe critical listening skills are bad?


In another thread about how to A/B compare speakers for a home I was thinking to myself, maybe the skills a reviewer may use to convey pros and cons of a speaker to readers is a bad skill to use when we evaluate hardware and gear?

I'm not against science, or nuance at all.  I was just thinking to myself, do I really want to spend hours A/B testing and scoring a speaker system I want to live with?

I do not actually.  I think listening for 2 days to a pair of speakers, and doing the same to another pair I need to focus first on what made me happy.  Could I listen to them for hours?  Was I drawn to spend more time with music or was I drawn to writing  minutiae down?

And how much does precise imaging really do for my enjoyment by the way?  I prefer to have a system that seems endless.  As if I'm focusing my eyes across a valley than to have palpable lung sounds in my living room.

Anyway, just a thought that maybe we as consumers need to use a different skill set when buying than reviewers do when selling.

erik_squires

Showing 1 response by avanti1960

@erik_squires 

 

Two things-

1- Critical listening does not have to be critical in nature.  Just relax and listen- take your time.  Before long you will form an opinion - do you like or dislike the sound and why?  It should not come down to minute differences- they should be obvious. 

2- If you don't take your time and listen to lots of music any irritants in the sound will show up over the long haul and you may not like that situation.  

All of the above compared to reference.