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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 2 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires OP
16,564 posts
 

My argument about precise imaging was about how in person listening I don’t get the same imaging illusion. If I close my eyes I can’t place instruments nearly as well as I demand from my stereo.

I argue that we seek out imaging that is too precise because we lack the visual information. It’s like Kurosawa adding smoke to a volcano because the film won’t convey heat.

Whatever your thoughts are on imagine though, it's just another detail which we may be so critical of we fail to actually enjoy the experience.

erik_squires OP
16,564 posts
 

The interesting finding in such research is that not all physical qualities to which experts may be attuned correlate with liking. In the end, product developers need only attend on those physical qualities that are associated with what the target audience likes. 

 

Oh, absolutely.  What audiophiles often don't understand is that companies like Bose are _very_ much driven by cognitive science.  The depth of research they do into creating products which are liked, and therefore have financial value in the marketplace is breathtaking.  Absolute perfection of an audio signal is irrelevant.  Engineering metrics only matter so long as they are correlated to being "liked."  Their success in the marketplace speaks for itself.

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