I am a huge fan of music have been for as long as I can remember. I have thousands of song lyrics in my head. Ive been told I have an audio-graphic memory. Meaning I remember what I hear and I can mimic it. It's why i speak other languages like a native. But for the life of me I have never understood what transients are, or decay or holographic 3D effect or even what slam means. I have a good system that I think plays really well. But reading here and listening to reviewers online I dont ever hear what they describe. I recently went thru a play list of music a speaker maker Sibelius. He had 10 songs that he uses to rate systems. Each had a specific trait that allowed him to rate the systems capabilities. I went thru each song listening for what he was hearing. <shrug> I guess I kinda heard those things. I didnt get the classical music traits or the wacko organ music but it sounded good to me. Granted I just have a regular room but everything he described as what makes a good system i heard like 40% or maybe I did hear them and didnt recognize them for what they were. All this to say and to ask. How do you know when you have arrived? I like my system. It does well with all genre and I hear things before that i havent heard from music Ive listened to all my life. Should I just shut up, relax and enjoy the music? Or am i on the precipice of miraculous sound and I just dont realize it? I think this ruins my enjoyment more than anything. Knowing I have good gear but my setup etc my be hamstringing the entire thing. Ahh well
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.