Closing your eyes to get the feeling sounds like you're hooked on "watching" as much as listening. A few changes ago I found myself doing the same things you describe: especially noting the tonality; focusing on the imaging; blah blah. In short, the presentation was distracting me too much from the performance. Breaking an analytical habit can be hard but it can be done.
Yesterday during a session with my rig I marvelled how little I lapse into the old criticisms of a few years back. It's not so much that my rig sounds better than it used to but it sounds more amorphous, as if it gets out of the way more. Maybe it's less focused than before; there's less etch and more curves, like the difference twixt an engraving and a watercolor. Maybe I'm more relaxed or maybe the smoothing makes me more relaxed.
Feel free to leave the confines of "neutral, accurate playback." That rabbit hole is worth the visit so you'll know to avoid it moving forward. And vinyl has it's own load of adjustable parameters that'll make you just as delusional thinking you've got those mostly right too. Instead, consider that any things which distract you from the musical message are distortions, and that includes tone, staging, mic placement, etc.
You're on the way. Say goodbye to gee-whiz and hello to music appreciation. You're not alone. There is hope. If you need direction, changing the front end or the speakers always makes the biggest difference so they're good places to start.
Yesterday during a session with my rig I marvelled how little I lapse into the old criticisms of a few years back. It's not so much that my rig sounds better than it used to but it sounds more amorphous, as if it gets out of the way more. Maybe it's less focused than before; there's less etch and more curves, like the difference twixt an engraving and a watercolor. Maybe I'm more relaxed or maybe the smoothing makes me more relaxed.
Feel free to leave the confines of "neutral, accurate playback." That rabbit hole is worth the visit so you'll know to avoid it moving forward. And vinyl has it's own load of adjustable parameters that'll make you just as delusional thinking you've got those mostly right too. Instead, consider that any things which distract you from the musical message are distortions, and that includes tone, staging, mic placement, etc.
You're on the way. Say goodbye to gee-whiz and hello to music appreciation. You're not alone. There is hope. If you need direction, changing the front end or the speakers always makes the biggest difference so they're good places to start.