What exactly is critical listening? Who does it?

Maybe it’s like going to a museum and looking at a painting done by a master. For many just visually looking at it, it achieves lots of enjoyment. And then for others, they understand all the work related to color choices, brushing techniques, contrasting, depth perception - they put a lot of thought in looking at the Picture because they understand what it’s all about.  Most mere mortals have no clue.

Many of us mere mortals may wish we better understood all that goes into the picture which no doubt would allow a better appreciation for all it took to achieve it.

There are some remarkable paintings in this world and I wish I would’ve taken some art classes in college. 

Or maybe another aspect of critical listening is criticizing Rachmaninoff for use of French horns when he should be using trumpets for a passage that clearly needs a emphasized crescendo.  And at times limiting use of violins in the background.

And sometimes the tympany is just too overwhelming don’t you think

@musicfan2349 

Nice comment.  I guess when you reach a point your completely confident with your system you become less critical of it and just sit back and appreciate what you’re listening to knowing can’t get too much better, ie after allowing for recording quality which is always a wildcard.

I love your System with all the audio research and cj vintage stuff. smooth sounding I’m sure very nice for classical. Vintage stuff can be quite nice.

@baylinor 

You've done amazing work with your room and the diffuser work very interesting. You are very fortunate to live in a very quiet area.

How do you like the Loki?

i Probably need to look into some diffusers.  I rely mostly on the furniture in the room.  

@mikelavigne 

I’m a big fan of all that you’ve done somewhere in the middle of a forest.  Never know what you’re gonna come across when hiking through the woods. 

what an amazing room inside a renovated barn. Angle diffusers on the ceiling, purely concert hall stuff. Remarkable.

Any updates to your system? Maybe the roof has been replaced because nothing else seems worthy of any changes. 

@immatthewj 

Thank you for the remembrance. In my early years I was a huge rap fan. Critical listening was very important in my early formation years.

Since my early years analyzing the merits of rap, I have moved on.  

I've learned that satisfaction in the pleasures of life is elusive and rarely achieved if not for just a brief period of time.  We endure frustration and disappointment very often in our lives.  No matter how good it gets, sadness is ever present. 

Have a nice day.

It’s clear to me the engineers involved when recording and mixing the end musical product as well as those people involved in the transmission of sound through the various Data pipes to our homes for Home Theater streaming purposes at times may not be fully in touch with what critical listening means

It’s very clear that Home theater streaming sound quality is substantially less than it should be and should significantly be improved but for some reason critical listening is not resulted in any effort to achieve this.  .

Why are there so many Long comments posted that just meander all over the place.  I guess humans are critical about everything.

Critical listening is the gateway to whatever is there on the other side of the fence.

Of course I’m going to critically evaluate components that I’m spending decent money on, and then when it comes through the door I’m gonna be very critical to ensure it does everything I was hoping for.

I’m gonna listen to all kinds of music that I’m familiar with critically evaluating the changes and hope to be hearing with a new purchase.

When I was younger, I never had the awareness to listen very very carefully however I was very mindful of how well music filled the room vs crappier systems which were disappointing.  

I think you can balance critical listening and other types of enjoyment at the same time.  Unfortunately, we all have an instilled discipline within us that prevents us from avoiding this ongoing critique of everything we do and see. 

Presently, I’m done buying all this audio stuff aside from potentially upgrading speakers. So the critical side of the mission is fading away, thankfully.  Maybe I have to buy a car and I have to now critically evaluate all the new electronics and stupid digitized Dashboard which is horrifying, I don’t like a having an iPad embedded in the dashboard. 

@immatthewj 

way earlier.