What exactly is critical listening? Who does it?

At one time I had this romantic system, totally drawn to the music, and then at some point I became aware I was only listening to certain types or recordings. This probably went on for a year or so prior to this awareness. So I started listening to a wider range of recordings, the defects and flaws that had been there all along suddenly became salient and I could never NOT hear those flaws from that point on. Point is I had subconsciously stopped listening critically, had a wonderful time while it lasted. 

So that system goes bye bye, build the next system only to satisfy my critical listening mode. This goes on for some time until I come to realize this system not emotionally engaging, this system then goes bye bye.

So now I've been to both ends of the scale, ever since that realization I've finally been able to build a system that engages me from the critical, analytical and emotional states or perspectives. When you finally experience engagement or appreciation for all three states of consciousness you find contentment. I purposely seek engagement on all three levels, never want to go back to the need to ignore some listening perspective or avoid conscious, aka critical listening. 

If a system is utterly musical and pleasing to my ears, I don’t think how it sounds. We keep thinking about its sound (critical listening) because the system is not musical and unpleasant to our ears and it became an object.

Can you think about how it sound when you listen below music which, I think, is more musical than the original music?  Alex/Wavetouch audio

Eric Clapton - Tears in heaven

Original music 

I agree with @ozzy62’s comment concerning “critical listening” could mean something different to each individual.  For me, critical listening is when I am simply listening to minute details in the music to see if a new product I am auditioning is improving the sound quality.  I’m critical listening so I can make a decision on a product I’m contemplating on buying.  I imagine most of us would do that before we spend money on our gear, if we have an opportunity to audition a product.  So, 99% of the time, I’m NOT critical listening, but enjoying the music because I finally got my system dialed in and I have no desire to audition or replace anything.  That’s what critical listening means to me,

@mihorn I don't get how you'd NOT appreciate and/or listen to the sound of your system if it's pleasing to the ear. For instance I cannot listen to my system without marveling at the way performers are presented with these uncanny three dimensional  life size images on these utterly unique sound stages that individual recordings offer up. And I could go on and on about timbre, tonality, resolution, transparency, etc, etc. The sound and music go hand in hand, heightened sound quality brings the performers into the room and make it all the more believable. I spent decades pursuing this sound and now I'm supposed to look past it or ignore it! 

I still don't get the idea that listening to the sound is a critical/bad thing when listening to high end systems. I purposely didn't listen critically with lesser systems because it exposed flaws in sound, minus the flaws one should desire to have at least some consciousness in regard to sound, the sound is in service to the music and performers.

OP, only you can decide if you want to do critical listening--if so, when and why.

I’ve done a lot of it, specifically:

• When I’m writing a review of a headphone, amp or DAC (to post on an audio board ... not a professional reviewer)
• When I’m writing descriptions of the sound of a given DAC, preamp, amp, pair of speakers
• When I get a new (or new-to-me used) component and first hear it in my system
• Or when I hear someone else’s system/equipment

Critical listening is an entirely different mindset from casual or enjoyment listening--the kind I do most often. Critical listening requires less emotion and more analysis, ie, What exactly am I hearing? How can I describe what I’m hearing in words someone else can understand?

Critical listening isn’t fun, but sometimes it’s necessary. And one’s hearing, like any other brain activity, can be practiced and improved, resulting in more focus and awareness of what is being perceived. For example, time spent listening critically helps me indirectly (yet significantly) when I listen to unfamiliar music and try to put it in the perspective of music known to me (perhaps beloved by me). It could be a jazz cut or a classical performance. There’s a halo effect with critical listening, at least for me; sometimes it helps even when I’m not consciously listening critically.