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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
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,273 posts
 

I was speaking if you read my sentence about sellers of "upgrade" half the time useless when acoustics is not care for ( Not just room acoustics by the way )

 

Guess why and how i modify the speakers i just bought ? Acoustics knowledge ..Upgrade unnecessary... The venthole design of most speakers is not done as it must be done because of cost and esthetics... Same for the tweeter physical design in many case...

I modified all my bookshelf speakers for stupendous improvement... Acoustics rules...

 

However, contrary to the claim made by @mahgister above I don’t see how that should negatively impact sellers of audio equipment - quite the opposite

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,273 posts
 

And like said atmasphere any good speakers  is able to do imaging well by design and by acoustics knowledge used to pair and optimize the room /speakers acoustics.

Without acoustics basic  applied in any room  speakers dont work optimally ...

carlso63
17 posts
 

I don't think you need to spend hours or days comparing 2 sets of speakers in order to figure out which ones you prefer... what I do is I have 4 or 5 musical passages (from different musical genres that I frequently listen to) and that I chose for things like SQ, soundstage clarity, vocal / instrumental clarity, etc. and I play those and alternate between the 2 pairs of speakers. Most times, I have noticed differences / formed preferences within maybe the first 5 minutes or so of careful listening. I have also found that at least half the time the sonic difference between 2 different pairs of speakers is almost instantaneously obvious... then I just need to figure our which sonic presentation my ears prefer...

inagroove
156 posts
 

@ erik_squires

Great topic...

During the past few years I have reducing my collection, replacing gear, rolling tubes, etc.  So I have had the same challenges, thousands of times.

To me:

A. 'critical listening skills' are just that... critical.  When needed, I listen to the attack of a bowed violin, the fingering of a oboe, the plucking Fender bass, or cymbal crass.  I listen accuracy of tone and harmonic structure.  I listen to decay (is it natural, truncated, over-extended?)  I also listen for micro-dynamics (did a flute-players air wobble, or did a tape-splice change the volume of a acoustic guitar?).

 

Yet, critical listening is for a comparison, and should never be a life-style. 

 

B. the other-side of the coin is the wholistic or gestalt experience eloquently discussed above by so many...

I prefer many days of hearing music on new gear (especially speakers), allowing myself to remember this music played on my earlier gear... the result is very satisfying.  I know my efforts have paid-off when I relax and truly hear the music. 

In other words, I am no longer searching for a sound, I can simply let the music come to me...

 

In my home, critical listening and casual hearing both play a vital role.

I hope this is fertile ground...

kennyc
1,748 posts
 

+1 @inagroove 

Although engagement/resonated/satisfying is more important than critical listening, critical listening and engagement are not mutually exclusive.  Both critical listening + engagement are used to evaluate components for potential purchase, engagement is what I seek in my everyday use in my audio chain.

 

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