Let's talk about Critical Listening!

Clipdat

I enjoyed this video that Sean from Zero Fidelity just posted! One of my favorite topics, critical listening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbI4EWgqqvQ

BlueFox

Critical listening is learned through experience. First, you need to realize everything affects the sound. Then you can start detecting differences in gear changes. For me, it needs to be late at night after the neighborhood has gone to bed, and the air has calmed down. Then I can start to really and honestly evaluate changes (gear, cables, power), and decide if it is better, the same, or worse.

afterburnt

https://youtu.be/_ysiTgPFKWs

tophatjohnny

BlueFox wrote: »

Critical listening is learned through experience. First, you need to realize everything affects the sound. Then you can start detecting differences in gear changes. For me, it needs to be late at night after the neighborhood has gone to bed, and the air has calmed down. Then I can start to really and honestly evaluate changes (gear, cables, power), and decide if it is better, the same, or worse.

I hear ya. Luckily my neighborhood stays in 🛌 Bed😄

nooshinjohn

Great topic to help me be a better listener, as when my wife is being critical, I ain't listening. Maybe this will help.

mhardy6647

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Great topic to help me be a better listener, as when my wife is being critical, I ain't listening. Maybe this will help.

As Dr. Winston O' Boogie put it, in reference to his then (or perhaps soon-to-be) erstwhile wife, Cynthia.

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup...

Not really implying anything about your situation, but your comment made me think of the above

HzTweaker

Totally agree. That is a great Radiohead album. I have it in three different formats. 44.1k 24b flac, MP3?(Google playmusic), 180 gram vinyl.

I'd have to say that I'm a 70/30 spilt. 70% of the time I'm enjoying the music, the other 30% I'm critical listening. My critical listening mostly applies to when I'm listening to new material as I don't change much in my 2ch often besides rotating different pairs of speakers.

verb

This is gonna be an interesting thread. I’m so new to the critical listening aspect of this hobby. In the past for me it was about “what sounded good” and that’s about it.

That’s a big part of it for sure, but as I had a chance to play with different pieces of gear, I can hear differences in sound.

Some big, some small, but different. From nuanced improvements, to boom! OMG! Polk SRS’s, Cary, NS, MIT Shotgun’s come to mind for those OMG moments.

My tenure here on CP has really given me a taste of what’s out there. For now, I’ve really had to rely on others for advice. Trust their ears.

As I gain more experience, I’m sure to better discern differences from critical listening and articulate my thoughts concisely. But for now, I’m following this thread!